Results 5,401-5,420 of 11,407 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I would like to welcome the Minister to the House and to express my own views on section 10, which we are currently debating. This is a critical section of the Bill as it deals with the membership of the commission. It is therefore central to the purpose of the Bill, as is evident from the contributions of my colleagues on it. This section came to us in an internally incoherent fashion...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: -----by a particular Minister who has set himself up as a champion of the Bill. As Senator McDowelll clearly set out, the Bill has had a long genesis. GRECO and many others, including Opposition Members, have called for a form of judicial appointments commission. It is important to note that the Bill and judicial appointments are not a one man show. Unfortunately, that is how the Bill is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister for his very considered reply to my question about the consultation between GRECO and his officials concerning what I said was a relatively minor change to the report, and to the wording of paragraph 35 in particular, a change which did not alter the substance of the critique that GRECO had expressed. However, I repeat my question on the number of appointees to the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister for his response to my question. To be clear, I never used the phrase "randomer". I acknowledge the Minister did not say that I did so. I fully support lay membership on the commission. It is hugely important to have a good spread of lay members with diverse backgrounds, not necessarily a law background and far from it. Section 12(6) is correctly drawn to cover a...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 1, the motion proposed by the Deputy Leader for the sitting of the House on Monday, be taken with debate. I opposed the idea that we would sit in this way to deal with the Committee Stage of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill at the leaders' meeting, as did other group leaders. We oppose the motion because the entire purpose...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (5 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to defer consideration of the resumed Committee Stage of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill. Anyone who was in the Chamber last night or who was observing the debate would have been struck by the extraordinary and somewhat farcical nature of the debate. Those of us who were engaged in putting amendments in good faith – I have...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Precisely.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Jul 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I am pressing the amendment.

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

Ivana Bacik: I move amendment No. 5:In page 8, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following:"(3) A person is employed in the service of the State if he or she is- (a) a member of the Garda Síochána, (b) a member of the Defence Forces, or (c) a civil servant in the Civil Service of the Government or the Civil Service of the State.".

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

Ivana Bacik: No, it is not agreed. My amendment is amendment No. 7 and while I see that amendments Nos. 6 and 110 are very closely related and see the reason for the grouping, I would prefer my amendment No. 7 to be dealt with separately because it is not so closely associated. I do not know what the view of Senator McDowell is.

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

Ivana Bacik: Thank you.

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

Ivana Bacik: Based on the voting pattern on the amendments we have put this afternoon, it is valid to ask the Minister if he is open to accepting any amendments. Amendment No. 5 in my name, which we debated last night, was a constructive technical amendment seeking to clarify a definition. I had not anticipated there would have been any difficulty with other parties supporting it. I was somewhat...

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

Ivana Bacik: Thrilled.

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

Ivana Bacik: I move amendment No. 7:In page 9, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:"Obligation to uphold judicial independence 7. (1) The Public Appointments Service and the Commission and their members—(a) shall, in performing their functions under and in connection with this Act, uphold judicial independence, (b) shall not, in connection with the performance of those functions,...

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

Ivana Bacik: I believed I was not to contribute until after the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton.

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

Ivana Bacik: I will just wait for the Minister of State.

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

Ivana Bacik: I am not in the business of wasting the time of the House. It is unfortunate that the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, was not in a position to respond personally on the very interesting and considered debate we have had on amendment No. 7.

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

Ivana Bacik: We are adjourning the debate in an hour in order to take Private Members' business.

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

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister of State. It is unfortunate, given the way in which this Bill has been debated, that the Minister was not in a position to respond personally to the debate. I asked the Minister when we would see the GRECO report. We debated at length last night the context to this Bill and the issues it purports to address. I read into the record of the House certain paragraphs of...