Results 4,221-4,240 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I am happy to be back in the Seanad for a second time today to present this Bill to the House. As I am sure Senators know, the purpose of the Bill is to encourage the greater use of community service as an alternative sanction to imprisonment. The Bill reflects the commitment set out in the national recovery plan to extend the use of community service orders by introducing a requirement on...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: It will get worse in the autumn.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I thank all the Senators who spoke. It is a short but important Bill and support therefor is welcome. I join those who praised the Probation Service. A substantial amount of very good work is done by the service, which gets very little public acclaim for it. Last autumn, prior to my coming into government, I had meetings with the head of the Probation Service to explore this issue and to...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: There we go. We will not mention that he is absent then. I was interested in his categorisation of the joining together of the political right and the political left. I have never regarded myself as either left or right-----

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Second Stage (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: -----although it is a good idea when one is walking to know whether one is walking to the left or right. I am taken by people who are hung up on old-fashioned political caricatures and ideologies. From my perspective, I always regarded Sinn Féin as significantly to the right in the context of some of the activities in which it engaged. In the context of some of the political stances it...

Seanad: Clár Tógála Scoileanna (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline the process being utilised to ensure adequate accommodation in schools at primary and post-primary level in all parts of the country. The forward planning section of the Department of Education and Skills has carried out a study of the country to identify the areas where, due to demographic changes, there...

Seanad: Clár Tógála Scoileanna (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I will bring the Senator's views to the Minister's attention.

Seanad: Clár Tógála Scoileanna (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: He got away with it though.

Seanad: Social Welfare Appeals (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I apologise for the inability for the Minister for Social Protection to attend the House. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered on behalf of the Department of Social Protection by the community division of the Health Service Executive provides for the payment of weekly or monthly supplements to eligible people who are habitually resident in the State and whose means...

Seanad: Social Welfare Appeals (26 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: In an effort to be of help to the Senator, all I know of this matter is what the Senator has said in this House and the information furnished by the Minister. However, as someone who has some knowledge in this area and who has written about the social welfare and supplementary welfare systems at length, it seems to me there is a significant difficulty in being of assistance in the matter....

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I again thank the Seanad for taking the Bill today and my colleague for raising the issue. Section 19 is a very important section. It is worth recording what it states before I comment on it. Subsection (1) states: A person shall be guilty of an offence if he or she has information which he or she knows or believes might be of material assistance in— (a) preventing the commission by any...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: Yes. I thank the Senator for the questions he has raised and will take the second query first. The second one is very much to the point. The Senator is absolutely right, one cannot retrospectively criminalise a failure. If an individual had information on, say, 1 February 2010, they should have provided to the Garda in regard to current investigations and failed to provide it - it is not,...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I agree with the Senator. I hope that what I have said today will receive some publicity; he can be assured it will be publicised. Of course, the provision does not apply to every bit of tittle-tattle, it refers to information that will provide, in the phraseology of the Bill, material assistance to the Garda in either preventing the commission of one of scheduled crimes or assisting in the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I apologise to the Senator for not responding to that yesterday. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, has responsibility for producing the general whistleblower legislation, which is to apply across the public sector. We are conscious that what I describe as fragmented whistleblower provisions are already in existence in different Acts enacted by the Houses of the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I have great sympathy with the case made by the Senator. It would be a very good thing to have this in legislation and not just in the rules of court. I am very conscious of the difficulties that have affected individuals in circumstances where court orders have been made and there has been failure to comply with them on occasions by individuals who appear clearly to have the assets to...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I will respond to the member in charge issue. I assume the member in charge in the Garda Síochána will operate in good faith in dealing with section 7 matters. There are specific internal rules within the Garda in the context of applying these powers and I have no reason to believe they will not be properly applied in the context of the legislation. If some difficulties arise in the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I thank Senators for supporting the Bill and addressing the issues raised. The questions that were asked were important because they gave us an opportunity to tease out some of the key provisions of the Bill. I assure Senators that I appreciate the fact that we have been able to complete this Bill before the summer vacation. I look forward to it being signed by the President. I hope it...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: As on Second Stage, I wish to thank the Senator and his colleagues in the House for their support for the Bill. It is important that when they make decisions, members of the Judiciary at all levels should provide their reasoning in respect of those decisions. At present, however, there is no requirement to the effect that written judgments should always be provided. I appreciate that the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: For the reasons already given, I cannot accept the Senator's amendment, although I accept his good intentions in putting it forward. The Judiciary is obliged to comply with legislation enacted by the Houses of the Oireachtas. As such, it is important, in enacting legislation, that our intent is clear and that we do not create unnecessary difficulties or anomalies. Leaving aside the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Alan Shatter: I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I have a particular interest in ensuring we put victim interests centre stage and in addressing some of the gaps in our legislation with regard to victims and their rights. I published two Private Members' Bills in this area and a victims' rights Bill is to be prepared and I hope it will be published in 2012. It is one of the priority measures in...