Results 14,341-14,360 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: -----it is a genuine attempt to proceed in such a way so as to ensure that the people will be far more engaged and that this House, under Article 28.4 of the Constitution, will be seen to be able to live up to its responsibilities. In the period 1977 to 1979, the Lynch, Colley, O'Malley and O'Donoghue quartet ruled the roost in so far as the preparation and implementation of the budget was...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: No, I was not a member of it. The Deputy sat at the Cabinet table-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: -----and allowed 20 Ministers of State to be appointed. It was a case of "Have one for yourself and have some responsibility assigned to you, whatever it might be".

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: I am engaging in a debate with the Deputy now.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: I take Deputy Adams' point. The role of the Opposition is to hold the Government of the day to account. That role is defined in Article 28.4 of Bunreacht na hÉireann which states that it is the constitutional duty of the Dáil to hold the Government - the Executive - to account.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: There have been examples during the past ten years whereby issues raised by the Opposition have seen the Government held to account. We want to enhance the position in this regard because, in the interests of the people and our democracy, all Governments need to be held to account. The second point I must make in respect of this matter is that Governments must make decisions. It is no...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: If the Constitutional Convention were to consider the question of the Seanad and state that it should be retained-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: -----the Government would then say that it did not agree and that it was going to proceed to hold a referendum. In this instance the views of the parties in government were very clear prior to the general election and these were reflected in the programme for Government. The Government has also been clear in the decisions it has made in the context of asking the question. There was no need...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: No, it was not. The Seanad was never a second House. It was, rather, a break on the proceedings of the Dáil. While it has the right to delay legislation, this mechanism has only been used in very rare circumstances.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: My problem with the Seanad is that the founding principles of engagement and representation of civic society on which it was based were never adhered to there. This is because the Upper House was hijacked by the political process, including my party.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: That is one of the reasons the majority of persons I, as Taoiseach, was able to appoint to the Seanad are completely and utterly independent of politics. Those individuals have not been asked by me to vote in favour or support the Government on particular issues since their appointment. That has not always been the case.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: There were occasions in the past where people were rewarded with appointment to the Seanad on the basis of services they had previously rendered. What we want to do in this House with the revamped committee system is to engage with civic society and the sectors of civic society which were left out of the analysis, preparation, consideration and implementation of the laws of our land. Nothing...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: On the point about my standing for the abolition of the Seanad, this is the first time I have had an opportunity to do something about it. I made it perfectly clear when I spoke about this matter a number of years ago, that I would carry out an in-depth analysis of Seanad Éireann. Before the previous general election, we made our position clear, as all parties did, for abolition of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: I reject that. These figures were provided by the House of the Oireachtas Commission-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: They are not a claim made by a politician. They are the figures contained in the formal letter from the House of the Oireachtas Commission setting out the direct, indirect and pension costs accruing to the running of the Seanad. I do not accept what Deputy Martin has said in any circumstances. Clearly, when an entity is abolished, merged or changed, direct and indirect costs move on, just...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: I do not have any difficulty in putting that-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: I do not have any difficulty in making available that information on the website of the Department. There is nothing to hide in it in any event.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: As I indicated to the Deputy, in the case of every Minister in every Government-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: -----who has responsibility for a legislative item, it is that Department and officials of that Department who prepare the proposition and, thereafter, the Parliamentary Counsel actually drafts the legislation. As the Department of the Taoiseach deals with protocol, constitutional matters and so on, the aforementioned small number of officials - who already are working in other areas in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Seanad Referendum (24 Sep 2013)

Enda Kenny: I certainly agree with Deputy Adams on one point, which is that for more than 50 years, the political process failed to deal with report after report regarding the potential of Seanad Éireann or its reformation. I examined this issue myself and it is impossible to reform a system that would still be discriminatory and minority-based and still would not involve people in the manner in...