Results 2,021-2,040 of 2,156 for speaker:Tom Parlon

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (2 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: It was implied that senior civil servants have a negative influence on the Minister and me. The suggestion that we are being led blinkered into taking a dangerous position has upset both of us. When asked yesterday to consider this proposal, I did not commit to giving it serious thought. Nevertheless, both the Minister and I considered the matter overnight. Whereas the Minister has had a long...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (2 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: It would be most tragic— (Interruptions).

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (2 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: The office will serve two Houses but will have more than three prongs. Each House has a Clerk and assistant Clerk and the joint staff has its own tribe of heads of functions dealing with different aspects of the service it provides. This group also has its chief, who does not have a related title, but also happens to be the Clerk of the Dáil. It is the work already undertaken by the Clerk...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (2 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: The elected representatives on the commission will make decisions on behalf of the elected Members of the Houses. The decision makers will include Members of the Seanad, the Cathaoirleach and the three ordinary members. The main decisions will be taken by the commission, not the Civil Service backup. My previous job, in the course of which I crossed paths with Senator Mansergh, involved...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: On Committee Stage in the Dáil, all Opposition parties urged that the member of the commission selected to act as chairperson in the event of the commission chairman being absent or indisposed should be described as "deputy chairperson" rather than as "acting chairperson". The term "acting" was used in the Bill because a substitute was unlikely to be required frequently and because the...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: Senator Mansergh may have misread, or maybe I am misreading what he understood, because section 9(2)(b) refers to a dissolution of the Dáil and does not anywhere refer to the dissolution of the Seanad.

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: On the side, yes. It is very clear in the text that the Seanad will be sitting after the Dáil is dissolved.

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: I accept that. On Second Stage here I indicated that various possibilities could exist and the Government was not attempting to impose any individual on the commission as deputy chairperson. Given that the Ceann Comhairle, like the Cathaoirleach, has to be above party politics, it seems reasonable for him or her to make the choice and for that choice to be made on one criterion, his view of...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: Under provisions elsewhere in the Bill the commission is to be endowed with authority subject to authorisation by one or both Houses to defend proceedings taken against Members. The purpose of this amendment is the narrower one of giving the commission the powers now held by the Minister for Finance in one Act, that is, the Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: The section to which these amendments relate allows the commission, subject to authorisation by the Dáil, Seanad or both, to initiate, intervene or apply to be joined as a plaintiff on behalf of a Member. The Bill as passed by the Dáil specifies that such proceedings must arise from the Member's performance of functions as a Member of either House or of a committee. The amendments add two...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: As Senator Mansergh said, that is the case. The court can give permission in such cases to intervene. Amendment agreed to. Government amendment No. 5: In page 6, subsection (2)(e)(ii), lines 22 and 23, to delete "arising from the performance by them of their functions" and substitute "arising solely from the performance by them of their parliamentary functions". Amendment agreed to....

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: The Bill as passed by the Dáil distinguished between the commission acting as a plaintiff, which is where the prior consent of the Member's House was required, and its assuming a defending role, which is where such consent was not required. Following correspondence from the Ceann Comhairle, it was decided to table an amendment which restored the requirement of prior consent from the Dáil,...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: The House can conduct the business by committee. The criteria laid down are extremely tight: proceedings initiated solely regarding the performance by Members of their parliamentary functions. Clearly, the relevant House is most appropriate to make that call. Given the speed at which legal proceedings move along, I cannot see such a situation arising, even during our fairly lengthy summer...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: I cannot accept the view taken by Senator Higgins. The amendment is reasonable. As Senator Mansergh said, if the commission in most cases approves of the legal support being given, I cannot see a situation arising where either House would disapprove. In regard to how it will work in practice, I do not see the time limit of a recess or whatever being a difficulty. Clearly, people can obtain...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: This is a technical amendment or, as the man in the street would say, it corrects a misprint. Such errors can turn out to be very awkward years later if they slip past and end up in an Act. Amendment agreed to. Government amendment No. 10: In page 7, subsection (7)(a), lines 47 to 49, to delete "it shall not be necessary to name each member of that Committee as party to the proceedings and".

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: If someone is aggrieved by something a committee did or did not do and wants to take legal action, the decision on who he or she shall target or name as the defendant is taken by him or her in their summons, presumably on the advice of a lawyer. Normally the practice has been to list all the members of the committee and as a group committee members do not like it. It upsets them and their...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: The issues of support, research assistance and extra secretarial assistance will be matters for the commission. There is substantial extra monetary provision in the overall budget but far be it from me to pre-empt what the commission might decide. Senators have their own axe to grind. Senator Higgins was generous in his praise of the substantial improvements made in recent years in terms of...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: It is fair to say that Senators are proportionately well represented on the commission. The Ceann Comhairle is not the chair of the commission by virtue of him being chair of the Dáil. Rather, his office has for many years been responsible for the Houses. In practice, I expect that the only reason there will be an acting or deputy chairperson is in the absence of the Ceann Comhairle. The...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: I cannot concede to this amendment because it is necessary to set out the formal process for the appointment of the deputy chairperson. The Bill says that the appointment is to be made in writing by the chairperson of the commission. There has been much debate about who should be deputy chairperson and who should have an input into the selection process. The only person on the commission whom...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (1 Jul 2003)

Tom Parlon: I am amused and fascinated by Senator Mansergh struggling with his loyalty to this House or loyalty to his party. He is clearly having difficulty.