Results 18,901-18,920 of 20,831 for speaker:David Norris

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: I would like to give the House a useful reminder. All Senators remember the marvellous performance of Padraig Flynn on the television, when he said that a certain builder who was living in England was not terribly——

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: I am addressing the point very directly.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: Mr. Flynn said that the man in question was not well.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: That riled the man so much that he put the skids under an entire political system very effectively.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: That is the kind of situation I am looking at. I am not making any political points.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: It is not a bit of a red herring.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: It is directly addressing the point.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: It directly addresses the point.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: It is very relevant.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: It shows the difficulties which can be encountered if a person in authority expresses an opinion about another person's health. If that person finds the opinion offensive, one will have a real row on one's hands.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: It is a parallel.

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: While the Minister outlines a cogent position, I would like to comment on a couple of matters. The first relates to the situation explored by my colleague, Senator Tuffy, namely, inviting the Minister to advise the House on whether this is novel legislation. While it is very informative and helpful in an historical sense, it does not mean the House must accept uncritically these provisions;...

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: I welcome what the Minister said, particularly that there must be a statement of the reasons for dismissing a member of the agency. Presumably, the person to be dismissed can review the reasons, and if he or she feels there is something wrong with them, or the publication of the reasons or the fact that they have been dismissed constitutes a libel, they can have recourse to the courts. This...

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: I support Senator Burke's amendment. My concern is that presenting the report to the chairperson alone will create the possibility for the chairperson to withhold all or part of the report from members of the board. No one should think this is a farfetched idea. For example, it happened in the neighbouring island at Cabinet level. It is perfectly clear that the advice of the Attorney General...

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: That is helpful, as were the contributions from colleagues on the Government benches. Senators Brady and Fitzgerald indicated that this would often be an informal situation involving some discussion. I envisaged a printed report or some form of written record. The Minister's response that there is nothing to prevent the chairperson making such a report available worries me. I expected that...

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: Why not make provision for it in the legislation if we are all agreed?

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: Does the Minister envisage circumstances in which it would be appropriate for members of the board not to have the report?

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: Does the Minister envisage circumstances in which it would be appropriate to withhold the report from a member or members of the board?

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: In that case, there should not be a difficulty about requiring such a report to be distributed to all members of the board because the Minister does not envisage circumstances in which that could fail to occur. Various groups and a number of Opposition Members are concerned there could be circumstances in which this could be withheld. It would not create a significant difficulty for us all to...

Seanad: Grangegorman Development Agency Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (28 Jun 2005)

David Norris: I accept absolutely the Minister's comments and we are achieving a certain degree of clarification. However, she might consider inserting a form of words along the lines of "in the case of a written report being presented, it shall be made available to members of the board". Is there a difficulty with that?