Results 24,201-24,220 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The standards commissioner will have to draft a code of practice which can deal with that matter.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I would be happy to deal with a proposal in that regard on Report Stage. In essence, this Bill is looking to ensure that we have a standards commissioner with a higher level of power and oversight than is currently the case.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not know about engagement with representative bodies. This legislation went through the drafting process of a policy paper and has been available in the Oireachtas and in the public domain for almost a year. Up to this point, short of Deputy Calleary raising the issue, we have not received any communication from anybody who is looking to change it in respect of its application for...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: This is an unelected body. We are going to have a single person within the standards in public office body, who will be a standards commissioner. That office is unelected for good reason, which the Deputy is accepting. I accept that. We will ask that person to put together a code of practice. It is required in a different section of the Bill that he or she consult with stakeholders on...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is actually the other way around. I can offer some explanation as to why the Deputy is saying that. At the moment, we have a board within the Standards in Public Office Commission. If a particular matter needs to be considered or action taken, the board has to be assembled. We are now vesting the power in this area in a single individual who is referred to in this Bill either as the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is mostly right, Chairman. The commission itself will be dissolved to deal with this issue of having to assemble a meeting to deal with a particular matter. Then the latter part of what the Chairman said is correct. We would then have a single individual, who will have a deputy, and they will be vested with the powers to implement this Bill.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On the first question, the reason for that is that we are more compliant with what we believe to be international best practice the area. We have looked at work that has been done elsewhere, in particular work has been done by the OECD and the World Bank and they have looked at what best practice is in other jurisdictions. We have based our thinking in this area on what they have said that...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is consulting with the officials and the Minister. To date, and this may change as a result of this debate, neither I nor my Department has been approached directly by a local authority body expressing concern about the implementation of this.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Sure.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I would be very happy to do that. In many cases, what we are looking to do is to align with legislation that is already there but that being said, we are vesting new powers in the standards commissioner, as we have discussed. There will be a change in how we expect public officials and elected members to perform. In that spirit, I will take up Deputy Calleary's suggestion and write to the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am crystal clear about where everyone is coming from. In that spirit, the Chairman and the members are looking to make sure that we end up with a Bill which can be properly implemented. My Department will write to the local authority representative bodies and ask them for any further input on the Bill. We will complete that before we move to Report Stage and I will notify the committee...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I have mine switched off.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I contend that we are going the opposite way in that we are making it clearer to local authority members what it is they have to do. As I have said, I am happy to help with any concerns that colleagues might have and notify the local authority representative bodies of the Bill and what we are doing. If they have any concerns about it, we will revert back to the committee.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: There will be an opportunity to undo or reverse this on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am happy to do that but this Bill has been published since January 2016. I take the Deputy's point that a hell of a lot has been happening in the intervening period but this is a Bill that has been in the public domain for quite a while. On Report Stage, if colleagues wish to change or notify me of changes they would like to make, we can engage in such changes then.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Section 3 is in Part 1 of the Bill and it does is provide an interpretation of the expression "material interest in a matter".

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Section 4 provides a definition of what a public official is. It lays out the different bodies of which a public official is a member. It also lists the Attorney General and Comptroller and Auditor General. It lays out in subsection (2) the role of a director, the role of an employee, and then latter sections, particularly subsection (3), make it clear who it does not apply to.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Committee Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: They are excluded and that has been the norm up to this point. The legislation we have had on electoral issues, lobbying, donations and so on has only dealt with public officials. It has not dealt with judges.