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NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PROCEDURES 1. Apologies Present: Clerk to the Committee: In attendance: The meeting commenced at 1.08 p.m. in private session. Mr Agnew, Mr McClarty. 2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the Committee meeting held on 29 May 2002 were agreed and signed by the Chairperson. Urgent business A draft Standing Order had been submitted to the Business Committee for comment. No reply had been received. Assembly sittings and Committee of the Centre The amendments to Standing Orders 10 and 54 had been passed in plenary. Official Report (Hansard) The motion to introduce a new Standing Order had been passed in plenary. 4. INQUIRY INTO THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM The Chairperson welcomed Mr Tim Moore and Mr Tony Marken of the Assembly's Research and Library Services. Mr Moore presented to the Committee his report on Committee practices and procedures in other legislatures. Discussion followed on a number of topics raised in the presentation, including resolution of problems caused by multi-committee membership, the difficulty this poses for attendance at meetings and the transparency of work performed by committees. The Committee agreed that Mr Moore be asked to undertake further research on those topics. The Committee instructed the Clerk to examine the feasibility of follow-up visits by the Committee to some of the other legislatures examined in the report. ACTION: Clerk Members also considered briefing papers giving a list of members who it was proposed to interview and suggested questions. The Committee agreed that the interviews should proceed. ACTION: Clerk The Chairperson welcomed Mr Arthur Moir, Clerk of the Assembly, and Mr Martin Wilson, Principal Clerk of Bills, who gave a presentation to the Committee on the new procedures for enabling the introduction of bills in the Assembly by Members and Committees. In his presentation, Mr Moir stressed that the objective of the procedure was to ensure that there were no unnecessary obstacles to Members or Committees in gaining access to the Assembly's legislative drafting service or to bringing their bills to the Speaker for introduction. Members also noted that the new procedures would be reviewed in the future, to assess their effectiveness. The Committee therefore agreed not to introduce an amendment to Standing Orders at this stage. ACTION: Clerk The Committee agreed to defer discussion until its next meeting. 7. VOTING: REGISTRATION OF ABSTENTIONS The Committee agreed to defer discussion until its next meeting. Visit to the Dáil The Committee agreed to make a one-day visit to the Dáil on Wednesday, 26 June 2002 as part of the Review of Assembly Questions. ACTION: Clerk 9. DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Wednesday 3 July in Room 152 Parliament Buildings at 1:00 pm. The meeting adjourned at 1:56 pm. C MURPHY |
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