Results 5,501-5,520 of 11,719 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I congratulate Senator Frances Black on the passage last night of Committee Stage of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, which the Labour Party was proud to support. I commend her on obtaining cross-party support for it. I hope the Government will see fit not to oppose the legislation on a further Stage. I have been actively vocal on the issue of rights for...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Yes.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister to the House and take his point about the senior level judicial appointments committee. He has indicated his willingness to take on board some of the points that have been raised about that matter in the context of this debate. I will briefly address the point raised by Senator McDowell and which will be dealt with by amendment No. 90, which is currently under...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Senator McDowell raised an important point that relates to an issue I raised on the last occasion with the Minister concerning the way the Bill links with existing legislation. The Minister dealt with that point and I believe he took it as a point worthy of consideration that the definition of "practising barrister" in this legislation is not compatible with the definition in the Legal...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister for his response to the points raised by Senators Norris, McDowell and me on section 36 and its disapplication to the section 44 appointments. I also thank him for stating that he will come back on Report Stage with more definitive arrangements for those three most senior appointments. That is very welcome, as is his clarification that there will be a separate process...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: If I may respond to the Minister, I hear what he is saying about section 44. We have discussed that. Leaving it aside, I have raised a more fundamental concern about section 36. It does not apply to serving judges seeking promotion. The Minister has indicated that my reading is correct and that it does not apply. It clearly only applies to barristers, solicitors or legal academics...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: We are on section 36.

Seanad: Order of Business (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I welcome the Minister. I thank Senators Norris and McDowell for speaking on the Labour Party group of amendments and, in particular, Senator Norris for proposing the amendment. These amendments are somewhat self-explanatory and I will wait to hear the Minister's response. Essentially, they seek to adjust or tweak some of the provisions in section 33 of the Bill around eligibility and...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Yes.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister and my colleagues for elaborating on the amendments and raising so many points. I am grateful for the opportunity to have this debate and, as I said, I hope to adjust some of these amendments between now and Report Stage. Listening to the debate helped to clarify my mind on this. I accept the Minister's point about sitting District Court judges, to address amendment...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I accept that, which is why I must re-examine the amendment. Perhaps it is too much to remove that provision, as we propose to do in amendment No. 72, but two years may be simply too short. It might be preferable to reformulate the amendment to state four years or the like. I will consider it. Senator McDowell has pointed to the leapfrog issue. Somebody could be a serving District Court...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: There is an excellent Trinity woman in the form of Chief Justice Susan Denham, I am glad to say. It is worth reflecting on whether it is sufficient to refer to a five-year period spent as a District Court judge. One might have been President of the District Court, for example, and such an individual certainly should be eligible to go to the High Court. Therefore, I do not believe the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: Once we have considered them a little more, perhaps. I wonder about eligibility for the appointment of academics to the District Court and Circuit Court. It seems to be a more appropriate route to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. I am not, however, wedded to the idea and that is why I am not going to push amendment No. 73 at this stage. I will withdraw it and I may...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: No, because the proposed subsection (7) implies that "head of faculty", where it appears in the section, shall be construed as a reference to the head of the law school in Trinity's case. In UCD, it is also the head of a school. It is just a global term used to cover all heads of schools. I am just not quite sure why there are so many references in the section. It seems a little clumsy to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: In the interest of time, I will. These are important points but they were raised with me subsequent to the Bill commencing Committee Stage. Therefore, I could not table amendments on the matter for Committee Stage. The issue raised appears to involve a somewhat technical oversight, but with potentially serious consequences. It concerns the relationship between this Bill and the Legal...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I should have brought the definition. I am sorry. I am reading from the note I have been given. It is from a constituent.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I am told the section 2 definition from the 2015 Act has a broad definition of "practising barrister", to include employed barristers engaged in the provision of legal services. I understand the Act has now been commenced, but only very recently because the Legal Services Regulatory Authority has had to establish a roll of practising barristers. It is only as a result of this that the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: No.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. He did not respond to me on the other point about in-house lawyers but I am happy to wait for that.