Results 1-20 of 1,042,128 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Michael McDowell OR speaker:Anne Rabbitte OR speaker:Catherine Martin OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Eamon Ryan) in 'Committee meetings'
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the Chair and the Senators for inviting me to meet the committee today to discuss the issues relating to the transposition of EU directives. The committee's letter of invitation indicates a wish to discuss the provision of draft statutory instruments to the committee by Departments, as well as the matter of their publication by the committee. I received a letter from the...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State and her officials. I will deal with the easy point first. The Minister of State said she chaired a meeting last week of the interdepartmental committee on EU engagement. Of 46 cases, 15 are awaiting closure. That means 31 of those cases are not awaiting closure. In respect of those, there seems to be no reason why we should not be briefed on each of them...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I could not agree more.
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: On that front, I ask about a briefing on all of them but particularly we would be interested in the cases against Ireland that are not yet awaiting closure and are still effectively open, and the financial implications. Are fines being imposed? Are they being threatened? Where are we on that kind of issue? I think we are entitled to a table setting that out. The second point is that,...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: It depends on the-----
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: There would be very little to be learned from that. However, at least it would be clear, if that approach is being taken, how the Department proposes to address the issue. The second thing is that if we simply say – this is the point – that the initial draft instructions for the regulations are all that this committee should see, first, are we to be told that a later...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Would the Senator like me to respond?
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: That is bizarre. If that is the position the Office of the Attorney General wants us to accept, we might as well wind up the committee.
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Perhaps the Senator would like me to respond. I will respond to each of the points in turn. On the list of infringements, I would be greatly pleased for the committee to have a substantive involvement in the detail of the directives and the transposition process, as well as the broad powers of the committee, which is what we have discussed to date. There is a substantive body of...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: Sorry, can I just say-----
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Of course.
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: I am not saying that we have to see all the correspondence or that the OPC said this is lawful, unlawful or disproportionate. I am not asking for any of that information. I am simply saying, and I ask the Minister of State to deal with this issue, that if it is lawful for a Minister-----
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I have not dealt with the Senator's third issue-----
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: -----to deal with a third-party institution-----
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: That is the third issue the Senator raised, which I have not yet addressed. Will the Senator let me continue?
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: Sorry, I thought the Minister of State was finished.
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: No, I was not. The Senator asked if he could interrupt me for a second. I will complete my points. The Senator raised three matters and I am on the second. Let us leave the third-party issue for a second - that is the third issue, which I will come to in a moment. The Senator mentioned the exchange. He specifically said that while he understood that the exchange from the OPC - or the...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: That depends. I will give an example. If the OPC or the Attorney General's office said that the proposed fine in regulation 3 was grossly excessive or, on the other hand, was not sufficiently punitive to comply with the requirement of dissuasive penalties under EU law, I would have no problem with the dialogue between them being a matter of privilege. If, in the end, the Department says...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I do not agree with the Senator. I want to agree with him because I want to try to do as much as I can to help this committee, but I just do not agree with the Senator on that. The reason I do not agree with him is this: if I read it across to the legislative process where fines are set, for example, that advice may very well have come about because of the read-across for other legislation...
- Committee on Scrutiny of Draft EU-related Statutory Instruments: Engagement with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (17 Jul 2024)
Michael McDowell: With respect, you are not dealing with the third question.