Results 1,961-1,980 of 7,641 for speaker:Rónán Mullen

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: Yes. There are examples of this in Britain and in America, some of which I would regard as quite controversial, such as EMILY's List, which stands for Early Money Is Like Yeast. This is where certain women politicians were induced to take up pro-abortion political positions in exchange for certain donations.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: We cannot prohibit people from making donations if it is lawful, but transparency is important in that instance. I am on record as supporting the closing down of such corporate donations. If the Women's Political Association rightly wants to see more women in politics, it should have the capacity to approach individuals and ask them to donate to female candidates in different...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: I agree with what Senator Hayden has said in that a trust does not have those selfish commercial or self-interested motives from the point of view of commerce but nonetheless a trust gathers money for the accomplishment of a particular purpose. In the same way that I have opposed the hijacking of the system of public funding of politics for the purpose of securing the laudable objective of...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: What is the female for gander?

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: I think she took a more charitable view of our difficulties.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: We are all goosed anyway.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: We would be banning all that if we banned corporate donations.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: He could win.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: No, my point was much more benign than the Minister thinks.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: I came down in favour of it.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: It seems Senator van Turnhout has done us a great service in drawing attention to the situation in other EU countries. While the Minister talks about dealing with these issues in the round, if the law of the European Union and the convention, which does not refer specifically to the Union, cannot place an obstacle to Portugal or France having such bans, it cannot be invoked as an argument in...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: Test it.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: Let Uachtaráin na hÉireann consult his Council of State.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: We are not asking the Minister to have lunch with him. I am asking the Minister to do his duty and bring forward legislation, if he agrees with the objective.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: I accept that. The Minister is entitled to his opinion. However, he sought to reassure us there was some kind of legal advice to the effect that this would not be possible. Senator van Turnhout has shown, by illustrating the fact there are other EU states that have laws of a similar kind-----

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: There is no way in which EU law on this point can be said to apply differently in this State because we have a different constitutional position. If it is the Constitution which presents an obstacle, one cannot cite EU law and nor can one cite the European Convention on Human Rights. A ban on corporate donations either is or is not possible under EU or convention law. The bottom line, as...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: We have shown that. It is equally possible that the Minister is wrong or his advisers are wrong on the constitutional point. All I am saying is that if it is his policy wish to ban corporate donations - if he believes the goal is a good one - let us legislate for that and see what Uachtaráin na hÉireann and the Supreme Court decide.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: Senator Bacik seems to be contending that I may be right on one point and wrong on the other. I recall the Quinn's Supermarket case and she may well be correct on that point. However, I must ask her whether a different principle applies here. If it is possible to curtail the amounts that may be donated, it seems that the principle that one may restrict donations has already been conceded....

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: We are being asked to accept that it would not be repugnant to the Constitution to restrict corporate donations to, say, 1 cent, €1 or €10 but that a complete ban, on the other hand, would somehow be constitutionally repugnant. No case law has been cited. We all know that Governments are very good at claiming to have legal advice to back up their position. Notwithstanding Senator...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment)(Political Funding) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2012)

Rónán Mullen: Yes. I move amendment No 9: In page 8, line 22, before "shall" to insert "and subsection (2)". Amendment put and declared lost.