Results 7,081-7,100 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: Arrangements are in place to ensure a psychological expert is available to the Garda in a siege situation. The Garda took advantage of this option during the recent incident in Gort. Senior management of the force and the Central Mental Hospital are about to conclude a memorandum of understanding which will put these arrangements into a more concrete form for future use. The Garda...

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: A new range is being built in Phoenix Park which will be in the basement of the new forensic science building. Meanwhile other range arrangements are being put in place around the country.

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: When that building is completed.

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I will not throw good money after bad, trying to repair the dangerous range.

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I hope the contract for it will be placed soon.

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I hope in the next 18 months.

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I was not asked that question and I am not in a position to answer it. I presume that non-lethal weaponry will not be handed out to every Garda station.

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: That is another issue but there would have to be training in its use which will be complex and require many Garda hours. If one decides to issue pepper spray to the Garda on a generalised basis, gardaí will have to travel to the regions for training sessions.

Garda Equipment. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: That would absorb significant Garda resources. These things cannot be done overnight or at the click of a finger.

Court Procedures. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: Section 16 of the Criminal Evidence Act 1992, as amended, makes provision for the video recording of any evidence given, in regard to a sexual offence or an act involving violence, by a person under 18 years of age through a live television link in proceedings relating to indictable offences. The relevant subsection, (1)(a), was commenced in 1993. It will be noted that this subsection...

Court Procedures. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——possibility of being cross-examined. The existing legislation does not exclude cross-examination and it makes it a condition of the use of this material that the child is available for cross-examination. There is a public misconception that somehow children would be spared the duty of being cross-examined if the defence elected, if we would only introduce a video system. A committee...

Court Procedures. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: A number of meetings have been presided over at the highest level by officials with responsibility for this matter. They have asked me to indicate to the House that they are determined to ensure there is rapid progress on this matter. I must confess that previously there was a lack of progress which was not defensible.

Court Procedures. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am aware that some people have advanced the view that the video recording should be analogue rather than digital because it is easier to see tampering in one format rather than the other.

Court Procedures. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am not clear whether that issue arises but I do not wish to mislead the House in any way.

Court Procedures. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am aware of these recommendations because, as the Deputy may recollect, I am a member of the committee to which he referred. I have brought the report to my Department where it is being circulated and evaluated. I pay tribute to the Members of both Houses who participated in the proceedings of that committee. It is unfortunate that two or three controversial issues were cherry-picked out...

Crime Levels. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Central Statistics Office's recent publication for the first time of the provisional headline crime statistics for the third quarter of 2006 is welcome in providing further expertise and independence in the compilation of such statistics and in acting as an important aid in informing policy formulation and public opinion. While being mindful of the need for caution in the interpretation...

Crime Levels. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: The questions asked by Members usefully draw together all the elements in this area. The figures for seizure last year, to which Deputy Howlin referred, were much smaller than those for this year.

Crime Levels. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: Yes. Operation Anvil has had significant successes and a great deal of intelligence gathering and surveillance has taken place. One can take two views of the figures. One might adopt the view that there has been a vast increase in the amount of drugs being imported in the last year while the Garda continues to seize the same proportion of them. It is a pessimistic view. The other view...

Crime Levels. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: I imagine the truth lies somewhere along the spectrum between those two views. I am not in a position to say whether there was a vast increase in heroin imports to Ireland, which the Garda is seizing in the same proportion, or whether the force's successes on foot of Operation Anvil have led to more significant seizures as a proportion of the total amount of drugs being imported.

Crime Levels. (7 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: That is the point. Issues like price on the street are relevant in that context, but they require a great deal of analysis. While I am not in a position currently to tender such analysis to the House, I make the point that there have been spectacular Garda successes in interdicting heroin, cocaine and firearms in recent times. Those successes reflect the fact that gang activity is growing...