Results 25,201-25,220 of 34,745 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I am sure if he asked many other people whether they should be excluded, they would find a good reason they should be. I do not buy that. Judges should not be excluded and a mechanism is needed to monitor them independently of the Oireachtas but they should not be excluded from the process. A few minutes ago, everybody was covered by the legislation but now we know cross-Border bodies are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I would like to know which other little groups are not covered. In my chit chat with Mr. Beausang, I have found two groups are not covered. Are other groups not included? How have I hit on two groups?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: They are cross-Border bodies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: We are teasing this out. Another issue I am interested in is the new statutory board to address potential conflicts of interest of public officials who take up roles in the private sector by merging with the outside appointments board. What about people who leave the public service and move into areas where there is a potential conflict of interest? I am probably unique in the Oireachtas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: The commissioner will have stronger powers of sanction. Will Mr. Beausang explain the sanctions? Are they financial penalties? Has that not to be done through a court? I thought courts were the only fora-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Does it include people who are engaged by the State or State bodies to do a lot of work and who earn most of their income from State fees? They might be self-employed. I am thinking of senior counsel who probably work for the Director of Public Prosecutions for practically their entire career. They work in different circuits. Effectively, all of their income is paid out of the public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of Public Sector Standards Bill 2015: Pre-legislative Scrutiny (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: What about one overall system? I would ask the Department to reconsider this issue. Technically, a senior counsel who is prosecuting on behalf of the State every day of the week and earning all his money from State fees is a sole trader but he is very much in the public eye and part of the State mechanism. It is the same with a GP. Most of the income of GP practices comes from the State,...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Staff (8 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: 117. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when the environment allowance will be paid to certain prison officers (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27751/15]

Central Bank (Variable Rate Mortgages) Bill 2015: Second Stage [Private Members] (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' Bill introduced by my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, who has shown great consistency in bringing this topic to public attention in recent months. The only time the Minister addresses the issue is when it is raised by Opposition Deputies. The Government would not take any action on mortgage interest rates if it were not for the...

Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Do not do that.

Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I understand it is early. Most businesses look at next year's budget at this time of the year and they do not leave it to the back end of the year. When I saw this Estimate coming through in advance of year end and next year I thought if only the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and other Departments could follow the example given by the Houses of the Oireachtas in coming forward...

Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I would love to know if the mandarins who worked out this figure knew precisely how many of us will not be here in the next Dáil and will receive these termination payments. Have they doodled around and put names on the figures? I am sure the figure did not come from nowhere. Perhaps it is the percentage of people who did not make it back into the previous Dáil.

Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: Somebody in the system is not planning to see many of us after the next general election and making financial provision for it in the Estimate. It would be nice to know who came up. I would love to see the underlying schedule to see whether the Minister's name, my name or the names of the Deputies to my right are on it.

Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: These are the issues I want to raise with regard to the two large items of expenditure. I would love to see more detail on the costs of the banking inquiry. I know it is not possible to achieve it in this short time. I would like to see more details on the cost of the parliamentary legal advisory service and I will write directly to the Ceann Comhairle on this matter. As a Deputy I am not...

Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission: Motion (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. I was about to commend the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission for being so early with its Estimates. Will the Minister even at this late date reconsider whether it is a good idea to move it back closer to October? I know he wants it closer to the budget, but what would be really good-----

Topical Issue Debate: Local Government Boundaries Review (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I welcome the opportunity to discuss the establishment by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, of the Carlow boundary committee, the terms of reference of which is to review the county boundary between Laois and Carlow. The title of the committee, namely, the Carlow boundary committee, gives the game away. I am calling on the Minister, Deputy...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Government Boundaries Review (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Minister of State for the response and acknowledge the apologies from the Minister for not being here. First, this process will result in further anomalies as Dáil boundaries in the area correspond with the current county boundaries. Since what is proposed will not change the Dáil boundaries, this will result in the creation of an anomaly whereby we will have different...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Fines Data (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: 161. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a list of all sanctions approved by his Department to pay fines imposed by any European institution since 2011; the amount involved, and the subject matter for the fine, in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27347/15]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Tuberculosis Incidence (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: 207. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware of the surveying of wild deer for tuberculosis in the Calary area of County Wicklow by his Department; that this area had for some time the highest levels of tuberculosis in cattle nationally; that the level of tuberculosis in the local badger population was 26%, as against a national average of 16%; that,...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Tuberculosis Incidence (7 Jul 2015)

Seán Fleming: 208. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware that on 6 and 8 October 2014 experts from his Department confirmed, following its survey of tuberculosis in wild deer in the Calary area of County Wicklow, that it did not have any evidence that deer are a major source of tuberculosis for cattle in this country; that this remains the same; that samples were...