Results 17,381-17,400 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I want to thank everybody who has presented their views here today. It is interesting, although I had not thought a lot about it coming into this meeting. It has occupied us all in a more general way in recent years with tribunals and all of that. Fair play to the witnesses for thinking about it and for briefing us. Hopefully it will prompt me, and maybe all of us here, to think about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I think that is vital. SIPO sends us a lot of stuff to fill out every year. I have been late a couple of times, I have to confess, but it is right and proper that it is sent to us. That, in itself, is an improvement. However, I do not actually know what else SIPO really does. Is the proposal here that SIPO and the whistleblower's office would all become part of one big standards in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay. That is a useful piece of information for me, apart from anything else. That does not just relate to elected representatives, but also to people making disclosures or whistleblowing in relation to public officials generally. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I must think my way through it, but we definitely need a whistleblowers' office. The question before us then is whether that should be integrated. As Mr. Tyndall stated, the need for streamlining of the legislative role is unquestionable. We are probably all on the same page there, but then, as well as having the best possible legislation, and streamlined so that it is all in one place,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is Mr. Tyndall in favour - maybe he is not allowed to say - of integrating all of these offices into a single one?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is Mr. Tyndall venturing any particular opinion on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I accept that. I tend to lean towards a commission. Maybe none of the witnesses are allowed to say because they are all being very balanced and neutral, even those who are veering one way or slightly veering the other. I can see the advantages of the commission only because, when one is dealing with a fairly broad range of areas, including quite controversial issues, it is good to have a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Dr. Byrne stated that Canada was a good model.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Market-based whistleblowing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I see the point but alarm bells are ringing a little bit. It is not because of ideology but a genuine concern that there will be a financial incentive to make allegations that have no substance. How does one guard against that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Can Mr. O'Keeffe elaborate on why he was not that impressed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We would have no friends at all. Everybody would be running away from us.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: If we are aware of particular cases, can we bring them to the commission?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: General Scheme of a Public Sector Standards Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Who do we actually take those cases to?

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 1:In page 6, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following:“ “Stakeholder and Community Group” means a group comprising elected representatives of all bona fide harbour user groups as well as resident and community groups across the local authority area;”. I thank Deputy Fleming for tabling these amendments for me. This series of...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That would be a matter that could be discussed at council level but to be honest, we pretty much saw who most of the groups were at the An Bord Pleanála hearing. Councils get representative groups and community group, for example, involved in SPCs and they engage with them at various levels. They set criteria as to who they consider bona fide. The detail of that could be worked out at...

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Absolutely.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is a good point. My reference to "bona fide" was partially in anticipation that the Minister might say that any person could call himself of herself a stakeholder. I put it in in an attempt to smooth the way for the Minister’s agreement. It is a tactical amendment.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Fine, but we are midway through the Bill’s passage through the Oireachtas. If the Minister asked me to take out the words "bona fides" to make him happy and then hammer out the finer detail of who would be the genuine stakeholders at council level, I would be very happy. The key point is that stakeholders declared their hand at the hearing. We could draw up the list quickly now.

Committee on Transport and Communications: Select Sub-Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Harbours Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister asks a reasonable question. I am very much in favour of strengthening the powers of local authorities. Whatever authority they have, however, is limited by the money available to them, but that is a different matter. I think there was a misunderstanding in our engagement on the parliamentary question this morning and perhaps the Minister has not had much of a chance to...