Lenihan, Brian JosephThursday, 19 June 2003 |
Seanad Eireann Debate
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European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage.
Article 34 of the convention provides for the right of individuals to apply to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in cases where they claim to be victims of alleged violations of convention right...
The Lawless case was the first individual petition to Strasbourg, on which occasion the State's position was upheld. I take the point the Senator makes but, in a sense, he has missed the point that th...
Ireland has signed and ratified Protocol No. 13, as the Senator pointed out, which abolishes the death penalty in all cases. Protocol No. 6 to the convention, which is in the Schedule to the Bill, als...
The effect of this amendment would be to bring the courts within the definition of “organs of the State” in section 1 of the Bill. It would ensure they were bound by the obligations imposed by the Bil...
The argument for the position might be that by the time a judgment is given enough discussion has taken place and there has to be an end to litigation. That is the common law position. Senator Jim Wal...
This debate relates to section 3 of the Bill, which will create a new remedy in Irish law. It will allow a person who has suffered injury, loss or damage as a result of a contravention of the conventi...
Article 1 of the convention provides that the high contracting parties shall secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in the convention. That is the obligation on t...
I regret to advise the Senator that it would do some damage to include the amendment, since one of the key definitions we are discussing is “organ of the State”. The Senator posed the question at an e...
Regarding the precise point raised by Senator Henry, it appears that the amendment is based to some extent on an equivalent provision in United Kingdom human rights legislation where there is a provis...
The Senator has raised the practical problems that can occur in the context of hospitals and schools. If one examines the issue of hospitals, one sees that a health board is a body established by law ...
The proposed section goes to the heart of the legislation. It is a Second Stage matter and the Minister outlined his views on it. The amendment would make a fundamental change in the way in which furt...
As Senator Norris is only too well aware, litigants face difficulties in all legal proceedings. This Bill is drafted in such a way as to at least give clarity to litigants as to the precise status of ...
I do not have that information to hand but the majority of EU states subscribe to the monist view of international law. Our near neighbour, the United Kingdom, does not and it shares with us the duali...
—-a form of incorporation not unlike ours. It has not, however, provided for this right of action for damages which we have provided for in the Bill. In regard to Senator Terry's intervention on the B...
The Senator was once a major beneficiary of the existence of the Strasbourg shadow.
The Senator identified one of the rare divergences between the Irish bill of rights and the European system. That said, those are the reasons that particular decision was taken. Of course these bodies...
The cases involved in proceedings of this character will involve serious matters for all parties concerned, including the State. It is in the public interest that the exposure of the State to potentia...
I think the Minister said he would have a look at it, but he took the advice of the Attorney General and decided to resist the amendment. I will outline the general views of the Minister in this area....
The matter raised by the Senator is the same as that which related to amendment No. 15. Essentially, section 4 deals with the doctrine of judicial notice. The Oireachtas frequently includes a section ...
While I accept that, I am not convinced of the need for amendment No. 18. The Bill provides that, before a court decides whether to make a declaration of incompatibility under section 5, the Attorney ...
I apologise to the Senator. He wants to insert the word “perfection” rather than “making”. This point was considered during the drafting phase of the Bill but section 5(3) refers to the “making of the...
I confess that I have some sympathy for the point advocated by the Senator but, under the Bill as proposed, it remains that there will be a greater amount of information submitted to the Oireachtas. I...
The matter can be revisited on Report Stage. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
I understand the thinking behind this amendment, but it provides for something which is not practicable. We are dealing with declarations of invalidity of legislation enacted by the Oireachtas, or pre...
May I interrupt? That is not a point of order.
As the Senator enriches our legal learning, I want to enrich his political learning and recall the case of Mrs. McGee, who instituted proceedings in the early 1970s under our Constitution and obtained...
All this amendment proposes is that someone may write to a Minister, which people may do in any event. It goes on to propose that the Minister can make a recommendation, which her she can also always ...
I should not and I apologise for doing so. The person who drafted this amendment knew well that the power of pardon is vested exclusively in and may only be exercised by the President, strictly on the...
That was not my intention. My point is that, because of the constitutional provision, there are doubts about the extent to which we can qualify it in legislation.
A case is pending before the Supreme Court on this issue. As I understand it, the provision under Irish statute law, which was deemed to be constitutional, was contrary to the provision of the convent...
That touches on an earlier part of the debate.
Section 5 is structured in such a way that when the High Court or the Supreme Court, on appeal, make a declaration of incompatibility, the person in whose favour the order is made will be faced with t...
To address the point by Senator Norris about the right in republican justice to have a large sum of money paid to one on the establishment of a violation of one's rights as a result of a legislative v...
Where a declaration of incompatibility is made, it means that a section – or sections – of an Act of the Oireachtas which is in operation is declared incompatible with the convention system. The Act, ...
The rights referred to are those specified in section 1 of the convention. That provision is made in the interpretation section of the legislation.
The commission will have a role in testing legislation, which is one of the reasons I am not accepting this particular amendment. Under section 8(b) of the Human Rights Commission Act 2000, the Minist...
OECD Economic Survey of Ireland 2003: Statements.
On behalf of the Minister for Finance, I am pleased to have this opportunity to open the debate in this House on the recently published OECD Economic Survey of Ireland 2003. The OECD undertakes an exa...
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