Results 7,781-7,800 of 21,096 for speaker:Charles Flanagan
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I do not wish to interfere in any way with the debate but it might be appropriate to suggest we deal with section 22 first.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: It will be for the ease of the debate. We will come back to Senator McDowell's very valid points and the queries he raised on the last occasion. I am very keen to address them but maybe not now.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I suggest we deal with that at that stage.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I know, but my concern on behalf of Senators is that we will fail to distinguish between the point at issue, which is the question of accountability or otherwise of the chair of the new body to the Oireachtas committee, and the point the Senator is making. I accept the validity of what he is saying but I am concerned about the structure of the debate.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I most certainly will not accept that any aspect of this Bill is a nonsense. In fact, Senator Norris said in his opening comments that his fundamental disagreement with sections such as this is well known because he opposed such measures in the past in similar legislation.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: Of course, he will have had an opportunity since then of seeing the manner in which these issues are discussed at Dáil committees, without rendering a chairperson of a committee or any of its members unable to proceed on certain matters. I merely make the point, as I said earlier, that there is nothing new-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I welcome the Senator's comment but on the last occasion he described a similar type of provision as a "nonsense", which I assume he did, it did not transpire to be thus in the manner in which the various bodies have since engaged with appropriate or relevant Dáil committees, including joint committees. The sky did not fall in. I must come back to what I describe as the standard nature...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I am confident that the section in question will not amount to an obstruction or barrier to accountability. If we look at past experience, in practice, no restrictions were placed on accountability to Oireachtas committees by dint of something that might well be sub judicein the context of current court proceedings or is likely to give rise to a court dispute at an early future date. I do...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: The Senator should not be worried. He cannot draw on any past experience in which this worry has materialised.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: This is not without precedent. This is a standard section that has been used in similar legislation in which agencies have been established. I am satisfied as to its appropriateness. The Senator has a long history of objecting to such sections. I acknowledge his right to do so.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: There are three scenarios here. The first is one where a matter has been decided by the courts and has been resolved, and that resolution has been established.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: The court will have established it. The second scenario is where a matter is before the courts. I ask Senators to accept the fact that where matters are before the courts they are sub judice. Senators might not like that on all occasions but I believe it is desirable. The third scenario is the one which Senator Norris uses as a blanket restriction on accountability for issues that may at...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I know-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: It does not say anything about the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, either.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: It was a profitable one.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I want to say again that I do not envisage a situation where individual court cases will be the subject matter of a Dáil committee engagement, whether past or future, nor indeed do Senators. That is not the type of discourse that is envisaged when a chairman or CEO, in this case a chair, reports and is accountable to an appropriate Dáil committee. It is not envisaged that the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: With respect, this is my concluding comment on this. Senator Norris has put his finger on a very alarming button by talking about the capacity of an Oireachtas committee to examine and, as he says, "investigate" a court case.I do not see circumstances where that would be desirable or where an Oireachtas committee should second-guess the courts. Senator Norris expressly referred to an...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: It is not desirable that an Oireachtas committee should hire and fire chairpersons, which is expressly the Senator's point.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: Briefly.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I make these brief comments in the context of my being accused, by some Government colleagues, of engaging in a filibuster-----