Results 4,661-4,680 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: If there were a system whereby everybody could serve until they were 60 or 65 it would only be for members who were still firing on all cylinders from a fitness point of view so that they could take on the onerous duties of gardaí. If a selection system were introduced it would give rise to significant industrial relations problems because the process would be open to charges of favouritism,...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: This amendment arises out of a key recommendation of the second report of the Morris tribunal. In essence the amendment inserts a new section 14 in the Bill, which in subsection (1) governs the appointment, subject to appropriate regulations, by the Garda Commissioner of persons to the rank of garda, sergeant and inspector respectively. Subsection (2) is more or less the same as that in...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: This power will be used sparingly but it is wrong that a senior officer of the Garda Síochána can be removed on grounds of loss of confidence while somebody junior to him or her, and guilty of the same conduct, is excused from a summary dismissal and goes through a lengthy process. There are three limits to this power, namely the individual's conduct triggers it — this is not a matter of...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: ——it would be wrong and if I were to introduce a selective system it would be open to abuse. There are many people in their 50s who regard the age limit of 57 as opening up promotional opportunities that might disappear if we changed that.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The 11th group of amendments consists of amendments Nos. 121 and 122. In its second report the Morris tribunal referred to the plan being implemented by Garda management to strengthen the Garda internal audit section and noted it was a matter of worry that the internal audit section had not been strengthened by the presence of officers from outside police forces. The tribunal acknowledged it...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I fully echo what Senator Jim Walsh has just said. I intend to fast-track the ethnic diversification of the Garda Síochána, since we know that in Britain youths from racial minorities in particular saw a police force in the 1950s and 1960s which did not reflect their community at all. It indelibly marked the relationship between those minority communities and the force. Now is the time for...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: By way of background information, I can inform Senators that section 91 is one of the most important in Part 3 of the Bill, dealing with the powers of the investigation staff or ombudsman commission to search Garda stations. It is a carefully worded provision in all respects, particularly in the case of certain Garda stations with sensitive material, written, tangible, or computer-based,...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: It contains a typographical error.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The typographical error is being corrected under the relevant Standing Order.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: It is a difficult task to balance these two interests. I have done my best but I am impressed by Senator Walsh's point that, under the general power to make disciplinary regulations, it appears that procedures could easily be put in place — subject to discussion with the Attorney General — for a system of vouching and counter-signature by another member of the force. Another...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Group 13 concerns the subject matter of amendments Nos. 117 and 118. These are technical amendments. They arise from my correspondence with the Chief Justice with regard to the provisions in the Bill as it stands, which permit me to appoint a judge to inquire. This is being changed to "invite a judge to inquire (while serving as a judge)". Amendment No. 118 concerns the replacement of the...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Senator Walsh will be interested to learn that we are currently drafting judicial conduct legislation with the co-operation of the Judiciary, the views of which we are taking on board.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Amendments Nos. 38 to 50, inclusive, are comprehended by this group. Senators will no doubt recall the long discussions we had in this House on the joint policing provisions of the Bill. As I said afterwards, these provisions are all the better for the changes made in the House. I brought forward further changes on Report Stage in the Dáil . The first concerns a recommendation, contained in...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am very grateful to the Senators for the supportive remarks they made. I would make the point to Senator Jim Walsh that he won the war, effectively. He may not like the exact terms of the peace treaty at the end of the war but he won the war in the sense that when I came into this House with this Bill about a year ago, the model was radically different.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I listened carefully to what was said here and it accorded with my own hunches that we were going down the wrong track then and we have switched to the right track. On the guidelines, it is to be noted that section 36(1) of the Bill as it now stands states that a local authority and the Garda Commissioner shall arrange for the establishment of a joint policing committee in accordance with...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am talking about the members of a local authority.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Some areas may have very active chambers of commerce with business improvement district arrangements in place but that may not be the case in other areas. I do not want to mention a town in case it has an active chamber of commerce but councils in some areas do not have developed infrastructure of that kind. I want to put guidelines in place that offer a menu of choices, thereby allowing...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Local authorities sometimes say they have no money but they often get money for projects about which many people would be slightly sceptical. They can always find money for many projects when it suits.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I will conclude on that note. I believe we have the balance just about right. I realise Senator Jim Walsh believes I have moved back somewhat from my earlier position but I will keep him happy by putting different models of local policing committees into the guidelines to allow people choose from a menu of models which are best suited to their own needs and give local authorities that degree...

Prison Building Programme: Motion. (28 Sep 2005)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 1: "To delete all words after "Dail Éireann" and substitute the following: "—welcomes the Government's commitment and performance to date in improving prison facilities and conditions and its decision to replace the Mountjoy complex with a new facility on a greenfield site; —notes that the development of a greenfield site will provide both better long-term value for...