Results 17,601-17,620 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Citizens' Assembly: Motion (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: -----which put a great deal of time and effort into that work. That is why he wants to criticise the Dáil for the process we are undergoing. Let us be respectful to Ms Justice Laffoy. Let us be respectful to people who have given their time and effort and let us thank them for that work and stop this criticism of a process that is not complete and which requires time to become complete.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Strategic Communications Unit (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: It is unfair to put this into a conspiracy theory category. If something looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I tend to think it is a duck. Much of the advertising done looked like editorial. I have sought for the Committee of Public Accounts to look at the business case for this unit from a value for money point of view and that the Secretaries General of both the Departments of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Strategic Communications Unit (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: 1. To ask the Taoiseach if the attention of the strategic communications unit was drawn to the fact that it must comply with rules that relate to advertising standards; the number of publications that were approached to include paid content with respect to the national planning framework, NPF, capital plan; the budget for this campaign; the reason it was decided to ensure the advertisements...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed): Strategic Communications Unit (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: I made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland which made me look at the codes of the authority. One particular code states: "A marketing communication should not mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.". There is, at the very least, ambiguity in respect of some of these advertorials. That is being kind. They...

Questions on Promised Legislation (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Second Stage of the referendum Bill has concluded and we will move to Committee and Remaining Stages. It has been a very respectful debate so far but I believe a line was crossed last night and there is great hurt at some of the comments that were made, possibly unintentionally. Could I ask that perhaps a minute is afforded to Deputy Danny Healy-Rae to withdraw some of the very hurtful...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: I noted the Minister's comments on drafting. The parliamentary legal office is being beefed up, which is part of Dáil reform, but that obviously has not become fully effective yet. We all acknowledge that there must be robustness in amendments and legislation from the Opposition. There was a great deal in the Minister's response relating to the quality of drafting and how complex...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: The prospect of amendments being made then really does not occur. Where we have a debate in advance of it, that is really a return to a Second Stage debate, so it is a fait accompli where we either accept or reject the wording as opposed to having the ability to amend it. It is a very flawed process. It is not the first time we have seen this process used, and sometimes it is useful to get...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: We have to accept the Minister's bona fides on this. The difficulty is that we have not seen the wording.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: A debate will be scheduled, as is usually the case.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: It is a Second Stage type of debate in advance of that.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: I do not think it is necessarily a criticism of the Minister but of the process. One can see how difficult it is to get something from the Attorney General's office. If something is introduced on Report Stage, there is not the head space or time to scrutinise Opposition amendments. That is a fair comment to make. It is not a slight on the Minister. We understand he is trying to introduce...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: It is important to say that the Bill is very patchy on the issue of enforcement and this lets the legislation down. The expectation of being caught is a very sizeable deterrent. As I said at the previous meeting, the issues around fake breath tests and so on have done no service to this area and there is a need to come back from that. Like other members of the committee, I have been lobbied...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: It is not mine either.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: That is just the job.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: I do not believe we are talking about the morning-after pill.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: We have all laboured the issue of enforcement. It does not matter what the penalty is if there is no prospect of being caught. Part of the problem is that people will take the risk because the prospect of being caught is minimal. I accept that breath-testing is not confined to the traffic corps. Like Deputy Ó Cuív, I have only once ever been randomly breath-tested. It happened...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Some amendments have been ruled out of order because they are not in keeping with the terms of the Bill. Obviously, that prompts a question about future legislation. I have noted that the Road Safety Authority has embarked on a public information campaign on minimum passing distances, which is very welcome and was probably prompted by the debate here. The voices of cyclists have become...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: We do not want to end up with rules which exclude cyclists from the roads because it is not possible to design with them in mind. We have to have a change of mindset. If we could timetable the issue at an early date to look at it in its totality, it would be helpful.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: It will be the Business Committee that will decide that.

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Departmental Advertising Data (21 Mar 2018)

Catherine Murphy: 109. To ask the Taoiseach the expenditure to date on online content (details supplied) by the strategic communications unit in his Department. [11362/18]