Lenihan, Brian JosephThursday, 16 June 2005 |
Dáil Eireann Debate
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Order of Business.
Question put.
Voted Yes 
Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion.
I move: That Dáil Éireann resolves that sections 2 to 12, 14 and 17 of the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 (No. 39 of 1998), shall continue in operation for the period of 12 months beg...
Indeed, because there is no obligation on us to do that, although I do appreciate——
The 1998 Act requires not that the report be laid 21 days before the moving of the resolution, but rather that the reporting period of the report ends not later than 21 days before the moving of the r...
The resolution is not in breach. I appreciate the Deputy’s point about immediate adequate notice of the report and it is a fair one. However, in strict legislative terms, the statutory requirement is ...
The report was laid before this House last Monday by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The conclusion of the report is that the relevant sections of the 1998 Act should remain in forc...
The Deputy is answering his own questions.
He is attending——
I thank the various Members who contributed to this debate. In an ideal world we would not need offences against the State legislation but the experience of this State since 1937 has been that we need...
There is nothing unusual in the rules of evidence prescribed in the 1998 legislation. Very free use of the adjectives “repressive” and “emergency” was made in the course of this debate.
The Offences against the State Act is not emergency legislation but an ordinary part of the legislation of the State.
Emergency legislation requires a proclamation under Article 28 of the Constitution. The legislation with which we are dealing is part of the ordinary legislation of the State.
I want to go through the individual contributions. I thank Deputies Gerard Murphy and Crawford for their support. The Government, and I am sure all Deputies, share their concern that the Good Friday A...
The review provision is contained in section 18.
I want to accommodate the Deputy but I disagree with his interpretation of the section. The relevant paper submitted by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform should be prepared in reasona...
I cannot give the assurance of 21 days.
I want to explain to the Deputy the reason for that. The reason I cannot give him a 21 day assurance is that the reference to 21 days in the third subsection of section 18 is a reference to the period...
Therefore, it is impossible to do that. I agree with the Deputy that it is expressed in very legalese terms but that is the substance of it. I am prepared to say that a week’s notice would be reasonab...
In regard to the wider matters raised by Deputy Costello, he raised a fair point that the problem of witness intimidation is a serious problem as well as the danger of jury intimidation, and neither i...
If one peruses the Good Friday Agreement carefully it will be clear we did not say we would do anything about the review, but the Minister has——
——undertaken to bring proposals to the Government on the entire set of recommendations contained in the Hederman report, and this he will do. In the past year the emphasis has been on ensuring the ena...
I will not tie myself to a date this afternoon but I assure the Deputy the Minister has to the forefront of his ambitions implementation of the Hederman review. It should be noted that the majority vi...
——of special courts under Article 38 of the Constitution, a matter that people expressly envisaged when they enacted the Constitution in 1937. Therefore, that is not an emergency court either. Deputy ...
It is not necessary either to suggest that this legislation is motivated by anti-republicanism. This State is a Republic and has been valued as such since 1937 in the dictionary sense and since 1948 i...
Question put: “That the motion be agreed to.”
Voted Yes
Adjournment Debate - Health Services.
I am replying on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. I thank and congratulate Deputy O’Connor for raising this matter as it provides me with an op...
However, I understand from the Health Service Executive that this matter is receiving attention and the issue was discussed as recently as this week by the housing agency funding assessment panel, whi...
Suicide Incidence.
I thank Deputy Neville for raising this matter on the adjournment this afternoon. The case to which the Deputy referred is a tragic one and I extend my condolences to the family concerned. Every sudde...
Exploitation of Workers.
I thank Deputy Finian McGrath for raising this issue. I take it from the Ceann Comhairle’s ruling that there is to be no specific reference to the company concerned but that I can refer to the body as...
Exploitation of Workers - School Staffing.
I thank Deputy Harkin for affording me the opportunity on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science to outline the position regarding Carramore national school, Swinford, County Mayo, concernin...
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