Latest news with #Oireachtas
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Committee chair wants OTB passed by 'summer recess'
The chair of the Oireachtas committee which will examine the Government version of the Occupied Territories Bill has said he wants to see it passed into law "by the summer recess". Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart also said he wants to see services from what the bill describes as the occupied territories included, but said both issues are dependent on the views of all committee members and whether they receive the necessary information in time. Speaking with RTÉ News, the chair of the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs said the cross-party group will receive the heads of the bill of the potential legislation once it is drawn up by the Department of Foreign Affairs and signed off on by the Cabinet. Asked if he believes this will give the committee enough time to examine the bill in a process known as pre-legislative scrutiny, and for the Dáil and Seanad to pass the bill by the Oireachtas summer recess which begins on 18 July, Mr Lahart said he believes it does. "I think it's very possible [for the bill to pass through the committee in June before being sent to the Dail and Seanad]. I have begun a series of conversations with the members of the committee and I think everybody's very keen and very anxious to expedite the bill as quickly as possible. "If we can process it, it depends on how quickly we can get the information we need, but put it this way - the foreign affairs committee and me as chair will ensure we will do our best to ensure the bill is processed as quickly as possible and hopefully before the summer recess. "I want to see it passed by the summer recess," he said. Asked about whether services from the occupied territories should also be included in the bill alongside goods - an issue which is continuing to cause political and legal division over whether doing so would leave the potential law open to a legal challenge - Mr Lahart said it should and said "I support the inclusion of services in the bill". "Clearly I'm at the mercy of the members of the committee. But, again, I think there's support for this. "My sense is they're [the members] all supportive of services being in the bill as well," he said. The foreign affairs committee is made up of nine TDs and five senators. Of the nine TDs, three are from Fianna Fáil, John Lahart, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, and Shay Brennan, two from Fine Gael, Brian Brennan and Noel McCarthy, two from Sinn Féin, Cathy Bennett, and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, one from Labour, Duncan Smith, and one from Independent Ireland, Ken O Flynn. Of the five senators, two are from Fine Gael, Garret Ahearn and Joe O'Reilly, one from Fianna Fáil, Fiona O'Loughlin, one from the Social Democrats, Patricia Stephenson, and an independent senator Alice Mary Higgins.
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Nature Trail: Seabed resources need to be protected urgently
Attenborough is the highest profile advocate of biodiversity conservation globally. In his earlier work he focused on presenting the wonders of the natural world to his wide audience in the belief that people would decide for themselves by putting two and two together and hopefully seeing the urgent need for nature conservation. He later abandoned that approach and became a more vocal campaigner both condemning the ongoing destruction of the natural world and supporting the protection of our environment. I went to the cinema to see the film Ocean. It highlighted the global issue of overfishing, falling fish stocks, and the collapse of fisheries and showed some striking sequences of the damage that bottom trawling and dredging is having on the seabed and the marine life it supports. A novel and apparently contradictory solution to improving fishing that the film explored was to ban fishing altogether in certain areas. These places are known as 'no take areas', areas that are strictly protected, where all forms of fishing are banned and where no exploitation of the seas' resources is allowed. Everything is banned; zero tolerance, no exceptions. Evidence shows that in no take areas the seabed recovers naturally, marine life flourishes and fish begin to multiply. You may well say 'That's all very well, but what's the point in having more fish if fishers aren't allowed to catch them?' The answer is, of course, spillover. As the fish population increases in the no take area fish colonise areas beyond the boundaries of the protected area. They swim into areas where fishing is permitted, and consequently fishing improves as the no take area continues to act as the goose that keeps laying the golden eggs. Ireland is one of the last maritime countries in Europe without legislation on marine protected areas and no take areas. Legislation was promised in 2022 with the expectation that it would pass speedily through both houses of the Oireachtas during 2023. That didn't happen. We are promised that the Bill will be published later this year.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Committees of the Oireachtas are back, but why can't Irish politicians ask a good question?
Pat Leahy and Harry McGee join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics: Committees of the Oireachtas are indeed back, but rigor and insight seem to be missing in some of the questions posed by politicians during RTÉ's appearance in front of the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday. Independent TDs Barry Heneghan and Gillian Toole , who support the Government, put a dent in the Coalition's majority by voting in favour of a Sinn Féin Bill in support of Palestine. Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was awarded €100,000 after a jury found he was defamed by a 2016 BBC TV programme and related article that falsely accused him of sanctioning the murder of a British agent. And is it time to disband Children's Health Ireland ? Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill is considering subsuming the statutory body into the HSE following several controversies during its six years in existence. Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week: The tight Polish presidential race , looming climate fines , the rise of the campervan , and the wonderful Cáit O'Riordan .
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Insurers and businesses call for injury guidelines reform as 17% rise planned
Insurers, business lobby groups and the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB) have called for an overhaul of how personal injury awards guidelines are set, amid concern that a planned 16.7 per cent hike to payouts will widen the gap with other European jurisdictions when it comes to whiplashes and other minor injuries. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan 's officials are working on draft legislation that would bring about the increase, which has been put forward by the Judicial Council under an awards guidelines regime that came into being four years ago. A Supreme Court ruling last year confirmed that the council had the power to set guidelines, as long as they, and any changes, are rubber stamped by both Houses of the Oireachtas. A number of insurers and business representative groups have used a Department of Finance public consultation on future insurance reforms to register concerns about the planned blanket increase to personal injury awards, the frequency with which they are reviewed and the extent of powers the judiciary has. READ MORE Aviva Insurance Ireland said that while the 2021 guidelines brought down overall injury awards, the going rate for minor neck injuries where recovery is made within six months is up to €3,000, 5½ times higher than that in the UK. 'The large disparity is before the 16.7 per cent increase proposed by the Judicial Council, which, if introduced, will make the gap even larger,' Aviva said. 'Comparing Aviva's claims in the UK and Ireland, attritional claims like whiplash represent 30 per cent of the cost of motor insurance premium in Ireland compared to 10 per cent of premium in the UK in 2024 and lower still in Europe.' 'We estimate that the cost of implementing the 16.7 per cent increase is €74 million, which ultimately will be paid for by customers.' Aviva , Allianz Ireland and Insurance Ireland each called for the guidelines to be benchmarked against European countries. 'Legal expenses and award levels for lower-value claims remain disproportionately high and are not aligned with those observed in the UK and other European jurisdictions,' said Allianz. 'Before any inflationary adjustments are made to the personal injuries guidelines, it is essential to conduct a comprehensive benchmarking exercise with our European counterparts to ensure a proportionate and evidence-based approach.' Alliance for Insurance Reform, a lobby group for business and civic organisations, said the periodic review of awards should be extended from three to seven years. 'The guidelines ought not to be both reviewed and subsequently applied by the judiciary,' the alliance said in its submission to the Department of Finance. 'Rather the former responsibility should be delegated to an independent commission comprising a variety of members, reflective of the many stakeholders and policy considerations involved.' Small business lobby group ISME also called for judges to be removed entirely from the setting of awards guidelines. It claimed, in addition, that 'there is too much judicial discretion improperly exercised in favour of losing plaintiffs' in the injury cases that end up in court. The IRB said the current three-year review cycle does not allow guidelines to be embedded. It suggested it should be extended to five years. It also called for clarity on what happens if the Houses of the Oireachtas does not approve amendments. 'Under the current guidelines model, there could be several versions of the guidelines in use dependent on whether a claim has already been assessed or if legal proceedings have been initiated,' it said. 'A situation cannot exist whereby the same injury, the same claim, that has been rejected within the Injuries Resolution Board goes into the court system and a different set of guidelines is used to value compensation.'
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
RTÉ execs return for another grilling at the media committee barbecue – but where's the beef?
The members of the freshly formed Oireachtas media committee must have been exhausted after their speed-grilling of RTÉ's 'leadership team' during a frenetic Q & A session in the bowels of Leinster House. As for their barbecue meat of choice, the witnesses were only slightly seared compared to the long hours of intensive basting they endured from two separate committees two years ago at the glorious height of the Tubsgate and flip-flop fiasco hearings. New chairman, Labour's Alan Kelly, still sounds traumatised. He was on the Public Accounts Committee at the time. 'I lost days of my life in this room a couple of years ago,' he shuddered on Wednesday, before bravely wading back into the Montrose murk. 'I lost days of my life here.' READ MORE Two more survivors turned up for duty – former senators Malcolm Byrne (FF) and Micheál Carrigy (FG) are back on the media committee, but as TDs this time. The high attrition rate was not lost on one post-election deputy observing the line-up for RTÉ v Leinster House: the rematch. 'More RTÉ executives than politicians survived.' Committee meetings can very dull, under-attended affairs, particularly when the issue under scrutiny isn't headline-friendly. Members just nip in and ask their question for the TikTok before scuttling out. This one was very well attended, on all sides. 'There's enough people here to fill a hurling team, in fairness,' remarked Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow-Kilkenny Peter 'Chap' Cleere, telling the DG it was good to see such a fine turnout. 'So fair play for that.' The chair was pleased to note that all of the committee members were present for duty. In a commendable display of time and people management, Alan and his colleagues managed to get in three rounds of rapid-fire questions in a 2½-hour slot in Committee Room Three. This gave Senator Rónán Mullen a chance to get all his misgivings about the national broadcaster off his chest with persistent questioning about RTÉ 'groupthink' and the feeling many people have that the national broadcaster does not reflect the perspectives of 'a silenced significant minority in this country'. Some people believe there is 'a strong systemic bias in favour of so-called progressive points of view'. Whatever about audience research, do RTÉ ever do any 'staff research' to ascertain if 'too many people think the same way about certain things in your organisation'? Kevin Bakhurst was rather taken aback by this. 'I think that would be a little bit North Korean.' But that didn't stop Rónán, who came back later to suggest an 'audit' of staff to find out if there is 'an excessive' sameness of opinion. 'I'm not going to ask people in RTÉ what their religious or political views are,' replied the DG. 'I didn't mention religious,' shot back Rónán. Perish the thought. 'You could do an audit and you could do it confidentially.' The DG repeated that RTÉ is 'not a North Korean broadcaster'. Wouldn't that be brilliant, though. Professional journalists and management heads hauled into a Donnybrook star chamber so an expert in Dublin 4 wokery could hit them with Mattie McGrath's historic demand from 2023. He shouted it at deputy DG Adrian Lynch at the height of the flip-flop/Tubsgate interrogations. 'Who are ya lyal to?' 'Who am I lying to?' 'No. Who are ya lyal to. Lyal.' 'Oh, loyal. Loyal, loyal, loyal.' Indeed. Now Galwegian Rónán Mullen wants a Spanish Arch Inquisition. Who are those left-wingers in Montrose loyal to? [ RTÉ confirms €3.6m write down on partly abandoned IT project Opens in new window ] Meanwhile, supersleuth Kelly wanted to know if the organisation shared its statements with the Government's Department of Media before appearing. These statements had important detail on who knew what and when about the write-down of more than €3.5 million on an IT system which didn't come up to scratch. This embarrassing loss was politely referred to as 'the impairment' by the witnesses. After much muttering and stuttering all round, it seems that they did share statements. But the committee was told this is not uncommon. Anyway, Alan asked if anybody knew about this huge loss – way more than the Toy Show The Musical flop or a well-known presenter's emoluments set them back – 'when we were sitting here and talking about Ryan Tubridy'. Well, they were and they weren't. An unexpected bonus for the committee popped up last week when reports surfaced about newsroom ructions over a short promotional video currently being shot to showcase RTÉ's excellent newsgathering operation. 'I've never had so many phone calls about an issue, to be honest,' said the committee chairman. Most of them, one assumes, from those many staffers in the newsroom who are not apparently 'livid' over this promo, as their observant leadership team continues to insist. [ Dismay among RTÉ staffers as broadcaster hires actors to play journalists in 'make-believe' ad campaign Opens in new window ] Nothing to see here, stressed newsroom boss Deirdre McCarthy, deferring to the Marketing side for further explanation. Kevin Bakhurst is 'very irritated' by the ongoing coverage. Lookit. There were 'only two plants' brought in to take the bare look off the newsroom and he would expect 'our highly professional promotions team' to do a great job putting the promo together. He thinks it will cost less than €100,000. Those hacks in Montrose must be hallucinating when they talk of seeing way more than two plants in their run-down newsroom where normally ne'er a bit of greenery is to be seen. As for sending a crew to Brussels to film a segment with distinguished Europe reporter Tony Connelly, the two witnesses who might have been expected to say how many went couldn't remember off the top of their heads. A question from Chap Cleere on the hiring of 'diverse extras' for the advert got a fuzzy response. It's all a storm in a teacup, insist the Montrose leadership class. Coming in at under €100k is a good result, apparently. Imagine what the cost could have been if RTÉ didn't have a long-established Promotions Department, staffed by full-time producers and directors who are employed to create these high-profile adverts. Instead, said the DG and his deputy, the only outside cost incurred was for a camera crew as all their own people were otherwise engaged. But then, as the session progressed, things began to unravel a little under some gentle questioning from Senator Garret Ahearne and chairman Kelly. Hirings widened out to cameras, technicians and sound. People would like to see the organisation invest money 'in the creative sector outside RTÉ rather than bring all resources in-house', said Bakhurst. Was the production not run in-house? 'Well, the production team running it are in-house and standard practice would be to get expertise whether it be camera crews or sound people or whatever from outside ...' Clear as mud.
