NEW: TDs and Senators have been told there is NO possibility of holding *any* meetings – or the Dáil, Seanad or their committees – through videoconference. Oireachtas has received legal advice saying the Constitution requires a physical “place” for any meetings to occur
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) April 20, 2020
On a related note, though, the Supreme Court is holding its first remote hearing this morning – they’ve found some software which allows Skype, Zoom, FaceTime and the rest to all integrate as one, so that “attendees” can use whichever client works best for them
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) April 20, 2020
There you go.
More as he gets it.
Related: It’s going to cost taxpayer €50k-a-day to have Dail sit in Convention Centre (Herald.ie)
UDPATE:
“Place” does not mean that everyone has to be in the same place.
Look at section 161(6)(b) of the Companies Act 2014 for example pic.twitter.com/SKZrE2IFxy
— Fred Logue (@FredPLogue) April 20, 2020
For completeness, the houses of the Oireachtas have autonomy over their standing orders so they could easily change their rules to bring in a rule akin to the Companies Act provision for teleconferences and such a rule would obviously be constitutional.
— Fred Logue (@FredPLogue) April 20, 2020
“Each sitting day will then cost approximately €50,000”
If set up cost is done at €110k, and the venue is free… How the fupp does it cost €50k for a days’ sitting thereafter?
All the reasons for not able
Maybe just maybe one day we might cop on and realize now we need government and the parliament sitting and if they will not provide it a covid 19 payment to replace their salary like the rest of us
No sitting no
Pay
Which is just another reason the constitution needs completely revised.
Lets have a referendum…. oh
It really doesn’t.
There’s the odd bit that’s daft or outdated but the vast majority is very solid and works very well in a nuts-and-bolts kind of way.
Compare it to somewhere like the US, where the whole thing is so vague that drastically different interpretations are possible and appointments are era-defining political matters.
Who’s on the Irish supreme court? Nobody cares. That shows that the constitution is working.
+1937
Funny how legal advice suits the Government, everytime, without ever being challenged.And then we find out afterwards it was all bollox.
Rent freezes spring to mind.
Is it just me or is Freddy boy getting that whole relationship between constitution and legislation kind of backwards?
I always find it baffling when things like this are reported. Broadly speaking, if you put 10 lawyers in a room together and ask them to interpret a bit of the constitution, they’ll come up with 10 different answers. But the advice given to government is always reported as being completely final – end of discussion. It’s bizarre.
That is because the government is making a decision based on the advice.
The decision is made.- end of discussion.