Results 341-360 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 20:In page 13, line 3, to delete "Government" and substitute "Oireachtas". I welcome the Minister of State. These matters are important as we head towards the Paris conference at the end of the month. Everyone in the House wants to assist Ireland's presentation in being the best it can be. The purpose of my amendment is to bring the Oireachtas into decision making on...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I will withdraw the amendment on the basis that the developments mentioned by Senators on the Government side will feature on Report Stage. I very much appreciate what the Minister of State said about involving the Seanad. I hope we will repay him for that confidence after Report Stage and in all future debates on the environment and climate change.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 24:In page 16, line 20, to delete "Minister" and substitute "Oireachtas". This relates to what the Minister of State said earlier. I propose that the function of the advisory council shall be to advise and make recommendations to the Oireachtas in regard to the matters listed. While I appreciate what the Minister of State said about invitations to Senators to become...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: Another factor in the background of all this relates to people who have been sitting down in the basement for months listening to how the banking collapse happened. Getting the advice to as many people as possible and not confining it to narrow circles must be considered. I acknowledge that the Minister has responsibility but it must be recognised that we all have a degree of...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: We have been over this ground with regard to the role of the Minister and the Oireachtas and there is no need to do it again.

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 26:In page 17, line 35, to delete "Not more than 30 days after" and substitute "Simultaneously on". This amendment deals with the advisory reports. Why have a delay? If the advisory council submits a report it should be put out there simultaneously. Wishes were expressed in the other House that this advisory council should have parity of operations and esteem with the...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I am still an advocate of open government and doing things as quickly as possible. In general, delay is inherent in earlier parts of the Bill so by the time I got to the end of the Bill I was getting frustrated with the level of delay. There are two-year delays and 18-month delays but this is urgent. When the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, was in the House she did not rule out the...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 28:In page 17, lines 36 and 37, to delete "by such means as the Agency may advise". The advisory council is to advise in general on all environmental matters, including advising on the Environmental Protection Agency, so why does the Environmental Protection Agency get to say the means by which a report advising the Government on that agency itself shall be published?...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State for his response. Given that the chairman of the expert advisory council, Professor John FitzGerald, has been publishing reports on the economy for approximately 25 years, he does not need the advice of the Environmental Protection Agency on how to publish his reports. If there is nothing in the Bill that infringes on the rights of Professor Fitzgerald and his...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 29:In page 18, line 2, to delete "18 months" and substitute "6 months". This amendment relates to the start of the expert advisory council's work. The Minister of State indicated that the advisory council was set up in June and all of its members had been appointed. The process is, therefore, further ahead than the Oireachtas in that the legislation has not yet been...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 30:In page 18, line 32, to delete "30 days" and substitute "10 days". This amendment also addresses the issue of delays. The Bill provides that the expert advisory council shall, not later than 30 days after the completion of the periodic review, prepare and submit to the Minister a report on the review. Why would it take a month to do this? It is the same theme. The...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 32:In page 19, lines 21 and 22, to delete "by such means as the Agency may advise". Section 13(8) provides that "the Advisory Council shall publish the report by such means as the Agency may advise". I appreciate that the Minister of State has said that the EPA will be confined to giving advice on publication. While such advice would probably be redundant in the case...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 33:In page 19, line 25, to delete “Dáil Éireann” and substitute “the Oireachtas” These amendments relate to matters of substance that we have discussed. I think there is a wide measure of agreement on them. We should make a decision on Report Stage on how the Oireachtas, the Seanad and all of us can be involved. I do not think...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Members opposite and the Minister of State for his response to all the amendments that have been discussed today. It has been a most useful and interesting debate. I thank the Minister of State, the Leader of the House and the Members opposite. I hope the Bill will be improved, even at this late stage, on foot of the debates in this House.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I congratulate Congressman Paul Ryan on his election as House Speaker in Washington. This is a most important part of parliamentary democracy. Congressman Ryan follows in a very proud tradition of Tip O'Neill and other Irish-American Speakers and I wish him well. I understand he visited Ireland a couple of months ago to reconnect with his Irish roots. I also congratulate the Irish hockey...

Seanad: National Mortgage and Housing Corporation Bill 2015: Second Stage (4 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, to the House. I thank the staff of the Bills Office, the Seanad Office and the Leader's office for their unfailing courtesy in their dealings with me on this legislation. I thank, too, my assistants, Dr. Charles Larkin and Ms Ursula Ní Choill for their invaluable help. The...

Seanad: National Mortgage and Housing Corporation Bill 2015: Second Stage (4 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: Hear, hear.

Seanad: National Mortgage and Housing Corporation Bill 2015: Second Stage (4 Nov 2015)

Sean Barrett: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I welcome Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes. I thank all the Senators who spoke. It is a pity that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, was detained elsewhere because he would have found much of interest but I am sure the Ministers of State, Deputies Ring and English, will inform him of what happened here today. All the speakers on every side of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Departure of High Performance Unit Head Coach: IABA and Sport Ireland (28 Oct 2015)

Sean Barrett: I will contribute after the four, as nominated.