Committee on Public Petitions debate -
Thursday, 8 Dec 2022

Decisions on Public Petitions Received

Chairman

We have six petitions for consideration today. Some petitions that were not approved at the previous meeting have been brought forward. One was the petition we have just discussed. As was agreed in private session on 23 November 2022, the petitioner was informed that Kildare County Council was presenting at the Committee on Public Petitions public meeting today, Thursday, 8 December, virtually via Microsoft Teams to discuss the petition. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Petition No. 45 of 2022 relates to presidential pardons in respect of cases pre-dating the State and was submitted by Mr. Jeremiah Murphy. It is the view of the secretariat that this petition is inadmissible because of Dáil Standing Order 127, which relates to the admissibility of petitions and which states that:

(1) A petition is admissible unless it—

(a) requests the Dáil to do anything other than the Dáil has power to do.

The formal powers and functions of the President are prescribed in the Constitution. Many of the powers of the President can only be exercised on the advice of the Government but the President has absolute discretion in other areas. Article 12 and Article 13 of the Constitution are relevant in this context. Article 12.6.1° states, "The President shall not be a member of either House of the Oireachtas", and Article 13.6 states, "The right of pardon and the power to commute or remit punishment imposed by any court exercising criminal jurisdiction are hereby vested in the President, but such power of commutation or remission may also be conferred by law on other authorities.” The committee recommends that the petition be deemed inadmissible for the reasons I have just read out and that the petitioner should be advised of same. Do members have a view? Is that agreed? Agreed.

Petition No. 60 of 2022 is entitled Save Clifden District Hospital and was submitted by Ms Anne McDonagh. This petition relates to a request that the HSE stop “having its [Clifden District Hospital's] services and resources systematically stripped [...] and that the HSE restore the hospital to levels of service previously maintained in the past”. The petitions case manager corresponded with Mr. Ray Mitchell, assistant national director in the parliamentary affairs unit of the HSE on 7 November 2022 and received a reply from Mr. Mitchell in response to the petition on 15 November 2022. The committee recommends that the correspondence from the HSE be forwarded to the petitioner for comment within 14 days. Do members have any views?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I believe that is agreed.

Chairman

I have a personal view, which is that this is another example of smaller hospitals being taken out of the system, putting more pressure on the bigger hospitals. We will see what the petitioner comes back with. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Petition No. 20 of 2021 is titled:

Why we need to dispel old illogical lunacy laws in Ireland, which have been amended and repealed. This is not enough. They need to be put beyond use by being dispelled. They are the epitome of injustice.

It was submitted by Ms. Philomena Geoghegan. The committee recommends that this petition should be deemed closed based on the response from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, which advised that, “Once amended and commenced in full, the [Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity)] 2015 Act will abolish the wards of court system for adults and repeal the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871”, and that the petitioner be informed of same. Do members have any views or is that agreed?

Deputy Pat Buckley

I will just quickly say that I hope that Act will be pushed forward. It is silly that our laws still date from the 1800s.

Chairman

From 1871.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I certainly agree with the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act and look forward to its progression.

Chairman

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Petition No. 21 of 2021 relates to taking in charge and comes from Mr. Terence Coskeran. The committee recommends that the correspondence from Mr. Eamon Lonergan of Tipperary County Council be forwarded to the petitioner for information. Do members have any views or is that agreed?

Deputy Pat Buckley

It is agreed but I would like to thank the council because, in fairness, it came back pretty quickly with what we asked of it when its representatives came before a sitting of the committee as witnesses. I will note that I have asked for additional paperwork. The news about that estate seems to be positive. It is nice to see progress. Everybody is working together, which is great.

Chairman

It seems to be moving there. That is agreed. Petition No. 46 of 2022 relates to the names of registered political parties and comes from Mr. Jeremiah Murphy. This petition relates to a statement that all political parties in Ireland should “state their names in English on all their literature”. The secretariat corresponded with Mr, Peter Finnegan, Clerk of the Dáil and Secretary General, on 11 August 2022 on behalf of the petitioner and received a reply on 24 November 2022, which explained why parties are not required to do this, unless they so choose. Following on from the information provided from the Clerk of the Dáil and Secretary General, it is the view of the secretariat that this petition is inadmissible for the following reason.

Under Dáil Standing Order 127, admissibility of petitions, a petition is admissible unless it requests the Dáil to do anything other than the Dáil has power to do. The committee recommends that the petition is inadmissible under Dáil Standing Order 127 and that the correspondence from the Clerk of the Dáil and Secretary General be forwarded to the petitioner for information as to why this petition is deemed inadmissible. Do Members have any views on that or is it agreed? Agreed.

That concludes our consideration of public petitions this afternoon. I invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal, which is available at petitions.oireachtas.ie. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or an issue of public policy.

We are on to any other business. I thank Ms Maggie Semple and the staff for all they do. We say it every time we have a meeting, but the amount of paperwork and stuff they go through on our behalf makes our work very easy, so I thank Ms Semple, Ms Susan Moran and Ms Barbara Hughes very much.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I echo that absolutely.

Senator Jerry Buttimer

Chairman, are we on any other business?

Chairman

Yes, we are still on any other business.

Senator Jerry Buttimer

I thank the staff for their excellent work and wish them a happy Christmas. Are we to meet next week?

Chairman

No. We are down to meet on 18 January.

Senator Jerry Buttimer

This could potentially be my last meeting of the committee, so I thank you, Chair, and members for their engagement and collegiality, and I thank the staff. We are very lucky on this committee to have an excellent secretariat and staff who do great work. I thank them most sincerely. I will talk to you again, Chairman, before the end of January.

Chairman

On my own behalf and on behalf of the rest of the committee, if this is your last meeting, Senator Buttimer, we wish you the best. You have been one of the members who has been at meetings consistently and you have always given good input. I wish you the best if that is the way it turns out.

On behalf of the committee, I wish the staff here and all the rest of the members of the committee and Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas a very happy and safe Christmas. We will see everybody in the new year.

If there is no other business, we will call an adjournment to the meeting.

The joint committee adjourned at 2.13 p.m. sine die.