Results 3,161-3,180 of 4,915 for speaker:Jim O'Keeffe

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: The case itself is ludicrous. Three of the six judges held that everything was okay and the trial judge decided the warrant was valid. When the matter was passed to the Supreme Court, the majority of its members — I respect them and acknowledge they are entitled to have a view — stated that a conscious and deliberate violation of the constitutional rights of the accused person had taken...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: That goes back to 1990. It may be inappropriate for a country attorney like me to question the views of the learned judges of the Supreme Court, but I am supported by two strong dissenting opinions within the court. I am also supported in general by the Minister——

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: ——who no doubt will adorn the Bench when he has run his course here.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: We will consider him. We have to get back to first principles. It is easy to suggest that constitutional rights are being trampled on. I do not believe that is the case in this instance. I am proposing that questions of this nature should be examined in the round, that any conscious violation of rights should be prohibited and that things should be done in a bona fide manner. Such an...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: He sounds like an eminently sensible judge.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: The Minister should promote that judge.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: I find myself smothered by support from Fianna Fáil, the Progressive Democrats, my colleague, Deputy Howlin and Sinn Féin. There is a common view in favour of the proposal. I accept this is a complex issue. Until I have the support of all parties in the House I withdraw the amendment in light of the limited time available. Perhaps we can resume the discussion on Report Stage.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: The case made is a good one. I suggest to the Tánaiste that the formulation Deputy Howlin has outlined better captures what is intended and I support his amendment.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: As regards the lines, if paragraphs (e) and (f) are taken out, (g) will have to come up. Does that happen automatically?

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: I have been looking at the section not from a critical viewpoint because I like the idea involved. Perhaps now is the time to try to find holes in it, however. What if the person charged is illiterate, if that is the politically correct term, and unable to produce a written statement? It must also be signed by the applicant. I have occasionally come across cases where an individual has...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: They would not have to be included in the list for a bail application.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: That is what would happen in practice.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: I have always accepted the position that a chief superintendent or a member of the Garda Síochána could have an opinion as to whether somebody was a member of, say, the IRA. I was always happy to have that opinion accepted and taken into account by the court because it was an opinion as to fact. I can see what the Minister is trying to get at here but he is going about it the wrong way....

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: It is an opinion that somebody will commit a crime and I question how it can be expressed to be evidence as it stands logic on its head. If the Tánaiste were defending the applicant for bail, the first question he would ask would be which serious offence was in mind.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: It is a case that the person is of a criminal nature and could commit any offence. I recommend the Tánaiste goes back to the drawing board. I see his point and I support the idea but to suggest that a chief superintendent having a general view that an applicant for bail would commit any offence in the future and regarding this as evidence of the fact, is turning the English language on its...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: By way of request for information, I raise the issue of what exactly are the instruments that would be considered adequate evidence of title to property. Are we speaking of share certificates or what? As this deals with moneys being paid into a court as a surety or as a condition of recognisance and the possibility of other security being accepted in lieu of such payment, the question...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: The only difficulty with that is that while one was handing over a letter from the bank manager, the account could be cleaned out the following day. I would have thought that this referred more to an instrument that might be a share certificate or a document like an old deposit receipt without production of which the bank account could not be cleared.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: Essentially, the idea is to leave it up to the court to decide whether the instrument produced is acceptable evidence of title to a particular property.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: Does the phrase "other than land or any estate, right or interest in or over land" refer to all property?

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Jim O'Keeffe: Does it refer to houses as well as land?