Results 201-220 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Minister is not sympathetic to this amendment. While a person is remanded for detention pending trial, clearly that person has been charged with a serious offence and the court has not seen fit to release the person on bail. That is a remand prisoner. Temporary release for such a prisoner has to be a matter for the courts because it is the courts that decided to remand the prisoner for...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am glad the Senator has acknowledged that the issues are complex. As they have been raised in the inspector's first annual report, the matter is under consideration and we are looking at possible options. It is too early yet to say what the likely outcome will be. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I did not give a positive response on Second Stage to this amendment. The amendment proposes that a notice of a direction of a temporary release should always be given to the victim or the victim's next of kin. There are already a number of options in place for those who wish to receive such information. A victim of a serious sexual or violent offence may ask the Prison Service, through the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I do not know which victims wish or do not wish to be contacted. I do know that some do not wish to be contacted. The effect of the Senator's amendment would be that I or the Minister would have to notify every victim thereby causing some victims unintentional hurt. This is not the place where this particular issue can be raised. I made clear that there is a practice in the Department that a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Senator Tuffy wants to delete words which refer to classes of persons. I can reassure her that it is not the intention of this provision in the Bill to restore the old system of automatic or blanket refusal of particular categories of offender. The Senator expressed a concern that, due to prejudicial reporting of particular types of offence, the Minister might be so minded under these rules...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Rules of thumb can help the administration and they can reassure the public about the system of early release. For example, while we do not have a substantial problem with football hooligans compared to some other jurisdictions, we do have a problem and it is not unreasonable for the Minister to lay down as a general rule for that class of offender that they should be prohibited from...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am in some difficulty here because I am not aware of the recommendation of the Law Reform Commission. The commencement section reads, as the Senator indicated, in the future tense that the Act "shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may by order appoint". Senator Terry's amendment would replace that with the present tense "The Act comes into operation on such day as the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Committee Stage. (15 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I will certainly look at the matter on Report Stage in that case. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is responsible for the great bulk of legislation. The issue raised by the Senator should be examined and I will do so before Report Stage. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Section 2 agreed to. Title agreed to. Bill reported without amendment.

Seanad: Order of Business. - OECD Education Report: Statements. (16 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the publication of the OECD report, Education at a Glance. My colleague, the Minister for Education and Children, Deputy Noel Dempsey, accompanied the President on her State visit to China and is not here today.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Yes, I will comment. The formula of words used in the subsection was chosen because it introduces a fundamental concept employed throughout the Bill, namely, that of a direction. If we had defined the term "direction" we would have been obliged to have a separate definition or interpretation section in the Bill which would have contained the phrase "In this Bill, 'direction' shall mean"....

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Amendments to any legislation are intended to be read in conjunction with the remaining provisions of the original Act. This Act does not operate in isolation. Hence, it seems impractical to follow the course advocated by the Senator and gender-proof this Bill without gender-proofing the original 1960 Act. The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel has been consulted on this issue and its strong...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: On the wider question raised by Senator Terry, I would not like the House to be under the impression that the correct balance is not struck in this Bill or that the Department is not interested in the position of victims. The Department published the Victim's Charter in 2000. In dealing with legislation, we must judge it in the context of where it arises in the criminal justice system. This...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The victim can write to the Minister and, in practice, the Minister has considerable regard for what the victim has to say in a matter of this kind. I would not wish to have it on the record of the House that the Minister accepts that victims are not consulted. In any serious matter the victim can, through the relevant probation liaison officer in the prison, insist on being contacted and...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: In a sense, the Senator has correctly hinted at the legislative scheme of the Bill because if one looks at subsection (1), it clearly empowers the Minister, who "may direct" temporary release. As the Senator outlined, it then outlines the positive reasons that temporary release might be granted. An example would be reintegration upon release or temporary circumstances relating to health or...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As I outlined to the House in relation to the last amendment, to insert this paragraph in the relevant section would be to give the Minister a reason to refuse to make a direction. Apart from that, I take it that the substance of the amendment is to ensure that the Minister would not rule out temporary release solely because of the element of risk. The difficulty is that by its nature,...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: There is a distinction between the remanding and sentencing of a prisoner by the courts. The system of temporary release operates in relation to sentenced prisoners. Where a prisoner is on remand for trial for an offence, clearly the prisoner is within the jurisdiction of the courts system and the trial, conviction and punishment of criminal offenders is a matter reserved to the courts under...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Not all victims want to be informed of the temporary release of the offender. It may bring back memories of the pain and hurt he or she experienced. To accept the amendment in this form would be to cast a very definite legal obligation on the Minister to notify the victim in every case where the temporary release of an offender takes place. That would cause considerable practical difficulty...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As Senator Terry pointed out, the Law Reform Commission recommended there should generally be greater use of the active instead of the passive voice. It is more appropriate on occasion to use the passive voice to emphasise an act rather than its agent. The present drafting style makes too much use of the passive voice, often obscuring the central message of a section. However, having examined...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Senator is correct that I had a narrow miss because of a procedural difficulty. The Senator is right to say that to include "the Minister" in place of "him" in this Bill will not do any damage to the consistency of the legislation.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Bill 2001: Report and Final Stages. (22 Oct 2003)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I abide by the ruling of the Cathaoirleach. I replied to various queries on Second Stage. I would like to thank Senators for their co-operation in the subsequent evolution of this Bill. We have had an interesting discussion. It was very focused on the rights of victims in the criminal justice process.