Results 401-420 of 501 for speaker:Maurice Hayes

Seanad: Order of Business. (18 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I join Senator Brian Hayes in welcoming the Special Olympics athletes. I also congratulate the organisers for holding the Games on an all-island basis. The welcome so manifest in the South is also manifest in the North, both from members of the public and the public authorities. It has been an exemplary act of community co-operation. Will the Leader ask the Minster for Transport to use his...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: If that is satisfactory.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: With the permission of the House I wish to share my time with Senator Henry.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I am grateful to Senator Feeney for her attempt to share time with me earlier. It would be unchivalrous to suggest that it become a test of sobriety that one knows what fellow Senators are doing.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: Over the last month I have asked on a couple of occasions that the Minister for Health and Children provide the House with information on the basis of the expert advice he was getting in relation to SARS and the Special Olympics. I regret that this information has not been made available. It would be helpful, even at this late hour, if we knew who was coming to Ireland and under what terms,...

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I apologise. I misread the wording. I have no problem with it.

Seanad: Convention on the Future of Europe: Statements. (10 Jun 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I welcome also the earlier statement by the Minister of State, Deputy Roche. We should recognise the Convention for what it is. It has been an amazingly innovative way to try to sort out the problems of organising the business in Europe. We have all suffered and complained in the past about work being done in smoke-filled rooms during unsocial...

Seanad: Order of Business. (29 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: Regarding Senator Henry's point, it is a pity that we could not have arrived at this stage a couple of weeks ago without creating tremendous fear and hoo-ha. Since the Special Olympics are organised on an all-island basis, what consultation has taken place with public health authorities in the North? Senator Quinn referred to the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill and I was one of the...

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I accept that. It is reasonable to deal with this matter in that way. It would be helpful if the Minister of State recognised the underlying principle in the point being made by Senators Quinn and McDowell. As a director of a company, I am affected by this. There should be some voice for directors, who, in many ways, are being made subject to much of the regulatory activity. I strongly...

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I would prefer to see the Minister operating under the powers afforded to him under section 46(1) regarding the addition of people to the board.

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: It is a case of moving from possibility to potentiality.

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: The bones of what Senator McDowell is looking for may be in paragraph (h) which gives some of the functions of the supervisory body as "to co-operate with the recognised accountancy bodies and other interested parties in developing standards relating to the independence of auditors and to monitor the effectiveness of those standards". It could be helpful if some sort of gloss on what is meant...

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: I take the point made by Senator O'Toole. I know what it is like to be part of an investigatory body when a case comes up and one has to go back to the sponsoring bodies to seek funding. It is proper that the authority should not have to face such a situation. With regard to the limit that the Minister may specify, does the Minister anticipate specifying a set limit or reviewing it year by...

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: There are difficulties when a body is both regulatory and arbitratory, in that the body has to build Chinese walls inside its own organisation so that the same people are not engaged in the investigation as were involved in the original decision. It might be easier to proceed along the lines that Senator Coghlan has suggested.

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: There is an enormous difference between the public interest and what the public is interested in. Quite a lot of what the public is interested in is not in the public interest.

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: In all legislation relating to ombudsmen there is a presumption that people will exhaust domestic remedies. If there was a presumption that people making a complaint should have used the normal processes of the organisations, power could then be reserved to the supervisory body. On occasion, there might be an appalling case where people recognise that there was no point in sending them back...

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: It might be helpful, in order to avoid the appearance of an illusion, if we were to use the term "if the Supervisory Authority forms the view that there is or may be". It is the use of the terms "appearing" and "or may be" with which Senator Quinn and several other Members find difficult to come to terms. If the authority forms a view that there is a problem with a company, it shows that it...

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: The authority would be acting as a court and it would probably be unconstitutional.

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: The Senator's point is reasonable because it would be wrong, and damaging to the intent of the legislation, if people were able to acquire the commercial confidential information of a particular firm simply by using the FOI Act. As Senator McDowell said, there is a distinction to be made between the operation of the organisation and the information on which it makes its decision.

Seanad: Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (28 May 2003)

Maurice Hayes: Would it help if a distinction was made between private and public companies? I can see difficulties in this regard in a private company but, generally, public companies would be large enough to cast the play. It probably is preferable in such cases that a person other than the chairman should serve on the audit committee. There is no great problem in a private company and I presume that the...