Results 24,781-24,800 of 33,392 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: In those circumstances, if we were to include that requirement, it would actually end up limiting the power of the standards commissioner to do his or her work. This is a particular power the Standards in Public Office Commission believe would aid the office in its duties. I believe that the most likely way this would be triggered is through the returns I spoke of earlier. It is possible...

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

Paschal Donohoe: That is a very unlikely scenario.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Too strong? Okay.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I will make two points in that regard.

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

Paschal Donohoe: Excuse me Deputy.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I suggest the Deputy goes back to section 35 in this regard. Section 35 lays out the circumstances in which a preliminary inquiry would take place. In the circumstances that the commissioner felt that he or she needed to initiate that step it is extremely likely that a preliminary inquiry would need to take place first. I draw the Deputy's attention to section 35(2). The breadth of what...

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: There could be. In my experience of dealing with the Standards in Public Office Commission in the past, its first step frequently is to ensure that the statements are accurate and that the officials realise the consequences of what they may have said. I am certain this attitude would not change. The preliminary inquiry could be a meeting to clarify a particular matter or to make sure the...

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

Paschal Donohoe: One can only do so much. The Bill has been in circulation for a year. I accept the point made by Deputy Calleary that he believes the amendments could have been circulated earlier. We will unsure that if there are further changes on Report Stage everyone will have them. There have been calls for quite a while for the measures. The Bill has been available for a period of time. I have...

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

Paschal Donohoe: That is exactly it. Let me clarify what we are referring to. It gives the deputy commissioner the power to appoint a member of staff.

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

Paschal Donohoe: I would expect that the overwhelming number of such officers would be members of staff. We are providing for the possibility that something could be the subject of an investigation that the commissioner might feel requires expertise that his or her organisation does not have. As I sit in front of the Deputies, I cannot think of such a circumstance. Something could happen in regard to a...

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

Paschal Donohoe: If we do that, we limit the latitude of the commissioner to investigate a matter if he or she deems it needs to be investigated. On reputational damage, such investigations would have to take place privately. Of course the commission would have to talk to people, and other people do talk. That will happen. We have just dealt with a section that made clear that oral hearings will not be...

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 think this is a point in regard to the deputy commissioner------

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

Paschal Donohoe: The point does not concern the deputy commissioner per se but the principle that the office of the commissioner can now initiate an investigation if it believes there are grounds. Under subsection 37(1), it is made clear that, and I quote, "The Deputy Commissioner shall appoint one or more suitable persons ... to perform the functions expressed by this Chapter .. one or more members of staff...

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

Paschal Donohoe: The motivation is that our current legislation in this area is deficient by international best practice standards in terms of the weight of power for the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, being mostly reactive. If we compare where we are currently versus the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal, for example, which called for more powers to be available to these bodies, we are...

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

Paschal Donohoe: We have submitted an amendment, which I think we dealt with, requiring that the commissioner lay a report in the Oireachtas Library. We dealt with that earlier this morning. It is section 31. I will consider what the Deputy has said about the detail it would contain but I believe it will end up being a matter for the commissioner. I will give an example of one circumstance I believe we...

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

Paschal Donohoe: We have laid out the requirement that the commissioner should update the Houses of the Oireachtas Library. Section 31(1) states, "The Commissioner shall, in each year, prepare a report on his or her activities in the previous year, and may prepare such other reports for the Minister (i) as the Minister requests ... or (ii) as, on the Commissioner's own initiative, from time to time as the...

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

Paschal Donohoe: I accept the Deputy did not do that. However, something I believe we should reflect on is if we lay down in statute the number of investigations that have taken place, for example, it could have unintended consequences. That is all I am saying. We have changed the Bill to make it clear that the commissioner has to lay a report in the Oireachtas Library or, if he or she believes there is an...

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

Paschal Donohoe: This goes back to the earlier discussion we had-----

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

Paschal Donohoe: -----and the fact that ignorance is not a defence before the law, but this legislation is not yet law. In response to Deputy Calleary earlier, I committed to writing to local authority representative bodies, for example, to notify them of what is currently before the Oireachtas, which we will do. However, we are debating a point of principle, namely, whether this body should have the...