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JOINT COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE, EQUALITY, DEFENCE AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 14 Nov 2007

Election of Chairman.

Clerk to the Committee

The first item on the agenda is the election of a Chairman. I invite nominations for the position.

I propose Deputy Peter Power.

Clerk to the Committee

As there are no further nominations, I deem Deputy Peter Power to be elected and invite him to take the Chair.

Deputy Peter Power took the Chair.

I thank the clerk and members of the committee. I appreciate their vote of confidence in me and look forward to discharging that confidence in the next few years and to working with all members of the committee. I welcome, in particular, the new members of the committee, Senators Lisa McDonald and Ivana Bacik. They may find our procedures somewhat cumbersome at times, but no doubt it will not take them too long to get into the thick of things. I look forward to working with everybody in a genuine spirit of partnership and co-operation. I am confident that if we bring our combined skills and enthusiasm to our meetings, this will be a productive and efficient committee. We have a wealth of experience and expertise and if we bring them to bear, our tenure will be effective and efficient.

In the 29th Dáil this committee was one of the busiest and had, perhaps, the greatest workload. I pay tribute to the previous Chairman, Deputy Seán Ardagh, and all members of that committee, including Deputy Finian McGrath, for the tremendous work they put into it, not least on the issue of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which used up significant amounts of time in recent years and for which, they must be commended.

I assure everybody, across each party and none, that I will endeavour to discharge my responsibilities and duties in an impartial and fair-minded way. I look forward to working with everybody in an non-partisan way in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

Before we move to the election of a vice chairman, does anybody wish to contribute or make a comment?

I congratulate Deputy Power on his elevation to the Chair. I worked with him on the previous committee for five years and from what I know of him, he will do an excellent job in his new challenging position. From my experience dating back to the 1970s, this is probably the busiest committee in the Houses and I do not doubt that the Chairman will bring his own flair to it. Prior to the most recent general election, he chaired the committee dealing with children, a difficult task, but one in respect of which significant work was done in a few short months and an effective report with recommendations which I hope will be acted upon was produced. I wish him the best and I am delighted for him, as I know he will rise to the challenge and will be seen as impartial and a breath of fresh air. He will bring his own style to the committee.

I congratulate the Chairman on his election and wish him well in his work in the next few years. This is an extremely important committee which will deal with many topical issues. I hope we will focus on the ones relevant to broader society. Although we can discuss this in more detail later, the issues I would like to see the committee dealing with include gangland crime, victims of crime, immigration, asylum and citizenship. These are important issues which are being debated in the public domain and it is up to every member of the committee to give a lead by engaging in a broad debate on them. As it is said we do not debate them enough, I would like to see them included in our agenda.

I agree with the Chairman's comments concerning Deputy Ardagh who was an excellent Chairman of the previous committee. We did a great deal of important work with the victims of crime and on issues such as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. It was an amazing experience and relevant to people's lives.

Once again, I wish the Chairman well.

I thank the Deputy.

I also congratulate the Chairman and thank him for his words of welcome to new members. Being a new member, I was not even sure on what side I should sit when I entered the committee room. Therefore, it is a steep learning curve. If it is not presumptuous to do so, I express my disappointment at how few women are members of a committee which expressly has women's rights, as well as equality, within its remit. That is not to say, however, that my male colleagues are not well able to deal with such issues. If public representatives sitting on a committee dealing with women's rights are disproportionately male, it sends an important signal to members of the public. I am particularly disappointed that of the 13 Deputies on the committee, none is a woman, although two of the four Senators are women. I am sure my disappointment will be shared by many in civil society who have been campaigning for women's rights.

On my own behalf and that of the Fine Gael group, I extend congratulations to the Chairman on the important role he has taken on.

As Senator Bacik indicated, the committee covers a wide range of issues. There was a time when women's rights had sufficient importance in the Houses to merit its own committee for many years. In fact, I served on the early committees under the chairmanship of Monica Barnes. Senator Bacik has made an important point which we could address in the course of our work by ensuring such issues are dealt with appropriately. I am sure we can agree a busy work programme that will be both constructive and interesting. I look forward to working with the Chairman who I know will conduct the business of the committee in a way that will be mutually beneficial to all.

I congratulate the Chairman on his new post. Because of my experience on the previous committee, I wish to ensure the Estimates will be properly debated here. The previous short debate, in which the Minister and Opposition spokespersons had ten minutes each, was a waste of time. We should have an adequate, open-ended debate on the Estimates because it is one of the most important functions we will perform during the year. We should be able to keep the Minister here as long as necessary, even if that is for one day. Only the spokespersons will be present.

I am sure the Chairman will be a very good one. One of the functions of a Chairman is to ensure he or she referees what is happening rather than being the main contributor. I am sure the Chairman will abide by that principle.

We will do our best. We will have an opportunity in private session shortly to give our own views as to the direction the committee should take in the short term on its work programme. It will not be a full, formal meeting but we will have brief contributions on certain priorities we might have. We will do this after the election of a vice chairman which I propose to move to now, unless there are further contributions.

On behalf of the Labour Party, I join my colleagues in congratulating the Chairman on his appointment. I wish him well in the years ahead. As he said, it is an onerous position, given the legislative schedule and wider remit of this committee. Having regard to the fact that we live in a democracy in which the winner takes all, I am pleased Deputy Power has been nominated as Chairman. From time to time he may believe members are oppressing him but anyone who has survived for so many years under the rule of the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, should not have any difficulty fending us off.

As colleagues indicated, Deputy Power will chair the committee with fairness and impartiality and will take into account the responsibilities of Members of both Houses to try to do the business with which we are charged. In this regard and notwithstanding that it may be better to wait until the joint committee is in private session to discuss the issue, I cite the example of the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Bill 2007 which may well be scheduled for next week. While I have no objection to this, members agreed, for reasons of which the Chairman is aware, that the joint committee would not meet until today. The clerk to the committee contacted me the day before yesterday to inform me that proposed amendments to the Bill must be submitted by 11 a.m today. While he was also good enough to use his good offices to secure an extension to the deadline, nevertheless this practice should not become de rigueur for the committee. It is reasonable to expect, given the nature of the legislation and the number of outside organisations seeking to have their views on it heard, that members would be given sufficient time to frame amendments. While I can fully understand the reason, given the breadth of his responsibilities, the Minister would seek to drive forward his agenda, I hope the Chairman will protect the rights of members in respect of having reasonable time to construct amendments and hear from outside groups on legislation going through the committee at any given time.

I thank the Deputy. We will take his views on board. If memory serves me correctly, the notice period for amendments was introduced in response to a practice which had developed on the ministerial side by which hundreds of amendments were introduced at short notice. It was designed to protect the Minister and the committee. I believe the Deputy is aware of the issue to which I am alluding.

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