Results 9,881-9,900 of 20,763 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: To be helpful, this sounds weird but would the witnesses please go to Mr. Justice Charlton or the tribunal group and ask them if they want the Department to discover everything or discover all strands of every email that has anything to do with the O'Higgins Commission or Maurice McCabe and all private emails? Did Department officials have private emails?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: Did they have private emails that they used for official business.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: And the mobile-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: In fairness, I have lost a lot of time so I have a few questions and I appreciate the Chairman's indulgence. There will be an external review of what has happened. I am very nervous about that because it will be done by an outside senior counsel, fair enough, who will ask or look at whether the Department complied with orders. That is not really the question. Of course, the Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: The issue here is that there are a number of retired officials who are obviously very pertinent to this section. We need to ensure that all the information in their heads which could be helpful and all the information that may be on their phones or in their emails is all provided and discoverable. In respect of my next few questions, I am only touching the surface. In respect of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: To be fair, I understand that. We went through this at the Committee of Public Accounts. I am asking a factual question. This relates to what the Taoiseach said in the Chamber last week. These are factual questions. I am not asking Ms McPhillips to theorise. I am not even sure we would be here if these questions were answered on day one. It is either black or white. The Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: That cannot be accurate because the Ceann Comhairle allowed my questions on this matter. I have got answers to them that are rubbish. He cannot have ruled differently on a subsequent occasion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: This is a breakdown in democracy. It is a factual question. I am not asking people to theorise if it was right or wrong. It is like asking if a person had a cup of tea yesterday. This happened and we know that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: The Department was either aware of it beforehand, at the time or afterwards. When was it aware of it? These are facts. If we cannot find out facts in these Houses, we may as well close down.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: This committee is making the situation worse.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: The Chairman is right. With regard to the knowledge of this information, it is just making the position more confused.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: It is not the committee, of course. I should have rephrased that. I thank the Chairman for clarifying the position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: Yesterday, I received answers to some questions. There was much more text but still very little information. The Taoiseach referred in the Dáil to the quality of answers I am getting and that has not changed. I am getting much more text but it says nothing. I asked a question on the Charleton liaison committee. We all know that there have been serious questions about this committee...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: My question has not been answered. The Department has correspondence outlining the growing concerns relating to this unit. Did it not act on that or do something about it? Did it not consider what was happening? With all the conversation about whistleblowers being protected and whistleblowing legislation, serious concerns were being raised about the operation of this unit, how it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: The Department received correspondence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: The bottom line is that concerns were raised with the Department regarding the operation of this unit. They were serious concerns from multiple people, including me. I tabled 25 parliamentary questions. It is now the subject of a section 41 notification. The concerns are real. Perhaps it is not extraordinary in light of what we know about the Department. However, it would be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: There has been correspondence since last May.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: Ms McPhillips is not aware of any correspondence from anyone outside my parliamentary questions in regard to this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: It is reasonable. What harm would it do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Functioning of the Department of Justice and Equality: Department of Justice and Equality (6 Dec 2017)

Alan Kelly: What harm would there be in doing so?