Results 12,981-13,000 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: In amendment No. 5, Deputy Donnelly is proposing that one quarter of the members of a committee should constitute a sufficient number to deem a proposal by a committee to have been passed and to cause it to come to the House.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: It is an extraordinary proposition, if one thinks about it. A quarter of the members of a committee could overrule three quarters and have a motion tabled in the House. I have a number of reservations about this proposal. These inquiries will not be routine matters. They will demand resources and deal with matters of significant substance. Most of us believe there should at least be a...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I am not familiar with the Bundestag. I do not know how it works. However, this is an extraordinary proposition. Whatever about majoritarianism, a dictatorship of the minority would be an interesting concept to debate. There are issues in respect of which a minority should be able to trigger actions and I am not ruling that out in all instances. In amendments Nos. 6 and 7, Deputy...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: -----but the House's rules cannot overturn the Constitution itself] shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting other than the Chairman or presiding member." The Constitution is clear that a majority of Deputies are needed to pass a resolution of the House. A quarter of the Members of the House overruling three quarters would be an extraordinary...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: This is how it works. Parliament needs it. Consider what this Parliament has needed to do in recent years. The notion that every difficult budgetary decision could be a free vote, the pressure on everybody-----
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: May I speak as freely as I allowed the Deputy to speak?
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I thank the Deputy.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Article 15.11.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That is not always true.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: It was deeply political.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Why?
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Why was Deputy Donnelly there?
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: That was outrageous.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Deputy Donnelly stayed in Turkey
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: A former DPP.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: Any inquiry.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: The Taoiseach did not make any criminal charges against anyone that I heard. He made a political charge on the Order of Business. As I instanced, it is a normal expectation that such cut and thrust would be made during Prime Minister's Question Time and the notion this would impact on the British inquiry system would not arise. I do not want to go into the inquiry on banking which, as the...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: We asked Behaviour & Attitudes for a complete analysis and presented the findings to a public expenditure and reform committee which had a very robust debate. It was important to look behind why people made the decision, particularly if anybody was thinking of running the referendum again. My judgment on this is that we must prove the House capable of doing the normal work of...
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: The Deputy was on the wrong side of the debate.
- Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Jul 2013)
Brendan Howlin: I have listened for 20 minutes.