Results 10,341-10,360 of 12,596 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: Amendment No. 5 seeks to change the provisions in legislation to ensure that the appointment is made by the President on the advice of the Government rather than on the recommendation of the Minister. I am happy to accept the amendment. Amendments Nos. 7 and 8 to the section of the Bill dealing with the military judge are required as a result of the Labour Party Senator's amendment No. 5,...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: Yes, and amendment No. 12.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: On amendment No. 6, the Bill currently provides that where there is more than one military judge, the Judge Advocate General may designate one of the military judges to be the chief military judge. This amendment seeks to change that so that the President would appoint the chief military judge. While I am happy to accept the principle of the amendment, the Parliamentary Counsel has advised...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: This Bill is an amendment of the 1954 Act. In the case of amending legislation, it is the policy of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to follow the format and language of the parent legislation. In this case the language of the parent Act is not gender neutral although adequate provision for the interpretation of gender references is provided for in the Defence Act. If and when the...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: I accept Senator Tuffy's point. As she rightly said, the Interpretation Act states that "man" includes "woman" and vice versa. Nevertheless, the Parliamentary Counsel has advised us clearly that when we are legislating by reference to earlier legislation, if certain terminology appears in the earlier legislation the same terminology should be used in the interests of consistency. I...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: The Bill provides that any member of the Defence Forces who is a barrister or solicitor may not be a member of a court-martial board. The amendment seeks to remove this provision. A person who is legally qualified in the Defence Forces is a potential member of the legal service. This fact could cast a doubt on his or her independence. In the recently enacted UK Armed Forces Act 2006, such...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: I agree with the amendment's principle. I am, however, satisfied that the proposed insert is adequately provided for in section 194(2) of the principal Act in a more complete way. The section allows the military judge to prohibit the publication of information in the proceedings of certain circumstances, such as proceedings for an offence of a sexual nature, in exactly the same way as the...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: The amendments seek to amend the provisions of the Bill relating to victim impact statements. While I have no objection to the general intention of the proposed amendments, the Bill reflects the provisions which apply in the ordinary criminal courts pursuant to section 5(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993. The wording is exactly the same. If, by virtue in the current debate regarding...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: I am satisfied. Section 5(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993 has been interpreted in cases such as the Robert Holohan case where a relative of the victim can make the impact statement on the behalf of the deceased. We have followed the wording of that section in this legislation.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: Section 192 of the principal Act provides that a summary court-martial shall not have jurisdiction to award to any person any sentence greater than imprisonment for a period of six months. The scale of punishments that may be awarded to an enlisted member of the Defence Forces is provided for in section 210 of the principal Act. It is the intention of the Bill that a summary court-martial...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: This amendment merely breaks up a long subsection into two paragraphs for ease of readability.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: This minor amendment removes the word "that" from the start of paragraphs (a) and (b) and moves it to the subsection level. It is simply tidying up the language.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: This minor amendment corrects a typographical error.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: The Bill provides that the Minister may make rules of procedure for the functions of the chief military judge "with respect to courts-martial". The amendment proposes to delete this so that rules of procedure may prescribe all the functions of the chief military judge, if there is one. The rules will not necessarily be limited to functions which specifically relate to courts-martial.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: I thank Senator Tuffy for identifying an oversight on our part and I will accept the amendment.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: This amendment relates to the courts-martial rules committee. The Bill provides that an officer of the Attorney General will be nominated to sit on the committee by the director general of the Office of the Attorney General. The amendment seeks to change this so that the officer is nominated by the Attorney General. This amendment improves the legislation. Again, we are indebted to...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (8 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: This minor amendment corrects another typographical error.

Written Answers — Defence Forces Reserve: Defence Forces Reserve (7 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: Defence Force Regulations S.7 and its enabling legislation the Defence Amendment Act, 1990 provide for representative structures for members of the Defence Forces including the Army and Naval Reserves. The question of a Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for the ranks represented by the Reserve Defence Representative Association (RDFRA) has been raised by representatives of the association...

Written Answers — National Development Plan: National Development Plan (7 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: No funds were made available to my Department under the previous or new National Development Plan.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2006: Second Stage (6 Feb 2007)

Willie O'Dea: I thank Senators for their contributions to this interesting discussion. Some of the points raised have already occurred to me, although I confess I had not considered others. Senator Brian Hayes asked whether I was satisfied that all the provisions of the Bill were constitutional. Before we publish legislation, the Attorney General examines it for constitutionality and we do not pursue any...