Results 17,901-17,920 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I move amendment No. 66: In page 34, subsection (1), line 17, after “Minister” to insert “or an authorised officer of the Department”.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: My view is that the only people the Minister should be able to authorise in his stead would be officials of the Department, and not anyone outside the Department. My understanding is that the Minister can appoint as authorised officers people involved in animal welfare, for example, who are not employees of the Department.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There may be a mistake in the draft.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There seems to be a flaw in the drafting of the amendment. Section 37(1) reads: "The Minister may for the purpose of enforcing this Act or an EU measure, appoint in writing, such persons or classes of person as he or she considers appropriate to be authorised officers for the exercise of all or any of the functions conferred on an authorised officer under this Act specified in the appointment."

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I will resubmit a corrected amendment.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I move amendment No. 68: In page 34, subsection (3), line 27, after “Minister” to insert “or an authorised officer of the Department”.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I move amendment No. 69: In page 34, subsection (3), lines 29 to 32, to delete all words from and including “appoint” in line 29 down to and including “agreement.” in line 32 and substitute the following: “submit the names of persons he or she considers appropriately qualified to be authorised officers for the purpose of all or any of the functions that the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Minister knows that from being a Minister. A Minister has got a few thousand civil servants and he cannot go out on the farm and investigate the circumstances and, therefore, the report comes back up through the same chain of command. Will the Minister clarify between now and Report Stage whether a person would have a right to get such a decision examined by the Ombudsman for fair procedure?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Will the Minister investigate that?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I move amendment No. 62: In page 31, line 12, to delete "arbitration" and substitute the following: "an arbitration panel which includes a representative of the applicant and".

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I move amendment No. 64: In page 33, subsection (3), between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:"(d) shall inform the owner of the independent appeals process to the decision and the associated timeframe.".

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I move amendment No. 65: In page 34, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following subsection: "(5) All such regulations will be brought before the relevant committee of the House for discussion before being approved by the House.".This amendment comes back to the question of the regulations and my belief that they should come before the relevant committees of the House for discussion....

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Consistency is a sign of a sick mind. In a logical world we would get the whole Oireachtas to agree that no regulations would be introduced without first being discussed at the relevant committee, but we do not live in logical world. If I am waiting for that to happen on a global scale, given the lack of progress in Dáil reform, I will be left waiting. What is needed to change this...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: What is my point?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Is it not possible to use the Department's internal appeals process?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is always the case in appeals processes. If one appeals a decision not to award a grant, it is dealt with by the appeals section of the Department and one is effectively appealing against the Minister.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Let us take as an example a refusal to make a disadvantaged areas payment on the ground that the Minister believes the applicant did not submit a form in time. The applicant may appeal the Minister's decision and if he or she can prove the form was submitted on time, force majeure circumstances apply and he or she can avail of the Department's appeals process to have the decision overturned....

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I do not mean any disrespect but officials in the Department of Social Protection would tell the Minister that applications for invalidity pensions, disability pensions and many other payments are currently being refused by rote, despite medical evidence and so forth being available, and applicants are being told they can appeal the decision. Who is to say this practice will not occur in the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: People who have qualified for payments for the past 15 years are receiving notification that they no longer qualify. The two sets of circumstances are similar.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Would an order of a court be required indicating that the person had broken the law or would it be a matter of the Minister forming the opinion that the person had broken the law?