Results 2,961-2,980 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (10 Oct 2018)

David Norris: Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 are fairly obvious in light of the fact that according to the Constitution, the Irish language is the first national language. Constitutional measures have to be assessed in terms of the Irish language version in any kind of court case. They are obviously a very good idea. Amendment No. 6 is the same, as we have agreed, as the amendment we have already discussed....

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (10 Oct 2018)

David Norris: Maith an buachaill.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (10 Oct 2018)

David Norris: To see if it is labelled correctly?

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (10 Oct 2018)

David Norris: This is a bit of nitpicking from the European Commission.

Seanad: Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (10 Oct 2018)

David Norris: These amendments are completely acceptable, as they are technical, but I wish to comment on the wording of three of them. Amendment No. 4 states:In page 15, line 13, "paragraphs (i) and (ii)" deleted and "paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii)" substituted. Would it not have been much neater to have added in paragraph (iii)? Why do we have to delete the whole bloody thing and then put in...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: I strongly support Senator Gavan's comments on the village of Khan al-Ahmar. It is a Bedouin village I visited two weeks ago with my former partner, Ezra Yizhak Nawi, a very strong defender of Palestinian human rights. It is proposed that this village will be demolished illegally. The people there were removed from their homes 70 years ago and they formed this village, which is a pathetic...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: It is absolutely disgraceful and a violation of every form of decent human rights. I will also speak to another form of abuse of human rights, which relates to the former Clerys shop in the centre of Dublin. It was bought by a woman rescued by the Irish taxpayer and she failed to honour the pension obligations of Clerys staff. She turfed them out on their ear, including people who had been...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: Without somebody like Mr. Corbyn, British politics would be in an appalling state of chaos. The sooner there is an election and a Labour Party Government in Britain, the better it will be for everybody.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: And a second referendum.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: I thought we were still on section 15.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: The Minister referred to not wishing to restrict the independence of the commission but, contained in this section, there is a very severe restriction on the position of the chairperson. He or she is not allowed to express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government, or to object to such a policy. The Minister says this is included in other...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: I ask Senator McDowell to clarify a point. What promotion is this for somebody from the Supreme Court?

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: That explains it.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: Far be it from me to provide any assistance whatever to the Minister, but it might be possible for the High Court to make a judgment on a matter as a matter of principle without disclosing the details in public. I am not sure if that is possible but I imagine that it would be, which is one possible route out of the problem. However, my concern is also with subsection (3) which holds that...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: Indeed but even so, I am sure the Minister will acknowledge in his usual good humoured way that this is a nonsense.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: Yes.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: I must correct the Minister. What I said I objected to was the discussion of any policy by the chairperson. That is the point I was making. I apologise for interrupting but I just wanted to make that point of clarification.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: I remind the Minister that what I have described as "a nonsense" is not any of the subjects to which he has been referring. I have described as a nonsense the provision in section 22(3)(a) that "the chairperson shall not be required to give account" for any matter that "may at a future time be the subject of proceedings before a court". That is a question the Minister has signally failed to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)

David Norris: The Minister has not answered my question. He has said that there is "infrequent" recourse to the High Court. That is not what we are dealing with. It could be completely infrequent, but it will still be in the legislation. We are dealing with the wording of the legislation before the House. The Minister said that this is not a restriction, but I contend that it is very much a...