Results 201-220 of 3,429 for speaker:Gary Gannon

Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: I move amendment No. 2: In page 12, to delete all words from and including “but” in lines 13 down to and including “participation” in 14 and substitute the following: “have the effect of preventing, restricting or penalising public participation”. I thank Deputy Carthy and others. The Bill says lawsuits must have the main purpose of...

Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: Similarly, the Social Democrats will oppose this section. Again, this is about the principle of having trials by jury and the word "defending". I have listened for the past hour and a half. We have read the research in the Oireachtas reports and by the various experts. Nobody has yet laid out any evidence to show why this would make the system better. I heard how it would make it...

Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: I thank the Minister for being forthright in his explanation of how his views have not so much evolved but probably remained the exact same. I took from his contribution that this is not something he believes in good conscience. He said he was bound by the principles of compromise. If I am to understand this, Fine Gael got 20.8% of the first preference vote in the last general election. I...

Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: There is much to welcome in the legislation as proposed. While we support many of the anti-SLAPP measures that are included, like others, we in the Social Democrats recoil at the absence of juries within the courts system. Juries provide the judgment of a person's peers. Juries have a sense of public confidence and democratic principles built into them by their very nature. Juries reflect...

EU Regulations: Motion (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: I appreciate the opportunity to speak on the motion on Ireland's opt-in to the EU's amending regulation on insolvency proceedings. This might appear to be a technical matter and just another adjustment to European legal frameworks, but to those of us who believe the law should first and foremost serve people, it is anything but abstract. Insolvency law, at its core, governs what happens...

Special Education: Motion [Private Members] (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: I thank Labour for bringing forward this important motion. I bid a huge welcome to the parents and guardians who are in the Gallery, many of whom I recognise from my community. There also people who have had to travel to the Dáil previously and who have slept outside the offices of the Department merely to vindicate their child's rights. Each time I see those very same faces, hear...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 107. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the projected recruitment pipeline for prison officers in 2025 to 2027; the projected attrition rate; and the expected net staffing change. [21490/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 108. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the estimated annual cost of detaining one person in prison versus the cost of supervising one person on a community sanction, and the projected fiscal impact of achieving the Department of Justice's 1,500 additional prison place target versus equivalent investment in community measures. [21491/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 123. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the average daily prison population and the official bed capacity of each custodial institution for the months January to March 2025; the percentage occupancy for each; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21475/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 124. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality whether he accepts that the State is in breach of its obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights owing to current overcrowding levels, and what immediate actions he will take. [21476/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 125. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners sleeping on mattresses on floors on each day since 1 January 2024, broken down by prison. [21477/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 126. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality how overcrowding has affected rates of prisoner on prisoner and prisoner on staff assaults in 2023 and Q1 2025; and whether an independent safety audit will be commissioned. [21478/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 127. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prisoners unable to access education, vocational workshops or drug treatment programmes due to capacity constraints in 2024; and the percentage shortfall relative to assessed need. [21479/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 128. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his response to the Prison Officers' Association statement that overcrowding has passed the point at which prisons can be safely operated; and what additional staffing or overtime resources will be provided in budget 2026. [21480/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 129. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of confirmed drone related contraband drops detected in each prison in 2023 and to date in 2025; and the measures being taken to counter drone incursions. [21481/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 130. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will consider installing comprehensive drone defence systems and netting in exercise yards, as recommended by staff representatives; and the estimated cost. [21482/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 131. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current utilisation rate of structured temporary release, broken down by offence category, compared with 2020 to 2024; and the reoffending rate for persons released under this scheme. [21483/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Sentencing Policy (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 132. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the timeline for introducing legislation to expand community sanctions and to implement electronic monitoring, as committed to in the Programme for Government. [21484/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 133. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the average daily number of people on community based restorative justice programmes in 2024; the target numbers for 2025; and the budget allocated. [21485/25]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Apr 2025)

Gary Gannon: 134. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the breakdown of the €53 million capital allocation for 2025 by project and prison; the projected number of additional bed spaces each project will deliver; and on what timeline. [21486/25]