Results 13,481-13,500 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Exactly.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: One cannot make law for every eventuality. If sufficient numbers are removed for whatever reason, then the inquiry itself will collapse.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As I have indicated, that is a matter for the rules of the House.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The House would have to have regard for natural justice. The House sets up the committee and its terms of reference. It sets who is to conduct the committee and the number of members on the committee and it will determine what is to be the critical mass.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 21: In page 28, subsection (5), line 31, to delete “in any way” and substitute “for that reason alone”.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: There are two points. Constitutionally, Members of the House are made accountable to the House and not to any external person. For example, for utterances in the House they cannot be hauled before the courts or held to account elsewhere. Therefore, they must be held to account here. The Bill establishes the rules and procedures to ensure this is done in a fair way. The full panoply of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In the first instance, the House will set up the committee and will make that determination. If the committee is established with a member who carries a perception of bias, a witness or a person subject to the inquiry will have access to the courts to vindicate his or her good name. Once the inquiry is established, a role is afforded to the chairman of the committee to maintain the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Once the committee has been set up. For clarity I refer to a situation where there is a doubt. The issue of bias will be returned to the House for a determination.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Ultimately, if the person challenged the direction of the committee in that regard.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: There is no censure; this is simply to remove someone who is biased.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is a very good question. It will be a matter for the House itself to determine. I imagine that people will look at the composition of a committee. For instance, as with the jury system, if a person is of the view that the proposed member might not be objectively impartial and would put any finding of the committee or the work of the committee at risk of challenge in the courts, this...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is the normal practice. I refer to section 17(4) which states: "The House may by resolution remove a committee member from, or add a member of the House to, the committee in accordance with the rules and standing orders of the House." This is a matter on which the House will have to seize itself. The normal way in which a committee is constructed is that the numbers are fixed and then...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I fully accept it in that spirit. I recheck any point raised. We would not propose anything that had not been stamped by the Attorney General. Any legislation comes with a stamped copy which shows that it is, on the advice of the Office of the Attorney General, constitutional. We would not propose it otherwise. By long-standing practice, it is not the norm to give the formal advice of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy has raised a number of issues. I take his point on definitions. In terms of his general point, this is a catch-all set of guidelines. We will not be prescriptive about every eventuality. On the particular question raised by the Deputy on subsection (2)(b), there will be occasions when a scoping exercise will be done, whether it is a report of the Comptroller and Auditor...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: -----or another report that finds there is an issue to be looked at. Somebody in that report might require more robust protections if there were to be a formal inquiry, such as the right to attend all sessions, cross-examine and so on, but the panoply of legal rights will not be distributed in the same way to everybody. If somebody is a casual witness he or she should not be allowed to...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 20: In page 27, subsection (6), line 37, to delete “in any way” and substitute “for that reason alone”.Section 17 deals with the power of the Chairman to give directions. Subsection (3) provides that the House may, by resolution, remove a committee member from a committee for contravening a direction given to him or her pursuant to the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I hope that is clear.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Section 11 of the Bill is a proposal by a committee to conduct a Part 2 inquiry. That is a big step. The Deputy is saying that a quarter of the members of the committee can determine that against the wishes of three-quarters. Taken with the evidence that Deputy Fleming has already given, the notion that the Deputy is curing what he perceives to be a bias by virtue of a majority being able...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (5 Jun 2013)

Brendan Howlin: That is amendment No. 13. Is the Deputy proceeding with that amendment?