Results 1,341-1,360 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Right. As we are aware, no amendments ever get accepted on Report Stage anyway.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: It has been true in the two and a half years I have been in the House. The point is a relevant one. I appreciate that the proposal might not be constitutional and that a referendum might be required. Several are planned. The point is a very important one. As the Minister is aware, this is common practice in many European parliaments. Seven European parliaments have in place a system...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: It was not party political. The X case legislation is one of deep conscience.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I was on parliamentary business in Turkey.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: What does the Minister mean?
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I was representing the Oireachtas at the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I was one of only two Members left when the Government called home its Deputies for a show of strength. It was a total waste of money.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes. It seemed pretty silly to me.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: This House cannot do the work Westminster does. Let us look at what happened when four Government Deputies said they could not vote with the Government on an issue of conscience. In Westminster they would not have lost the Whip. They would not have been thrown out. Deputy Mathews would not have got thrown off the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. Last year in...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I do not for a second suggest that there should be no Whip. Of course there must be a Whip to do the business of politics but not the way it is applied in this House. Therefore, these amendments are important because they say that even if one has a Cabinet controlling up to 60% of the Dáil, there are still enough Members of Dáil Éireann who can instigate a committee of...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Only when the committee asks for a committee of inquiry to be established.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Is the Bundestag an extraordinary situation?
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: It is too hard for me to understand.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Nobody suggested that every vote should be free.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes-----
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: -----and I will interrupt the Minister as much as he interrupted me.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: No doubt we will continue to debate this matter. However, it is a bit like coming to a meeting of the flat earth society. One comes in here and everybody says, "No, it has to be done this way, it couldn't possibly happen any other way". When one says that it happens successfully in this "impossible" way in other parliaments, we are told: "No, it couldn't possibly work. There'd be chaos....
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: Or you know, Minister.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I think not.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Stephen Donnelly: I do.