Results 32,141-32,160 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I agree with Senator Quinn. On the many pieces of transport legislation taken in the House in recent years I have always appreciated the constructive attitude adopted by the Minister to amendments tabled by Members on this side of the House. At different stages he has accepted amendments tabled by Senator Ryan and me or Independent Senators such as Senators Quinn and Norris. We have...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I support Senator Ryan. I referred to this issue in my contribution on Second Stage. Why does section 2(6) make it clear that the provision to which Senator Ryan refers applies only to a person to whom subsection (1)(a) applies? The next section applies to someone affected by subsection (1)(d). What about a person who commits an offence under section 2(1)(b) or (c)? If the garda suspects...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 4: In page 4, to delete lines 43 to 46 and substitute the following: "A member of the Garda Síochána shall, upon making a requirement under this section, inform the person of whom the requirement is made, in clear language, that if he or she fails to comply with the requirement he or she shall be guilty of an offence.".". The Minister made the point in his Second Stage...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: It is the latter part of the Minister of State's response that is of interest to me. I will give an example to illustrate the point I want to make and the Minister of State can help me understand how his would work. When a garda performs an alcohol test on a person involved in a collision or suspected of having consumed intoxicating liquor, will the garda make it clear to the person that if...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: To restate what the Minister of State said, when a garda asks a person perform that test, the garda will tell the person that if he or she does not perform it, he or she will be breaking the law and that will be an offence.

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: Okay.

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: That is fine.

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: The section provides for the insertion of a new section 12 in the principal Act and sets out criteria in paragraphs (a) to (d), inclusive, to be met for the Bill to apply to a person. Is a person required to meet all the criteria set out in those paragraphs for the Bill to apply to him or her or can the person be required to meet only one of the criteria? Paragraph (c) states "is or has...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: Any one of the four. Is the Minister of State satisfied that the wording of the Bill makes it clear that a person is required to meet only one of those four criteria? That is a question for her to consider before the Bill moves forward. I have seen it laid out in other legislation that a person is required to meet only one of the criteria set out. If the Government is satisfied with the...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: When we did the original Bill, we were told that every section would be challenged in the future because of the regularity of challenges to such legislation in the courts. These are not just points of grammar. We want to ensure the Bill is as robust as possible. Senator Quinn has picked up on an important point, namely, the presence of the word "or" in paragraph (c). If "or" is required...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: With respect, there is a difference between going into a restaurant and ordering a cup of tea and putting together legislation that will be challenged. This is an eminently fair point and the Minister of State's response that she is satisfied is not good enough. The question still stands. If "or" is present in paragraph (c), why is it not present in paragraphs (a) or (b)?

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: The Attorney General would of course be satisfied with any legislation that comes into the House but that does not mean he is right. It is incumbent on us that if we feel the legislation can be improved, we will try to do it. I join Senator Quinn in tabling an amendment on Report Stage.

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to table an amendment on Report Stage that I am currently drafting.

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Committee Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: Given that the Minister for Transport is back, could we retrace our steps?

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Report Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I second the amendment. I welcome the Minister back to the House and thank Senator Quinn for his proposal regarding the point we raised on Committee Stage. The House had time to examine the Road Traffic Bill 2009 during the adjournment, in particular, the definition applied to the number of events in which a garda should become involved and the format of section 8. At one stage it read: is...

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Second Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: Road Traffic Bill 2011: Second Stage (19 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I welcome the Minister. My party is supportive of the Bill which it wants to see pass through the House as quickly as possible and then the Dáil before being implemented. As the Minister acknowledged, improving road safety and assessing the progress made to date are priorities that are genuinely shared by both sides of the House. The issues the Bill seeks to deal with were recognised by...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: I seek a debate on corporate governance. I refer to a report on this issue published by the think-tank TASC last year in which it was reported that 39 individuals held powerful positions in 33 of our 40 top public organisations between 2005 and 2007. These 39 people also held 93 directorships across the relevant companies during the period in question. The report also shows that all 39...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jan 2011)

Paschal Donohoe: During that campaign, will the Leader inform people about how games of golf proceed?