Results 1,321-1,340 of 7,652 for speaker:Joanna Tuffy

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (13 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I move amendment No. 2: In page 62, line 29, after "committed" to insert the following: ", or, where such person is incapacitated or deceased, on the application of a person who is the spouse or relative of such person". We tabled this amendment on Committee Stage and would like to know if the Minister has had further thoughts on the issue.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (13 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I thank the Minister and his staff. Like Senator Brian Hayes, I, too, appreciate that some of the Opposition's amendments were accepted on Committee Stage. The Minister has said he will examine further some of the issues we raised, which is also very much appreciated.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I move amendment No. 1: In page 7, subsection (4)(b), line 24, after "person" to insert the following: "or the publication to the second-mentioned person was in the course of the performance of duties of a secretarial nature by the second-mentioned person (being a person whose relationship if any to the first-mentioned person is primarily based on contract) and there were no reasonable...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: The purpose of this amendment is to make clear that where A sends a letter to B, which is read by A's typist, and B's secretary, there is no publication in law, unless there is a special injury, for example, if B's secretary is also B's wife and the letter makes a defamatory allegation against B. If, for example, one wrote to a county manager, criticising him one should be sure one was not...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I appreciate the Minister's comments. Is he satisfied, however, from a legal point of view — rather than one of experience — that the type of situation outlined is covered in law?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I move amendment No. 2: In page 10, line 10, to delete ", in particular,". As the provision stands, the use of the term "in particular" makes it unduly restrictive. For example, if it were claimed that all the Ministers for Justice in recent years were guilty of crime X, the term "in particular" restricts the grounds where one could say that one was defamed.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: The formula "could be reasonably understood to refer to the member concerned" covers the Minister's argument. Does the wording pitch it in such a way that it refers to the person more than anyone else? All the time people claim all politicians are corrupt. I believe the reasonableness test is already contained in the wording without the need for the words "in particular".

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: The issue of financial loss is not key to this. If one allows that a body corporate can be defamed, one must also allow all the provisions of this Bill to apply to it, including apologies and so on. This section merely sets out that a body corporate can be defamed and that the body corporate does not have to prove financial loss to take advantage of the other provisions of the Bill. That...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: Some weeks ago I asked for a debate on affordable housing and what constitutes an affordable house. When it was announced by the Government around 1998, the original idea was that affordable housing could be bought at a cost approximating the expense of its construction. My local council has sold such houses for about 60% of the market value but more recently affordable housing is 70% or...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: Who can now apply for affordable housing? Some weeks ago, the affordable homes partnership advertised 500 housing units which it bought on the open market, being offered to buyers now as so-called affordable homes. The minimum income which must be earned to apply for any of those 500 houses is €45,000. I looked up the salary scales for teachers, nurses and gardaí, and a person would have...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: Affordable housing has become the new brown envelope. Developers get land rezoned and maintain the speculative approach to the housing market and land prices. We need to revert to what the Taoiseach said, namely, that he would do something about the price of land. He requested the Joint Committee on the Constitution, of which I am a member, to do a substantial report on that matter, but...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: Will the Minister clarify the meaning and purpose of subsection (1)(c)?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: When I read that sentence I was not sure what it meant and I immediately thought that perhaps it meant the purpose of the defendant's defence, whereas the reference to defence is meant in more general terms.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I appreciate that, but I consider the paragraph to be a little unclear. However, I do not have an alternative.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: Does subsection (3), "An offer to make amends shall not be made after the delivery of the defence in the defamation action concerned.", preclude the defendant in the middle of the case, after making his or her defence which could include an offer to make amends, from reaching a settlement with the plaintiff?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I am not sure it is clear in the section that an offer to make amends applies so restrictively, but I accept the Minister's point in that regard. Could subsection (3) have stated instead that it will not be a defence to make an offer of amends after the delivery of the defence?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: Would that include doing something along the lines of making amends as part of a settlement?

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: That is not clear from the way it is phrased.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: I move amendment No. 9: In page 18, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following subsection: "(2) The court may regard an apology as effecting a substantial mitigation of damage if, but only if, it is made within 14 days of complaint being made in respect of the utterance to which the apology relates, and if the defendant's proposals for publication of the apology are reasonable."....

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Joanna Tuffy: While I accept what the Minister said with regard to the definition, does "apology" mean a written apology? An apology could be also made personally. I would think a newspaper should make a written apology.