Results 3,741-3,760 of 3,819 for speaker:Mark Ward

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: We do not believe you.

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Apologies, I was stuck in the Chamber for longer than I expected. I have not managed the ability of bilocation yet. I read the GRA's opening statement and a lot of the issue raised related to conduct, discipline and suspension. I will focus on some of these areas. In the past four years, 20 gardaí were charged and convicted of criminal offences. These include some very serious cases...

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Has the GRA commented on any of these cases in the past, unless it was asked? Has it come out and made a comment on them? I think there is an issue. This impacts on public trust. The GRA has rightly been very critical, sometimes with good justification, regarding to the Garda Commissioner in the past yet when a member of An Garda Síochána is involved in criminal activity, the...

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Has the GRA been asked for comment and it has provided a comment on being asked?

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Okay. Another issue I have, especially in my constituency and right across Dublin, is the issue of drug dealing. The local drug and alcohol task force in my own area, which I was a director on the past, does its best to assist people with addiction. The Garda members do their best to prevent and reduce the amount of drugs that end up on and are sold on our street. However, I return to an...

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Is Mr. Slevin aware of other issues, not the specifics, but other instances of controlled substances going missing from Garda stations in the past?

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Would members come forward to the GRA if they felt they were under suspicion, being questioned or anything like that?

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: I refer, in particular, to the incident in Carlow Garda station which made the news. I am sure Mr. Slevin is aware of that. Has he any comment on that at all?

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Okay. It is was brought to my attention because, as I mentioned at the start, drugs have absolutely ripped apart working class communities, particularly parts of my own community. We have seen families who have been caught up in drug use for generation after generation at this stage. Therefore, when the public see or hear about drugs going missing from a Garda station, it raises concerns...

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: We are lucky enough to have one at the late-night soccer leagues in my area.

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: They are very good.

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: Mr. Bolger mentioned community gardaí and engagement. I know there is a move from the joint policing committees to these new local community safety partnerships. These are being enacted across the local authorities now but the destination has not been reached in this process. Do the witnesses think a vacuum has now been created between community gardaí and the communities they...

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: I am a member of the South Dublin County Council joint policing committee and I can honestly say we have not sat since April 2024, more than a year ago now. To me, there is a vacuum there in this regard. Members of Mr. Bolger's organisation who I meet in regular engagements, at the late-night soccer leagues mentioned that were mentioned and so on, have told me they are also noticing there...

Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: I absolutely will do so.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products (18 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: 143. To ask the Minister for Health if she will meet members of the group who made a presentation on Duchenne muscular dystrophy on 11 June 2025 in Leinster House as they try to access a new drug called givinostat; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32910/25]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (24 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: 14. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [32436/25]

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (25 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: I speak in support of both amendments tabled by Deputy Carthy and Sinn Féin. It is clear the Government has been dragging its feet on the Offences Against the State Act. In 2020, Sinn Féin called for a review of this Act. A review was put in place later that year and we called for an end to the Act. Every year there is an extension of this emergency legislation and, based on the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: No more so than you.

Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (26 Jun 2025)

Mark Ward: There is a need for robust legislation to tackle terrorism and terrorist activity. I know everybody can agree on this. This is needed, particularly given the current global climate. However, the vagueness in this Bill is more likely to lead to abuse by the Government to stamp out political protest, political activism and free speech. I listened to the Minister’s speech....