Results 61-80 of 81 for gsoc speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Report Stage (4 Feb 2015)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The Minister would be familiar with the Kieran Boylan affair. GSOC submitted a detailed report on the case and the significant lack of co-operation it received from the then Garda Commissioner on matters of the utmost seriousness. It submitted a 500-page report to the previous Minister and published a seven or eight page summary of its concerns. One of the key issues was the lack of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...fair because they were not at fault. It is important that the Minister acknowledge at some point that this was an issue for senior management and that changes need to happen in order to make the latter accountable to GSOC. There must be a better response to any criticisms that are levelled or any allegations of malpractice that are made in the future.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (27 Feb 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: The issues in regard to the alleged bugging of the GSOC offices are very clear. They have been gone through line by line and every decent journalist in the State has reported on and analysed them. The Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions has spent hours dealing with the issues. The allegations and the issues of concern are very clear. Why did the Minister not deploy...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Inspectorate Reports (24 Sep 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...with their child. However, there should be documentary evidence or paper trail that demonstrates that. The Minister is right to say that we must await the outcome of the current examination by GSOC. However, I am alarmed by the situation. Everybody in the country was focused on the issue of penalty points, but if it emerges that after the investigations of last year by the Committee...

Garda Síochána (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Report Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...debate on this matter on Committee Stage. I am very alarmed. When the Minister was in attendance at an event organised by the Law Society and the IHREC, Mr. Conor Brady, a former member of GSOC, made the sensible proposal that wherever something was deemed to be a matter of State security by the Garda when the police authority or GSOC requested information, a way to separate politics...

Guerin Report: Statements (15 May 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...Síochána Ombudsman Commission, the Garda Inspectorate and a codified system, and made other welcome changes. However, from the beginning my party said it did not go far enough. We strongly felt the powers of GSOC were insufficient in that the Garda Commissioner was not accountable to it and it could not initiate investigations. We also felt it did not have enough resources...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2018)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...of fraud and theft, he would be sent back to jail, yet, repeatedly after that, he was not, and this is before he knocked down Shane O'Farrell. There are huge questions.It should never have been left to GSOC alone. It was not a matter just for An Garda Síochána. This was a whole-of-system failing. Any decent citizen of the State would see there has to be a public inquiry into...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (13 Jun 2013)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...contemporaneous notes and the handling of informers, the lessons of that tribunal have, apparently, not been learned. This is a very serious matter. A month on the Minister cannot confirm that he has engaged with GSOC to elaborate further on its concerns. He has not made a public statement to express his concern about what has been said. This concerns what is known as the Kieran Boylan...

Garda Inspectorate Report on the Fixed Charge Processing System: Statements (26 Mar 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...Members became interested. Finally, when it came to crisis point with what the Garda Commissioner said before the Committee of Public Accounts and the major outcry, the Minister decided to refer it to GSOC for a vigorous, independent examination of the matters at hand. That is the journey, that is what happened. Now we move on to the apology. It is good that both men are entirely...

Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (28 May 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...it together. When the Garda Síochána Bill was enacted in 2005, my party colleagues in the House at the time said that it did not go far enough and that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, did not have the powers to carry out its responsibilities. For example, the office did not have the ability to oversee the Garda Commissioner. In recent times, we...

Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Report Stage (4 Feb 2015)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...essentially by one person. The model internationally with police ombudsmen, sectoral ombudsmen or public service ombudsmen is for one person with senior advisers making the call. The chairman of GSOC has recently resigned to take up a new position in Britain in order to be closer to his family and so on, and good luck to him. That vacancy gives us an opportunity to address the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight: Discussion (14 May 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...point made by the Garda Inspectorate, which strikes me as logical and sensible, is that there are crossovers regarding the roles and responsibilities of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, and the Garda Inspectorate. Would it not be better were they to co-operate on such matters and, perhaps on a statutory footing, meet on a regular basis to ascertain how they could...

Commission of Investigation (Certain Matters relative to An Garda Síochána and other persons) Order 2014: Motion (15 Apr 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...around the Garda ombudsman's office being bugged were very serious. Unfortunately, however, on the day after it was reported in The Sunday Times, the Taoiseach misquoted the Garda Síochána Act and said that GSOC had a requirement to report to the Minister. Straight away, the tone was set that, in the phrase that was used, the victims were being turned into the villains. The...

Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jul 2013)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...what gave birth to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission but unfortunately from the outset it did not have the powers it required to hold the Garda to account. If there is any doubt about that, it was blown away by the report that the GSOC has given to the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner in regard to what is known as the Kieran Boylan affair, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission Reports: Discussion (3 Jul 2013)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...I call Deputy Daly, I wish to take the opportunity to ask a few questions because Senator Ó Clochartaigh and I have to attend another engagement at 5.40 p.m. The background to the formation of GSOC was the Morris tribunal which caused huge concern throughout the State and cost it dear financially and in terms of public confidence in the workings of the Garda Síochána....

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Síochána (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Oct 2015)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...could demand any documents of the Garda Síochána and issue written directives to the Garda Síochána and the authority. CCTV schemes must be approved by the Minister. Ministerial consent would be required for GSOC to investigate the Commissioner. The Minister would decide the number of senior rank positions and consent to the number of civilian staff, the appointment...

Allegations in relation to An Garda Síochána: Statements (Resumed) (26 Feb 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ..., he is an honourable man. The Minister said so himself when he appointed him. He is a respected solicitor. His character is not in question. Why would somebody like that say what he said? That must be answered. The third issue is the alleged bugging of the offices of GSOC, how that was handled and how GSOC was put in the dock rather than given the support of the Minister's office....

Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...of some within An Garda Síochána and was being handled off the books, and that other people were being set up. Some of the senior gardaí who were blocking that information and documentation being given to GSOC were under scrutiny. That was an example of why the requirement to hand over documentation within 30 days must be on a legislative, statutory footing, rather than...

Seanad: Inquiry into the Death of Shane O'Farrell: Statements (20 Nov 2019)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...the island, how it communicates and how it ensures that those who are a threat to the public can be taken off the streets. These are very serious matters. It was always going to require much more than just a GSOC investigation as the scope needed to be much wider. The only way of getting to the truth is a full public inquiry. It is the duty of any Government to respect the wishes of the...

Public Sector Management (Appointment of Senior Members of the Garda Síochána) Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (18 Jun 2014)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...while at the same time creating a space whereby real criticism and analysis can take place. Minor complaints, such as how a Garda in a station dismissed somebody's concerns, should not have to go through the legalities of GSOC. That type of issue should be resolved by local Garda management with the Garda involved feeling comfortable in saying that he or she could have handled that...