Results 10,741-10,760 of 11,509 for speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I want to speak briefly in support of this amendment. I declare an interest in that I have acted for the State in a number of cases involving a question of whether post-release matters are part of an offender's sentence or whether they are better characterised as civil orders consequent on conviction. Notably, with regard to the registration provisions under the Sex Offenders Act 2001,...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I move amendment No. 15: In page 22, lines 33 to 35, to delete all words from and including ", including" in line 33 down to and including "applicant)" in line 35. These six amendments relate to the same procedural principle the Minister is proposing to introduce, that is, the secret hearing as it has been colloquially called. The amendments represent my third main objection to the Bill, the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I wish to answer one point made by the Minister in which he quoted from the Hederman report on the issue of jury tampering. It is fair to point out that the Hederman committee went on to say that while the majority did agree with the retention of the Special Criminal Court, there was a significant minority view, expressed by Mr. Justice Hederman, the chair of the committee, Professor William...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I have already expressed my opposition to section 8 and I do not want to prolong this debate.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I state my opposition to the section which purports to add a new section 72A to the Criminal Justice Act 2006 providing that inferences may be drawn from silence. I am conscious that there are a number of inference drawing provisions in the Offences Against the State Acts and in the Criminal Justice Act 2007. However, I am also conscious of the need for safeguards. On Second Stage, the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I am conscious of the amendment to section 72A(7) but I was wondering whether the Minister had an answer on the point on consultation with a solicitor. I do not think that provision was changed and certainly I did not see any change to it between the initial version of the Bill and the Bill we have now. It seems that section 72A(2) remained the same and that all that is required is that a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I support Senator Regan's amendment and have already stated the reasons for my opposition to section 7 and the fundamental premise on which it is based. Senator Regan's amendment would not address my concerns but would improve matters in that it would certainly confirm existing case law on the nearest parallel, section 3(2) of the 1972 Act, thereby requiring the provision of corroborating...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: My opposition to section 7 relates to subsections (1), (2) and (3) of the proposed new section 71B. The fundamental premise is that the opinion of a garda will constitute evidence as to the existence of a particular criminal organisation. I do not have the same objections regarding subsections (4) and (5) of the proposed new section. The fundamental premise of the first three subsections...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I have already stated clearly on the record why I oppose the section. My concerns focus particularly on the proposed new subsections (1) to (3) of the proposed new section 71B of the 2006 Act, which relate to the opinion evidence of a garda as to the existence of a criminal organisation.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: The Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I record that I oppose this section. I support Senator Alex White's amendment, which is a sensible and proportionate response to the concerns the Minister expressed about potential jury intimidation. I support what Senator Alex White said about the need to show some evidence for that. We have not been given that sort of evidence. Given that we can accept that there are genuine concerns...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I echo the words of Senators Regan and Alex White. I refer to the Minister's comments on the cross-examination of a garda on the beat or the garda who proposes to give this evidence. The difficulty is that a garda, of chief superintendent or another rank, routinely claims privilege. Perhaps I will wait until I have the Minister's attention. The garda claims privilege over sources or...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: On a point of order, is this a Second Stage speech?

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I thank the Cathaoirleach.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I am opposed to section 7. While either amendments No. 1 or No. 2 would go some way towards improving it, I am fundamentally opposed to the principle expressed in the section that a garda or former garda of any rank may give evidence as to the existence of a particular criminal organisation and that this evidence shall be admissible as expert evidence. As I explained earlier, this flies in...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I am speaking to the amendments. If we are going to go down the road of declaring people to be expert at the very least the persons concerned should be of a high enough rank in An Garda Síochána for their opinions to carry a certain weight. Even then, I am against the principle of section 7, in particular subsection (1) which seeks to insert a new section 71B. I see the Minister has a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: Is the Senator anticipating something?

Seanad: Northern Ireland: Statements (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: As the Independent group's nominee on the all-party Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, I appreciate the Taoiseach's kind words of acknowledgement of the work done by the committee's members. It is a privilege to sit on it alongside colleagues from Northern Ireland and I look forward to continuing to work on it to end the divisions that have scarred the island...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: On a point of order, there are also people on the Independent benches who wish to speak.