Results 921-940 of 9,252 for speaker:Jim O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Mediation Bill 2017: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: Just as the Minister does not want to be responsible for dividing the committee, I do not want to be responsible for dividing Deputies Wallace and Daly, but I prefer Deputy Daly's amendment No. 14 to Deputy Wallace's amendment No. 12. Amendment No. 14 contains everything within amendment No. 12 but states it more succinctly and there is less prospect in it of any statutory ambiguity.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Mediation Bill 2017: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: One of the main issues is whether there should be a code of practice or a variety of codes of practice. My preference would be for the former. If we start going down the road of mediators having a series of codes of practice, we would end up like boxing associations with different organisations having different codes of practice and people being able to say that they are regulated by the...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Mediation Bill 2017: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: It should be a written report and the wording of section 17 implies it would be a written report, so I do not see any harm in stating it will be a written report. Otherwise, one will not get the detail that is set out in the rest of section 17(1). A further point concerns section 17(1)(b)(iv), which states: "if no mediation settlement has been reached, a statement as to whether, in the...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Business of Select Committee (28 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: As I have the Minister here it would be remiss of me not to mention this matter. The committee is aware that on 1 December last year, which is seven months ago, a judicial appointments Bill that passed Second Stage came here for Committee Stage but we never got the money message. Seven months later we still have not received the money message. Another judicial appointments Bill is going...

Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: No.

Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: Hear, hear.

Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: Hear, hear.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: 88. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of tax debt outstanding to the Revenue Commissioners, by county; the amount of tax debt collected by revenue sheriffs by county in each month to date in 2017, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30617/17]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Recruitment (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: 170. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the cost in 2018 of recruiting an additional 800 gardaí; the full year first year cost of same; and the full year second year cost of same. [30780/17]

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: We all agree that this legislation is important. We have been waiting on it for a long time. It impacts people who are taking cases before the courts having sustained catastrophic injuries or whose children have sustained catastrophic injuries. My priority is to ensure that this legislation is enacted as quickly as possible. Had we a perfect world, including Deputy Daly's amendment in the...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: The logic of the Minister of State's opposition to the previous amendments and the reason we voted against them arise from the fact that there will definitely be a review. For that reason, I support the amendment.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: It is an interesting issue. The legislation is unusual in seeking to place an obligation on a hospital - let us call it a hospital - following a patient safety incident to tell the patient about it without any consequences for litigation or liability on the part of the hospital. It is unusual in that respect. That is why the definition of "patient safety incident" is important. The...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: While I should know this and if I read the Bill I would find it, is there an obligation on the hospital to disclose a patient safety incident?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: In British law, are there provisions regarding patient safety incidents and voluntary disclosure akin to what we are introducing here? Does a similar legislative scheme apply in Britain? Does the Minister of State know whether there are provisions in respect of patient safety incidents and open disclosures there?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: Mandatory apologies are unusual in our law. In defamation cases, one of the remedies a person generally seeks and gets is an apology but there is nothing in the Defamation Act to say that a publisher is mandated and required to apologise; it is something one does if one wants to. Members are trying to present this legislation as though its result will be harmonious and that doctors and...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: Perhaps I am very cynical, but I believe it will be hard to separate litigation from the open disclosure process. If a lawyer is making a case on behalf of someone who is claiming medical negligence, a doctor having previously apologised for the matter in question will be a very powerful piece of evidence if liability is denied. Line 15, on page 23 of the Bill, was referred to by Deputy...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: Will the Minister of State explain the reason open disclosure will not be mandatory? According to the definition of a patient safety incident, such an incident arises when a patient is admitted to hospital, undergoes an operation, is in a very weak condition, does not have family members with him or her, is often under general anaesthetic and the only other people in the room are medical...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: There is mandatory reporting when there is any potential threat of abuse to children. That obligation does not just rest on people who are well intentioned and just happen to be aware of it. If there is a child who has an operation which goes wrong and the doctors are in the room, I would have thought they should be mandated to tell the parents instead of their deciding voluntarily to bring...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: I have a slightly different perspective from Deputy Wallace. Part of the problem is that many people in Ireland do not recognise that people make mistakes. Much of the time, it is not through negligence but is just an occupational hazard. Whether one is a doctor or a builder, people can make mistakes. Part of the reason they do not own up to them, apologise and say they made a mistake,...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (29 Jun 2017)

Jim O'Callaghan: That is because they are fearful of the consequences.