Results 2,181-2,200 of 6,389 for speaker:James Lawless

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Aid (8 Jul 2021)

James Lawless: 146. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current position of the criminal legal aid scheme for barristers which has not been subject to pay restoration arising from the FEMPI cuts and has remained static or reversed over the past 20 years; the impact this is having and will continue to have on availability of counsel to both defend and prosecute cases; if parity...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: We have a quorum of members and will commence our meeting. We are opening in public session. When the witnesses are speaking I ask them to ensure they are not on mute and when they are not speaking I ask them to mute their devices so we do not cut across each other. This goes for members also. It is straightforward but even though we are all very familiar with online meetings now...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Dr. Lunn for his opening statement and for keeping within the timeframe. I now invite Professor Fennell to make her statement and she has five minutes to do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Professor Fennell for her contribution and for also keeping to the time. It helps with the smooth running of the meeting. The next speaker is Mr. Liam Herrick, who is familiar with and to the committee. He has five minutes to give an opening statement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Mr. Herrick. Next, I call Ms Antoinette Cunningham of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI. She is very welcome and I thank her for joining us today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Ms Cunningham. There will indeed be more time to discuss them. I thank the AGSI for its written submission as well as the statement we have just heard. Last but not least we have Deputy Commissioner Anne Marie McMahon. She has five minutes. I thank her again for her submission and her attendance today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank the deputy Commissioner. We have now heard all the opening statements. I will open the discussion up to members who will put questions to our guests. We will have some discussion and go around the table. We will try to get every member in once and we may go around again, time permitting. I will get the ball rolling with a couple of questions. I might direct a question to one...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Mr. Herrick. I will ask Ms Cunningham to respond but before she does, I will think out loud. I represent Kildare North and County Kildare went into a separate lockdown last August. It was difficult because the rest of the country was coming out of lockdown while Kildare was going back into lockdown. People felt a sense of injustice, rightly or wrongly. I noticed some commentary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I will move onto my next question. There is a common theme. Professor Fennell spoke about clarity. With regard to my previous question, I am not necessarily stating that all of these situations should have criminal sanction, but what alternative sanction might exist? If we are passing regulations that are difficult, cumbersome and onerous on the public, it does strike me that there must...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Dr. Lunn very much for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I will move to other members. The first hand up is that of Senator Gallagher. For reference, I have noted the following members offering: Deputy Daly and Senators Ward and Ruane.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: Senator, do you want any particular witness to respond to those points?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: Some of those points were directed to the deputy commissioner and Ms Cunningham, but, as the Senator said, anybody who wishes can respond. I will start in that order and other witnesses can come in if they wish.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Mr. Geoghegan. I am afraid on this occasion I must cut Dr. Lunn and Mr. Herrick from responding because I am anxious to get to all of the members. I will now move on to the next member. The witnesses who did not get in on this question can come in on other questions. For housekeeping, we have approximately 40 minutes left. Deputy Daly and Senators Ward and Ruane have indicated....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: As one of the 12,000 park runners myself, I completely agree with the Deputy's points on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: The Senator made some strong points there and many observations. He summarised matters in his final question. Mr. Herrick was first to indicate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank Mr. Herrick. We move to the final member to contribute, Senator Ruane. She will close and then we will have responses from the witnesses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: The Senator is spot on in her timing and it was very helpful that her questions were targeted at specific witnesses. I hope they were all taking notes. Am I correct that her first question was to the deputy commissioner?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I invite the deputy commissioner to respond.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Civil Liberties during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

James Lawless: I thank the deputy commissioner. I believe Senator Ruane's remaining questions were addressed to Mr. Geoghegan and Mr. Herrick. I invite Mr. Geoghegan to respond first, after which we will hear from Mr. Herrick.