Results 1,221-1,240 of 10,789 for speaker:Matt Carthy
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: Yes, or another means of making oneself identifiable.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: That is good to know.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: I think the point is it is not in primary legislation.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: Yes, and on the fundamentals, there is very little disagreement, if any, that I can discern. The difficulty is, and this debate is evidence of it, as was the pre-legislative scrutiny stage, that this does not bring about the clarity the Tánaiste is striving to bring about. To go back to one of the questions I was going to ask, he mentioned that this was based heavily on military...
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: Whose views is the Tánaiste referring to? Are they military experts or the management of the Defence Forces?
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: If the Chief of Staff was in uniform, therefore, and was giving the Tánaiste a view on what this legislation should include, would he not be breaching the legislation because he would be commenting on Government policy?
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: Yes, that is the point I am trying to get to, namely, whether one part of the Act contravenes another.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: I am disappointed that the Tánaiste is suggesting our motives are to be bloody popular or whatever the case may be. The nature of politics is that when you agree with someone, of course you are popular with them but-----
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: Here is the point. There was a time in this House when if Members suggested there should be representative organisations at all for the Defence Forces, they would be told they were being whatever the term for "populist" was in the 1950s or 1960s. They would have been told that if somebody was to suggest they should have an entitlement to affiliate with ICTU. There is always an evolution in...
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: It is paragraphs (g)(i) and (ii).
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: We are saying, on the one hand, that of course the associations have a right to represent their members and nothing we do here will prejudice that but, on the other, they shall not engage in making a public statement or comment on Government policy. Some areas of that are quite clear, and do not require any adjudication, for example, if representative organisations are making an appeal to...
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: That is what I am saying. It is a little less so than their direct terms and conditions.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: However, if they are also then talking about childcare costs, taxation policy and regional development policy – all issues that impact on their members – one can see how it can move to a space where there could be an argument then in respect of this piece of legislation. I do think the core issues are the references to "Government policy" and "political matters". The...
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: Not the reference to "a political matter" but, yes, in terms of commentary in respect of "Government policy". Let us take, for example, if on budget day-----
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: Yes, but it also includes media commentary, including social media. I am taking the section in its totality. For example, on budget day, RTÉ always does a package of vox pops where it gets people from different sectors to give their views on it. Trade unions contact their members and say they should participate in the debate on how the budget has affected members – good, bad or...
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: The point I am making is that this makes it unclear.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: It also states they cannot lobby.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: It then becomes-----
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: It comes down to an interpretation as to whether or not what they are saying relates to the purpose of an association in representing members. Does the Tánaiste get the point? I am making the point that there is ambiguity here and it is open to different interpretation.
- Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)
Matt Carthy: This is about the RACO and PDFORRA encouraging members. It relates to the purposes of associations. The Bill states that without prejudice to the purposes of representing their members, associations shall not encourage members to engage in public agitation and protest. We all have an understanding that the role of the representative organisations is not the same as other trade unions,...