Results 2,181-2,200 of 4,141 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Judicial Appointments (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: 1. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of vacant positions currently in the Judiciary on all courts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42653/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Judicial Appointments (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I would also like to congratulate the Minister on her pregnancy. It is always good to have children coming into the world, particularly here in the Oireachtas. Hopefully she will set a trend. I wish to discuss the number of vacant positions in the Judiciary, including on the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the Circuit Courts and the District Courts. I ask the Minister to make a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Judicial Appointments (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister. One issue that has clearly come to the fore is the difficulty we have in ensuring a clear and transparent process. I welcome the new commission and I hope it will bring clarity. For any position in the private sector, the public sector or anywhere else, there is generally a clear process. People can understand why a person gets the position he or she gets over the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Judicial Appointments (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister. It would be useful if she could give us a date by which she expects to introduce that legislation. Will it be in the first quarter of the coming year? When does she expect us to get it through the Oireachtas? This has become an urgent issue of grave public interest and concern. The sooner we can get down to brass tacks and deal with this issue, the better.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Courts Service (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: 3. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the Courts Service has the resources required to deal with the backlog of cases in courts due to Covid-19 restrictions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42654/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Courts Service (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I wish to ask the Minister about the resources to deal with the backlogs of court cases. As we know, the pandemic has created a situation where an awful lot of court summonses have been delayed and backlogged. Up to 95,000 summonses are now in a backlog, with approximately 4,500 summonses being generated every week on top of that. The Courts Service, naturally, is doing its best to deal...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Courts Service (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: We understand and appreciate the work that has been done and that many of the courts are doing their best in difficult circumstances. I agree with the Minister, however, that a greater level of new technology needs to be brought into play, particularly video links between the courts and the prisons and so on to try to resolve many of these issues whereby people are going for short sittings,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Courts Service (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: We need as much pressure as possible brought to bear on this to ensure we can deliver as quickly as possible. I fully appreciate that the Courts Service has done a lot of work and done its best in the context of the pandemic. However, there are people out there who find themselves before the courts, and I have spoken to a number of them. For some it is a family issue and for others it is a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Court of Justice Rulings (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: 5. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when legislation will be brought forward to deal with the 2014 ruling by the European Union Court of Justice, ECJ, which held that legislation relating to the retention of phone records and other personal data amounted to mass state surveillance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42655/20]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Court of Justice Rulings (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I wish to raise the issue of the retention of phone records and other personal data, the ruling of the European Court of Justice in 2014 and the need for legislation to deal with this issue. As all present are aware, there have been appeals on these grounds in several cases before the courts. It is a difficult situation that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. It is clear these...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Court of Justice Rulings (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I understand that there is a level of delicacy with this and that we must wait and see what emerges from the Supreme Court, but I am glad to hear that work is being done and preparations are being made to make some advance in this regard. It is a serious issue for many cases around the country and, indeed, for the Garda when it is trying to trace where people have been or what has happened...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Court of Justice Rulings (10 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I appreciate that. It is vital that the Garda Síochána has access, when appropriate, to carry out its work. The other aspect of this that must be examined is social media and what happens there. I know there is some preparation to examine the possibility of hate crime, hate speech and so forth. Again, we have to be very careful about this because people have a right to freedom...

Homeless Prevention Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] (15 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I commend Deputy Ó Broin on this excellent legislation. I also commend the Minister on accepting the legislation and moving it forward. All of us in this House need to work in the interests of the many people who come to our constituency offices throughout the country and who are experiencing the absolute terror of falling into homelessness. I recently came across a young woman...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (17 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I extend best wishes for Christmas to the Tánaiste, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, all the staff in Leinster House, the Members and their families. This morning we learned that a memorandum was sent to Cabinet on 6 July regarding the appointment of a Supreme Court judge. That is at odds with what the Minister for Justice told us here three weeks ago and it is an issue that needs to be...

Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I also welcome the swift passage of this Bill and the progress it has made so far. I commend Deputy Howlin on the work he has done in bringing it this far. All of these amendments are basically aimed at the same thing, namely, ensuring that there is no misunderstanding when it comes to the law on how a person can be prosecuted, so that there is no loophole one can get out through. All the...

Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: There are a number of amendments here. Most are sensible and try to expand the realm which this legislation will cover. However, we need to be cautious about part of it. I fully respect what Deputy Barry mentioned earlier about holding material and having material in one's possession even if one is not distributing or publishing it. We often come across cases, as have been told to me,...

Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: I understand this amendment is around the issue of harassment. We did speak about this on Committee Stage. The consensus was that there are already harassment laws in place and that the conflation of the offence with harassment could cause problems down the line. I would like to hear the view of the Minister of State on that. I believe what is proposed could be difficult. While I fully...

Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: The issue here is about the date on which the offence was committed and how that is interpreted. We would like to get clarity from the Minister of State in respect of that. Is the offence committed on the date that the picture or the subject of the complaint is published or made available, or is an offence committed each time an image is made available? Could that be constructed as a...

Brexit Readiness for the End of the Transition Period: Statements (17 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: The issue of Brexit readiness is something we are very conscious of throughout the entire country, and particularly so in the Border region. With a lot of product that moves over and back across the Border in the part the world I come from, particularly for small businesses and small food businesses, it is a serious issue and they have great apprehension as to where we will be even if there...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Online Safety (17 Dec 2020)

Martin Kenny: 319. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she plans to make matters relating to action 14.2 of the Action Plan for Online Safety 2018-2019 a legal requirement in the upcoming online safety and media regulation Bill; the powers a proposed online safety commissioner may have to pursue these statistics from industry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44390/20]