Results 1,001-1,020 of 1,827 for speaker:Jillian van Turnhout

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I am reading section 21. It contains nothing that makes it absolute that the board must be informed about gifts or appointments of consultants and advisers. It refers to overseeing the development of a corporate strategy in respect of major plans of action, risk policy, annual budgets, business plans, setting performance objectives, monitoring corporate performance, overseeing major capital...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: The Bill sets out excellent governance but my difficulty about the consultants and advisers is that the expenditure controls only take effect after the event. The board will hear after a consultant or adviser has been appointed. The board will not consider an appointment prior to it being made. I am trying to insert a control whereby the board would be informed of a proposal to the...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I am more concerned about advisers than I am about consultants.

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: Advisers could be seen as substitutes for staff positions. I understand why a CEO might designate a consultant, but I have an issue with the question of advisers.

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I move amendment No. 11: In page 31, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “(3) The Agency must advise the Board, on an annual basis, of gifts accepted that are above the value of €500.”.Section 39 states that the agency shall not accept a gift if the trusts or conditions attaching to it would be inconsistent with the functions or the obligations of the agency...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I ask the Minister to clarify a point. I found the Bill somewhat confusing in that this section 39 refers to the board of the agency but the preamble to the Bill defines the agency and the board of the agency. The agency means the child and family agency established under section 7 of the Bill. The board is also defined. I ask why the definitions are not more precise. In a future...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I will reserve the right to table the amendment on Report Stage. I would like to look at it in greater detail. I am concerned about the differentiation.

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I move amendment No. 13: In page 35, lines 8 and 9, to delete “judgment in a particular case in the performance by the Agency of its functions” and substitute the following: “judgement in a particular case in the performance by the Agency of its functions and must be in accordance with section 8 and section 9".I refer to the word "judgment" in this section. This spelling...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: The word "judgment" in a court ruling is normally spelled without the "e" whereas when spelled with the "e" it can mean other types of professional direction. I have asked different legal people and they have advised me about the interpretation. I will bring this amendment back on Report Stage and perhaps the Minister can seek advice. If a professional judgment were given, somebody could...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I move amendment No. 14: In page 39, line 39, after “of” where it firstly occurs to insert “the Board and”.This amendment relates to consultants and to advisers in particular. I have a concern about the appointment of advisers. This may be another area where the Minister will say that the agency means the board. My difficulty is that the definitions in the...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: No. The UN makes a clear distinction. In Ireland, we use the term "paramount consideration" in our legislation on adoption, custody, access and guardianship. Nobody has any dispute about that. As I have said, Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child articulates that "the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration" in other types of areas and issues that...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: Yes. I intend to return to the matter on Report Stage.

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I fully endorse the Minister's decision not to take a prescriptive approach to the appointment of board members. Such an approach is not articulated in this Bill. I did not have a chance to make this point on Second Stage in the time available to me. It is important that the Minister has taken the right approach. I hope we can consider the seven principles of public life, which are often...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I would like to make a brief comment on the remuneration and expenses of the members of the boards and committees. Can the Minister advise us whether there are any current payments to board members? If there will be payments to board members in the case of the new agency, will details of those payments be published? If the Minister cannot answer that question today, perhaps she will come...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I appreciate the Minister's reply. My difficulty is that it is being specifically excluded. I understand that this outlines the functions of the agency, but my difficulty is that we are excluding it. I raise it now because I might table an amendment on Report Stage.

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I move amendment No. 6: In page 13, to delete lines 30 to 32 and substitute the following: “9. (1) The Agency shall, when making decisions in relation to the performance of its functions under section 8(1)(a), (b) or (c), in respect of an individual child or family, regard the best interests of the child as a primary consideration.”.This is my most substantive amendment. The...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I do not propose to press the amendment.

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I put forward amendment No. 4 in error. What I had intended to propose, and which I may do on Report Stage, relates to subsection 8(4)(a). This subsection states that among the services not included within the provisions of the Bill are "psychological services associated with the provision of specialist mental health services to children". I spoke on Second Stage of my regret that the...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: I move amendment No. 1: In page 12, line 16, after "the" to insert "educational welfare".Amendment No. 1 corresponds to an amendment that was discussed in the Dáil and, as such, I do not propose to talk at length about it. I studied the Official Report carefully as the Bill went through all Stages in the Dáil and remain convinced of the need to include a reference to "educational...

Seanad: Child and Family Agency Bill 2013: Second Stage (27 Nov 2013)

Jillian van Turnhout: Hear, hear.