Results 4,061-4,080 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Never.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: That was the previous section. This concerns rights, privileges and obligations. I can make sense of others but how can anybody retain rights given under an enactment if it is abolished?

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I want to hear a reason.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I do that occasionally. It is a bad habit I have.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is not the intent, but the effect is to marginalise the role of the Oireachtas in dealing with a lot of European legislation. I do not want to say more than we should return to it. I suggest that, if we had a further ten minutes, we would satisfactorily complete the Bill without rancour.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The Report Stage amendments are printed.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The front page of this Bill is tempting satire. At the top of page five it states "Interpretation Bill 2000". Section 1(1) states: "This Act may be cited as the Interpretation Act 2003" and section 1(2) states: "This Act comes into operation on 1 January 2004". The Minister is now telling us it will come into operation some time in 2006. The Bill, as amended, is unlikely to pass through the...

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Without venturing into territory regarding the Minister's position in terms of negotiating Dáil business, Members of this House are not overly impressed with the Dáil's capacity to process legislation. There are currently 12 Seanad Bills waiting to be processed, one of which dates back to 2002. If we leave a deadline in the Bill and say it must come into force on, for example, 1 January...

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is a good start to the afternoon. We could make much progress here.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: The definitions in section 2 make no reference to legislation of the European Union, which is referred to in section 28. According to the proposed amendments section 28 is opposed. It also is marked with an asterisk, but I am not sure whether that is a misprint or it is the Government that opposes the section. Surely we cannot put through an interpretation Bill without reference to European...

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Before I was born.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: I probably should not have spent as much time this morning reading this Bill as I did. I have a problem with regard to the word "absurd" in section 3(2)(b)(ii) in the phrase "the other enactment would be changed in intent or become unclear or absurd". I have no problem with "changed in intent" or "become unclear", but "absurd" is an extraordinarily subjective word. I am not trying to be...

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: There goes coalition. We will discuss that later. My point is that the word "absurd" is an extraordinary one for draftsmen to use. I meant to look the word up in the dictionary earlier.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: They are in lines 14 and 25 of page 6 of the Bill. I am not trying to be awkward, but I think "absurd" is an extraordinary word to include in legislation.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: That is fair enough. If it is the case that such language is part of the parlance of the courts, that is fine and I am happy to accept it.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: There is a need for an official in the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel to learn to write intelligible English. It takes one approximately five readings to ascertain what certain parts of this Bill mean. I do not blame the Minister of State for that.

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: It is absurd for the Attorney General to be worried about the sunset of legislation, given that there is an amendment to the Bill which is precisely intended to deal with marginal or shoulder notes. It states that none of the following shall be taken to be part of the enactment. I am not sure why the Attorney General was worrying about marginal notes when there is an amendment stating that...

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: No, the rainbow Government was in power. That was one of our big mistakes. I would not be in favour of this amendment. However, the Oireachtas should set up a process of continuous revision of statute law. It would be useful to have a committee of the Oireachtas to examine statute law and also to respond to the Law Reform Commission's occasional submissions on legislation that is defunct. I...

Seanad: Interpretation Bill 2000: Committee Stage. (29 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage. (28 Jun 2005)

Brendan Ryan: Some of the Minister's colleagues are good at doing that.