Results 4,961-4,980 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: Yes. The receiving agency for penalty charges applied for driving offences is An Post and that more than likely will continue to be the position.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I anticipate when an offence is committed, the garda will take the person to the Garda station where he or she will be cited with a fixed charge penalty. It would be rare for a person to give a false name in those circumstances. If he or she did, that would also be an offence, which would have to be investigated.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I could go through section 184 of the Criminal Justice Act, to which we are making technical amendments. It is a long section that lists the procedures under which fixed charge offences are dealt with by a member of the Garda Síochána.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: Yes. No court is involved. The idea of fixed penalty charges is to try to keep as many people as possible out of court for minor offences.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: That would be a matter for the court to decide.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: In driving offences, for example, I do not see the difference between owning and not owning a vehicle. The amendment is an effort to try to reduce administration, time in court and the time used by the Garda so that relatively minor offences can be indicated. People would not be brought to court. However, if the person does not pay after two notices, he or she would be summoned to court.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: It is not new, but this will be the first time it will be applied to public order offences.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I have thought long and hard about this issue, and I have come to a conclusion based on the figures available to me. This country has a severe problem with the consumption of alcohol, whether we like it or not. We have one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the European Union. In 2006, it was 30% higher than the EU average. A eurobarometer survey in 2007 indicated that 34% of...

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: In some of my public comments I referred to another recent survey carried out in England by the Local Government Association. It reported increases in alcohol-related incidences. For example, half of all police authorities stated that the longer opening hours had simply resulted in incidences occurring later in the night. The survey of 20 police forces indicated that crimes committed...

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: How is it that all Deputy Charles Flanagan's amendments are parroting the claims of the interest groups?

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I do not accept for a minute what Deputy Flanagan says about lack of co-ordination between Departments. My Department is working very closely with the Department of Health and Children in relation to this and other initiatives on the health side. It was clearly indicated when we published the general scheme for consultation in 2005 that we accepted there was a need for nightclub permits....

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: ——but the only difference between it and a special exemption order is that it would be a yearly permit. In order words, nightclub owners would only have to renew their permits once a year in the courts because their premises are dedicated nightclubs, whereas the owners of late bars would have to continue to apply for special exemption orders. It is not my intention to change the time of...

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: Tessa Jowell is on record as saying that the café culture and the liberalising of opening hours would allow for a situation where people would act responsibly and reasonably, but the exact opposite happened.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I move amendment No. 4: In page 4, before section 3, to insert the following new section: "3.—Subsection (2) (inserted by section 4 of the Act of 2000) of section 3 of the Act of 1927 is repealed.". The amendments to sections 3 and 4, together with the related amendment No. 4 to the 1927 Act, give effect to my commitment regarding early morning houses. As I said when introducing the Bill,...

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I thank the Deputies for their comments. This measure was not aimed at young people. It was a proposal from the advisory committee because some evidence was brought to its attention that in some instances public disorder issues arose where, particularly in Dublin, people were queuing to get into some of these premises to feed their alcohol problem and that this was leading to public...

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: While I cannot accept the amendment, I have some sympathy with the sentiments expressed in it. My advice is that "dial a can" is already illegal. In its report the group suggested that there should be enforcement of the existing provisions. It did not recommend any legislative change. The Garda was represented at chief superintendent level and the group recommended that the Garda target...

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I have nothing further to add. The recommendation of the report was that the existing legislation should be enforced. I am prepared to return to it. In the event of its coming to our attention that there is a difficulty regarding the circumstances Deputy Ó Snodaigh has indicated, I will take action in the sale of alcohol Bill.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: Section 17(3) of the Intoxicating Liquor Act. This is the distinction to which Deputy Ó Snodaigh refers. It makes it an offence for a licensee with intent to evade the conditions of the licence to take intoxicating liquor from the licensed premises for the purpose of its being sold on the account or for the benefit——

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: That is the point, but the group did not indicate there was a problem. However, since Deputy Ó Snodaigh has raised it, I will be prepared to re-examine it in the context of the sale of alcohol Bill.

Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Jul 2008)

Dermot Ahern: In those circumstances, under the section there would be the possibility of getting a prosecution or conviction against the licensee but not necessarily the taxi driver.