Results 8,541-8,560 of 21,096 for speaker:Charles Flanagan
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: One of the key points that has been made this afternoon is that Ireland is in some way out of line with European and international norms. However, no one whom I heard making that point shed any great light on what international and European norms are. I will explain why that is the case - there is no universal international norm. Nor is there any binding international or European norm. As...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I appreciate the time being made available.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I was dealing with the report of GRECO. I am very pleased that Senators have had an opportunity to give consideration to the report in the context of where we are in the debate. Having read the GRECO report in its entirety and its earlier drafts, as I did, it seems clear that the Bill before us increases judicial independence rather than attempting to reduce it. The Bill proposes a reduced...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: -----of Government. I mentioned to Senator McDowell - I am not sure whether Senator Norris was present - that the chair of the Public Appointments Service is retired Secretary General, Mr. Tom Moran. His board, the full particulars of which I would be happy to lay before the House, includes Mr. Eddie Molloy and other persons with a strong track record in public service. The CEO is Ms Fiona...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I will say-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: The independent, non-judicial, non-legal chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission in England and Wales is none other than Professor Lord Ajay Kakkar who is, among other things, a professor of surgery in University College London. He may be someone to whom Senator Craughwell might defer if he has a difficulty with his own medical scheme, which is perhaps-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: -----why the Senator introduced this into the debate.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: The chairman of the Scotland commission is Mrs. Nicola Gordon who is an engineer by profession and an expert in international petroleum and gas engineering. She is the non-legal, independent and very successful chair of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. There are four judges on the board in Scotland and in Ireland it is proposed to have five. The board in Scotland has six lay...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I shall now turn to the assertions made by Senator McDowell, who continues on the chapter he opened up here last week around the motivation or otherwise of a member of Government who Senator McDowell has assumed is a champion or sponsor of this Bill.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: The points raised by Senator McDowell about Private Members' Bills in the past, whether they were initiated in the Dáil or the Seanad, and which Senator Norris also invited us to accept as being in some way relevant-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: It is a phantom Bill and has absolutely no bearing on the current Bill.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: That Bill is not before the House. If it was before the House it would certainly be opposed by me. It would be nothing short of shambolic to suggest that the Opposition parties might be the ones to make appointments to the Judiciary. I dare say-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: If that was the case I am sure that Senators Craughwell, Humphreys, Norris, McDowell and others would be apoplectic in their opposition to it, as would GRECO.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: It is a fake comparison. In an unusual step in the course of the debate Senator McDowell named two journalists from The Irish Times, Mr. Pat Leahy and Ms Sarah Bardon. They are two journalists of the highest repute and they are objective in their ongoing analysis. It is my understanding that the article penned by Mr. Leahy, which Senator McDowell referred to, had an inaccurate quote from an...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: As I have said, Mr. Leahy and Ms Bardon are journalists of the highest standing and I do not regard it as either-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: -----relevant or accurate to engage them in this debate, or to refer to a Bill that is by no means before the House. I do not agree with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Ross when he makes an assertion - such as he has in the past - that the Government continues to appoint friends to judicial office.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I do not accept that. I fundamentally disagree with that.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I disagree with any assertion that there has been anything that might in way be associated with cronyism or the equivalent. I disagree with Senator McDowell when he says that a Minister or Ministers exercise a veto over the appointments. The proof is in the numbers. In 2016 there were 14 judges appointed. I was appointed as the Minister for Justice and Equality halfway through 2017. In...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I am not bound to any agreement. Senator Craughwell referred to his father as the great party supporter, so presumably Senator Craughwell resigned and left also. Senators Craughwell, McDowell and the Minister, Deputy Ross have more in common-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)
Charles Flanagan: I will get to Senator Norris later on.