Results 26,361-26,380 of 34,777 for speaker:Seán Fleming
- Order of Business (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: Which Bill?
- Order of Business (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: With regard to the postcode system.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: My good constituency colleague, Deputy Charles Flanagan, was made Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. He does not know whether he did a good job or a bad job, as he was moved to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade six weeks later, yet we include-----
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I say that tongue in cheek. It was to his credit that he got the promotion. However, he was only in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for six weeks, but he is captured in this legislation while that Department's Secretary General is not. I saw an e-mail yesterday outlining that a new Secretary General had been approved by the Government. That person could be in place for the...
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I will allow the Minister to respond, but I will revert later.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I move amendment No. 33:In page 9, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:"(f) Secretaries General and Assistant Secretaries General;".The amendments we are discussing relate to the designation of public officials under this legislation. The Minister has included in section 6, as it stands following Committee Stage, a list of people who will have to register under the regulation of...
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: It is not necessarily the case, and that is why people change governments. That is why we have a democracy. The two are not always linked. After years of being in office, I can understand people in the Government thinking that as they are acting for the good of the Government, it is also good for the people.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: As another example, an organisation seeking funding and lobbying Tourism Ireland could be doing so based on the exact same proposal as a local authority but it would not be exempt. I could return to public bodies with education and training boards. They may wish to lobby the Department of Education and Skills and education authorities for funding for a series of courses, but people in the...
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: What is the purpose of the legislation if the Minister is arguing that it comes under freedom of information legislation?
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: We all agree that lobbying needs to be regulated, but will that be the Minister's answer to everything - that we do not need this legislation because everything is captured by the freedom of information legislation?
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I was giving a bit more credit to the legislation. Most of what we introduce is relevant to freedom of information legislation anyway. If a private company lobbies the National Transport Authority with regard to bus routes, there would be commercial sensitivity involved. Is the Minister aware of that? There is not a chance in hell of that information being released under the freedom of...
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: Perhaps the Minister has inadvertently or deliberately misinterpreted what I have said. At no stage in the discussion of this legislation have I made the example of communication between an assistant principal and a principal officer. Every example-----
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: Every example I gave involved one public body or another. They concerned local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, or education and training boards and the Higher Education Authority or the Department of Education and Skills. All the examples I quoted concerned communication between public bodies and not internal communications.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I move amendment No. 25:In page 7, to delete lines 33 to 38.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I move amendment No. 26:In page 7, to delete line 39, and in page 8, to delete lines 1 to 7.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: We understand the points the Minister is making. I want to give specific examples of what I am referring to. A local authority which wants to develop a tourism trail can lobby Tourism Ireland for funding, and it is exempt. A private operator which wants to do the same-----
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: That is a new concept.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I understand what the Minister is saying, but the logic is that what is in the interests of the Government is in the interests of the people.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: The point he made is that what is of interest to the people in power and the Government or local government of the day is in the interests of the citizen.
- Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (15 Jan 2015)
Seán Fleming: I move amendment No. 24:In page 7, to delete line 32.Deputy McDonald also tabled these amendments. We are dealing with areas that the Minister has listed as exempted communications. Amendments Nos. 24 to 26, inclusive, cover sections 5(4)(j), 5(4)(k) and 5(4)(l), respectively. Essentially these are exempting from the legislation communications by a designated public official in his...