Results 7,761-7,780 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Written Answers — Anti-Social Behaviour: Anti-Social Behaviour (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: Currently, a person experiencing noise nuisance may contact their local authority, which may initiate proceedings on grounds of noise nuisance under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992. This Act also provides for any person, or group of persons, to seek an order in the District Court to have noise giving reasonable cause for annoyance abated. The procedures involved have been...

Written Answers — Visa Applications: Visa Applications (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: In the first instance I should mention that nationals of the Philippines are required to be in possession of a visa prior to seeking entry to the State. It is open to any visa required national to submit a visa application for any purpose. Each visa application will be considered on its individual merits, the onus resting with the applicant to satisfy the Visa Officer as to why the visa...

Written Answers — Public Sector Staff: Public Sector Staff (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: I am taking the Deputy's question to refer to the number of public servants who retired in the period 01 January to 29 February 2012 and who benefitted from the provisions under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009. This Act provided for the superannuation benefits of public servants, who retired within a "grace period" which ended on 29 February 2012, to...

Written Answers — Air Corps Operations: Air Corps Operations (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 240 and 244 together. In accordance with the roles assigned to them in the White Paper on Defence, the Air Corps are committed to providing support to the civil authorities including Government Agencies such as the National Park & Wildlife Service, (NPWS). As part of the efforts to ensure Ireland's compliance with the EU ban on turf cutting in Special Areas...

Written Answers — Defence Forces Equipment: Defence Forces Equipment (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: The primary responsibility for the maintenance of law and order rests with the Garda Síochána. The Defence Forces, pursuant to their role of rendering aid to the civil power, assist the Gardaí as required in a range of duties. As part of this role, the Defence Forces maintains an anti-riot capability in order to meet a contingent and operational capability at home and overseas. It is...

Written Answers — Defence Forces Deployment: Defence Forces Deployment (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: Primary responsibility for the maintenance of law and order rests with An Garda Síochána. However, one of the roles assigned to the Defence Forces in the White Paper on Defence (2000) is to provide Aid to the Civil Power (ATCP) which, in practice, means to assist An Garda Síochána when requested to do so. Whilst the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána hold regular meetings concerning...

Written Answers — Overseas Missions: Overseas Missions (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: On 24th April 2012, the Government approved the deployment of up to six members of the Permanent Defence Force as unarmed military observers to United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), in response to a request from the United Nations. The selection of Defence Forces personnel is currently in train and, subject to the security situation in Syria, it is expected that Irish...

Written Answers — Public Service Staff: Public Service Staff (3 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: There are no civil servants or civilian employees of this Department based in Waterford. In relation to military personnel, one member of the Defence Forces based in Waterford has retired since the beginning of this year.

Crime Levels (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: I would like to clarify the statistics for burglaries and aggravated burglary. The most up-to-date figures from the Central Statistics Office, which has the statutory responsibility for the production of crime statistics, are for 2011. The published figures indicate that recorded burglary and related offences increased by 7.9% last year. However, the figure for aggravated burglary, which...

Crime Levels (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: I assure the Deputy that adequate resources are available to the Garda Síochána. What is happening is a targeted operation identifying criminal gangs engaged in burglary, who are using our very good road network to gain access to other parts of the country from Dublin. Deputy Calleary is correct in making reference to the increases in Meath and Kildare, the commuter areas to which I was...

Crime Levels (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy is correct in saying that aggravated burglaries in 2011 amounted to 333, the same figure as in 2010. The number was higher in 2009 at 368. The crime of burglary, whether ordinary or aggravated, forms part of the focus of this operation. Like Deputy Calleary, I am aware that for any individual whose home is burglarised it is an extremely traumatic event. One burglary is one...

Prisoner Releases (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: The Irish Prison Service strategic plan contains a number of key objectives for the next three years, one of which includes the expansion of a pilot community return project which commenced last October in line with the recommendations of the Thornton Hall project review group. This community return programme is an incentivised scheme run in conjunction with the probation service which...

Prisoner Releases (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: I can personally assure the Deputy that we will keep the staffing position under continual review. I do not have an immediate answer as to whether the ten posts have been filled. I will be happy to communicate with the Deputy in that regard. I thank the Deputy for his comments on the business strategy we have put in place. It will be very important as we go forward over the next three...

Prisoner Releases (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: The strategy was only announced last week and we are now in the implementation phase. The pilot projects are such that in the context of community release additional conditions can be attached. For example, they may involve an individual having to attend meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous or some other group dealing with drug issues. As the strategy details, we hope to expand and improve the...

Citizenship Applications (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: When I first came into office just over a year ago one of my first objectives was to address the length of time taken to process applications for naturalisation and to significantly reduce the number of cases on hand. At that time there were over 22,000 applications on hand and applications were taking an average time of over two years to process, and many were waiting three to four years....

Citizenship Applications (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: We are still addressing some parts of the backlog. The nature of the naturalisation process is such that for a broad range of reasons some cases take longer than others to process. A substantial number of cases that had accumulated have now been dealt with. There are some cases that give rise to particular security issues that have to be addressed and because of the nature of those cases...

Proposed Legislation (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy is rightly concerned about attacks on the members of the Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and emergency personnel in the course of their work. I share that concern and I want to make it clear that I utterly condemn any such attacks. I will have no hesitation of any nature in taking whatever action, including legislative reform, that might be necessary to protect gardaí,...

Proposed Legislation (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: I share the Deputy's concern. It is important that we provide maximum protection to members of the force. Should a member of the force die or be seriously injured in the course of carrying out their duties there should be appropriate legal mechanisms to bring people before the courts and sentence them. On the issue of manslaughter, it is open to the courts to impose a life sentence. As...

Sexual Offences (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy may have in mind the Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures for 2010 which recorded a substantial increase. However, the CSO has cautioned that care should be taken in the interpretation of these statistics as the increase in that year was largely due to a review of all cases involving sexual offences reported to the Garda. The CSO indicates that the number of sexual offences...

Sexual Offences (8 May 2012)

Alan Shatter: In response to the Deputy, it might be of interest to note the sexual crime management unit, which operates within the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, is the unit with national responsibility for the monitoring of the implementation of Garda policies in respect of sexual crimes. This management unit is responsible for reviewing selected sexual crime investigations to ensure a...