Results 1-20 of 240 for garda speaker:Gerry Horkan

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...coarsening. We need to calm down our debates and the level of vitriol against politicians generally. Senator Ahearn is our Acting Leader today and I congratulate him on that. Yesterday, the Garda Commissioner, Mr. Drew Harris, appeared before the Oireachtas transport committee, of which I am Vice Chair. I am not taking away anything from what Senator Sherlock said about water...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Second Stage (16 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...and child pornography. The Bill will also amend the Defence Act 1954 to ensure persons subject to military law who commit specified sexual offences in this jurisdiction will be dealt with by An Garda Síochána and the civilian courts rather than through a military process. Finally, the Bill provides that character evidence introduced at a sentencing hearing for a person...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: On behalf of the committee, I am pleased to welcome from An Garda Síochána Commissioner Drew Harris and Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman. I will read a note on privilege. Witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...the best will in the world, we could probably quadruple or multiply the number of people in roads policing by ten and we would never cover every rural road. Not to take away from everything An Garda Síochána is doing, I wonder what potential technological advances are available. Do we see technology in cars tracking drivers' behaviour and seeing what they are up to? I know...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: Okay, I thank the witnesses for that. There will be many more cameras, and that is what is hoped for. For the information of people watching, does the revenue from that come back into An Garda Síochána to fund more road safety or does it go to the Courts Service? Where does it end up?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...yellow boxes, maybe they will get a few penalty points and will watch their penalty points a bit more. I just do not see enough of that happening. There are endless demands on the time of An Garda Síochána but driver behaviour seems to be slacking off.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: The more automation there is of mundane tasks like cameras focusing on bus lanes, cycle lanes and red lights, the less need there is to take gardaí away from other crime duties or other parts of roads policing. The Garda Commissioner referred to the 6,675 vehicles seized. Were they all seized for having no insurance or were there other reasons? What kind of vehicles are being seized,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...come back in. I could probably talk for an hour on this. Most of us here could talk for an hour but we need to share the time. I thank Mr. Drew and Ms Hilman. I also thank every member of An Garda Síochána who is doing the work every day in road safety, and in all the other things they do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...kind of ignore it. There seems to be quite a large volume of vehicles in the NCT database that have never been tested or have been tested a very long time ago. Maybe somebody, whether it is An Garda Síochána, the RSA or the National Car Testing Service, should focus in on these long-term persistent offenders because as we said, if people are going to drive without insurance,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: What has the Garda been doing? People are saying that the ban relating to under-16s is going to be unenforceable. I see people almost every day when I am coming into Leinster House who are using scooters, some very responsibly and others less responsibly. Technically, however, their use is illegal. Is that correct? In other words, they are not legal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...engage. People can sign a waiver, but it is more than that. There is a sobriety test of some type. That would probably not catch drugs, but it would be for alcohol. However, from next week if a garda sees somebody who looks ten, 11 or 12 years old, they will be pursued.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: If the Garda place a van somewhere and detections fall massively over a couple of months, the van will be moved. I know vans are moved every day.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: The Garda would not have been catching them before.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...in his or her system, but it was below the limit. Is the case with drugs the same? People take drugs and probably do not realise those have an effect on their systems. In a drugs test, is the fail level the level above which the Garda believes driving would be a problem?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: An Garda Síochána (15 May 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...who has been here a number of times. She is always welcome. On my behalf and on behalf of the committee, I thank them and the entire workforce for all the work they do. I am the grandson of a garda who joined in 1923; I think he was one of the first members of the force. He spent his career there. We all value what the Garda does. It is not an easy job. Taking from the closing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...volume has increased. The number of cars has increased and since the pandemic, the volume of traffic has increased a lot but I am talking about the 185 fatalities of last year. The coroner and An Garda Síochána have investigated these particular fatalities. What did they identify as the main cause? Was it speeding, drugs or alcohol? Was it a combination? What historical...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Gerry Horkan: ...them surrender their licences. I am not as concerned as to whether they surrender the plastic card but we seem to keep finding people on the roads who are driving without permission to drive. An Garda Síochána's X, formerly Twitter, account seems to keep posting about how a car driving erratically was pulled in and it had no tax, NCT or driver's licence and the driver had...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Gerry Horkan: Does Mr. Walsh think it is a power the RSA would maybe like to have? If somebody breaks a red light or is speeding, the RSA can do nothing about it. The authority can ask An Garda Síochána to do something about it and can ask the local authorities to install red light cameras but it cannot install them. That is where I see the disconnect in that we want the RSA to make roads...