Results 3,861-3,880 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Written Answers — Garda Stations: Garda Stations (16 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am not aware of any proposal to close Rush Garda station or to dispose of the property.

Written Answers — Visa Applications: Visa Applications (16 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: There is no general policy operated by me to grant repeated extensions of permission to remain in the State to a non-EEA national on the sole basis that the person in question is the applicant in civil proceedings against a third party. It is not the case that such a person is precluded from pursuing such proceedings because he or she is no longer resident in the State. No information has...

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (16 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: My Department has no record of an application for naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy.

Written Answers — Visa Applications: Visa Applications (16 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The persons concerned made separate applications for permission to remain in the State on the basis of their parentage of an Irish-born child under the revised arrangements announced by me on 15 January 2005. Their applications were acknowledged on 1 April 2005. Applications are being dealt with in order of receipt in so far as is possible and as expeditiously as possible. Given the number of...

Written Answers — Garda Deployment: Garda Deployment (16 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 and 145 together. It is not practical to put on the record of the House details of the entire careers of members of the Garda Síochána, apart altogether from the security implications which might arise. However, several members of the Garda Síochána most directly implicated by the findings of the second report of the Morris tribunal of either grave...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I pay tribute to Mr. Justice Frederick Morris and his legal and administrative team for the outstanding work they have done in uncovering the truth of what happened in Donegal. It is due to them that serious wrongdoing has been exposed and innocent citizens' rights have been vindicated. It is now for us to build on their work and to respond to their findings. Due to domestic circumstances...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I think it has its origin in a development of a relationship between Government and the Garda Síochána and the emergence of the operation of an independent prosecutorial office in 1974 under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974. As a result, the pendulum swung away from direct accountability to the Government of the day and to the law officer in charge of advising the Government and...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: One need only go back to the period of Peter Berry's tenure of office and the records within the Department of Justice to appreciate that a culture of micro management of the Garda Síochána existed at that time. The Commissioner's role as a departmental official symbolised that situation. From the 1960s onwards, a different arrangement took place in which serving members of the Garda...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The result was that the doctrine of operational independence of the Garda Síochána, of which we all stand completely shoulder to shoulder in support, which states there should not be political direction of the day to day operations of the Garda Síochána, became conflated with a different and I think a slightly pernicious doctrine that the Garda Síochána was not accountable for its day...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I explain this to put in context what I now propose to say. The lawyers conducting the civil proceedings on my behalf repeatedly sought from me the full, factual matrix of the situation that was emerging in County Donegal. For reasons of the implementation of the doctrine that I have explained to the House, they were repeatedly kept away from it at that time. I have no doubt this was done in...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: That is not true.

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Throughout his period in office, in so far as that coincided with my position as Attorney General, the then Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, was most anxious at every hand's turn to have the truth of the McBreartys' allegations established by whatever means were available. In May 2001, he wrote to me in my capacity as Attorney General and asked me to advise him of his options in respect of...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The letter stated that in my view the most preferable way of establishing the truth was by an independent public tribunal of inquiry.

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: It was in June 2001. My letter stated that in the context of the law as it then stood — which was that all tribunals of inquiry had to conduct all of their proceedings in public and receive evidence in public and not otherwise — it was my opinion that at that time the pending criminal prosecutions would tend to be seriously prejudiced and compromised and that it was better in those...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I wish it to be clear that in December or during the late autumn of that year, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, at that stage requested the chairman of the Bar Council to nominate a senior barrister who would have access to all the papers — some of which I had not seen — and who would make a report to him on the appropriate course of conduct. That report was received in...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: ——and the tribunal was established in May 2002. Some people have argued that in those circumstances there was reluctance on our part to take action. This is not the case. In January 2002, the appendices to the Carty report were finally delivered to me as Attorney General as requested by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform from the Garda Síochána. It was only at that point...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: That material finally became available to me in January and February 2002.

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I say all this because it is important that the House should know the facts rather than propagate myths.

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The fundamental fact is that at all times Deputy O'Donoghue as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform wanted to have the truth emerge. At all times I was supportive of that aim subject to the legal difficulty under which I laboured, which was that to have a tribunal of inquiry could pull the plug on the criminal prosecutions then pending. Ultimately it became essential to amend the...

Morris Tribunal: Statements. (17 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: In his introduction to the board's annual report for 2004, which I launched on Tuesday, Mr. Holmes stated: There has been much debate as to whether the new Body should be run by a single Ombudsman or by a commission of three people. In my view, a three-person commission lessens the likelihood of a personality based conflict arising between it and Garda management. In considering the model in...