Results 16,101-16,120 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I cannot imagine any skilled parliamentarian asking me who supported something at Cabinet or what we discussed at Cabinet. He or she would ask the question in a much more skilful way that would not fall foul of that.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: There is nothing technical about it. One cannot rewrite it. It does not refer to a tribunal, full stop, or a Minister. It refers to an application on that behalf by a tribunal appointed by the Government or a Minister of the Government.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is a tribunal. That is crystal clear. I remember the discussion of the amendment. The only two cases which were put to the people in the referendum that could weaken the total protection of Cabinet confidentiality under the Constitution were where the administration of justice by a court required it or pursuant to an application by a tribunal of inquiry established by a Minister or the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is reciting the constitutional constraints within which tribunals operate. That is everything we have done. We have replicated lots of constitutional provisions in this because we want to set out the clear constitutional framework of what is and is not permissible in one single Act.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 35: In page 59, subsection (1)(f)(iii), to delete lines 25 and 26 and substitute the following:"prejudice the tax and duty collection, audit and enforcement systems, and".Subsection (1)(f) provides that a committee shall not direct a person to provide information kept for the purposes of assessing the liability of any person in respect of a tax, duty or other payment due...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 36: In page 59, subsection (2), line 31, to delete "or (f)" and substitute "or (b)".This is a technical amendment.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Where are we?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Basically, we are repealing the 1997 Act, which is the base Act regarding the compellability powers that all committees have. Everyone refers to it as the 1997 Act. All this does is to replicate what was done in 1997.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I am sure the Deputy could craft a suitable amendment between now and Report Stage.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I will reflect on the point made.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: We could be finished in five minutes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy should be careful in what he says.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that we must make provision to protect the security of the State, international agreements and the conduct of legal proceedings. There are clear separations of power and if somebody is in the midst of legal proceedings, we cannot conduct a parallel investigation. The issue arising is whether the exercise of that power is to be reviewed. I will reflect on that issue...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The previous section dealt with Part 2 inquiries; this deals with normal inquiries.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Normal Oireachtas business.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: No; that is not true. It sets out procedures and sets out how an inquiry will be conducted. This is just the constraint on-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Yes; the constraints are the same.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In drafting the programme for Government both parties determined that we needed to ease the restriction on civil servants, and this section reflects what was agreed. It permits a civil servant to give evidence for the purpose of establishing facts and giving the committee a factual account of a matter. Deputy Donnelly wants to go further and allow civil servants give their views on policy....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Deputy McDonald is absolutely right, and it is clear in section 90. A civil servant, a member of the Permanent Defence Force or a garda may, if asked by a committee, gave a factual account of a matter, including evidence of anything said or communicated by any person during the course of events of which an account has been given. In essence, what informed the decision, which is what we...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It is not the role of civil servants to decide what is good policy or not; their role is to advise the Minister and once the Minister makes a decision it becomes the departmental view. One can disaggregate all that went into it and cross-examine the Minister on how he or she came to the conclusion when he or she had various other options, but one cannot ask a civil servant what he or she...