Results 8,781-8,800 of 15,638 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: As is the case with any specialist unit or team within An Garda Síochána, training is provided. As this is introduced, specialist training will be provided for people to be able to use this.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: It is about striking a balance. I fully appreciate people's privacy rights. It is vital that people's privacy is protected when they are at home and in their own environment. We always have to strike the right balance between ensuring the Garda has tools available to it, with proper oversight, codes of conduct and other mechanisms in place, and ensuring the Oireachtas and the various...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: It is very much an operational matter. I do not think we should put in legislation how or when training must happen. As far as I am concerned, it is a given that where new structures or requirements are in place, people are trained to operate those. It could be said that with CCTV, because there are so many hours of footage, many people are required to trawl though all that. That is why...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: I refer to our previous conversation where the Garda Commissioner publishes the draft codes of practice on the website. That is obviously to allow for the period of consultation. While it does not say public consultation, the intention is this allows for engagement with the Policing Authority, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, the Data Protection Commission, DPC, the...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: It would absolutely have to happen. It is the case the Commissioner would have to engage in this process and would have to do so by law. What would be useful, and I think we have seen that with other legislation we have passed afterward without expressly stating it, is that there be information campaigns so we work on making people aware of what the law now is, be it through adverts or...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: The piece I outlined before is where it is actually written down. It is not that it is not there and is implied. It is outlined in section 43(3) that "Before submitting a draft code of practice to the Minister under this section, the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána ... shall ...". The following paragraphs then outline all the people the Commissioner must engage with. Thus,...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: The reason for the previous need to make amendments is because we do not have it physically written in each section, so we are simply amending it to ensure the focus on the processing of data is physically written in each section. In this case, it is physically written rather than implied. These are all the things the Commissioner will have to do before he or she can publish and make...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: It states "shall". Therefore, because it uses the word "shall", it means that he has to. The word "shall" implies that this has to happen.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: It states that it "shall ensure that the draft code of practice is published on the website of the Garda Síochána in order to allow persons a period that he or she shall specify to make...". The term "persons" relates to everybody.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: It is in section 43(3)(d). It states "shall ensure" - it means it has to be done - "that the draft code of practice is published on the website of the Garda Síochána in order to allow persons a period that he or she shall specify to make written representations". That covers that. The term "persons" covers everybody or anybody. Obviously, the other provisions are more specific,...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: Once this legislation is passed, the code of conduct will have to be drawn up at that stage before anything can be used, and Deputies will appreciate many people would not have any interest in taking part. Therefore, it would be more likely that a person who is interested in taking part will be keeping an eye on when this will be published and when it is put on the website. It will then be...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: It is not in the legislation. What we have done more recently is that when legislation has been passed, we have engaged in various different campaigns, for example, the intimate images. The Coco's law campaign was hugely successful. It was after the passing of the Bill that we engaged to find out the best way for us to communicate with people. That has been hugely successful to date. ...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: I want to reassure Deputies that there will be absolutely no situation where the Garda Commissioner can introduce body-worn cameras or use any of the technology listed here without the codes of conduct. As the word "shall" is expressly stated in all of these, it means that there is no question that he or she must do all of this. The term "persons" was used to make sure nobody was left out....

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: As this is a new amendment, it is important to lay out what we are doing here. In essence, these amendments will provide a mechanism for Ireland's co-operation with the European Public Prosecutor's Office, EPPO, an independent EU body established in 2017 as an enhanced co-operation measure. It has responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes against the financial interests of the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: Where EPPO undertakes the investigations, it is specific to member states that are signed up. We have not signed up officially but we are putting in place a mechanism to allow for that exchange of information. The UK has engaged with and is working to ensure that there is no loss of ability to exchange information now it is outside the EU. Depending on where the incident happens or the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Senator for her contribution and what she is trying to address here. I have met with Safeguarding Ireland and I understand that there are a lot of vulnerable people who need further protection in two ways - looking at it from a criminal justice side and making sure all the right rules, regulation and oversight are in place where you have vulnerable people. It is not just in...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: When a person is convicted of stalking or harassment offences, essentially, the court will have the power to make a no-contact order prohibiting any type of communication or that person going within a certain distance of the other person's residence, education or employment, and if that person is in breach of such an order, it is a very serious offence. What these amendments do is complement...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: This amendment provides for restrictions on the publication of the identity of alleged victims of harassment and stalking offences under section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. It provides that it is an offence to publish or broadcast information, photographs, depictions or representations of physical likeness that are likely to lead to the identification of the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: This is a transitional provision to ensure certificates signed prior to the changes made to section 25 of the 1997 Act when coming into effect will remain valid and will not be affected.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Helen McEntee: These amendments provide for the making of civil restraining orders under section 20 on an urgent basis. As Senators pointed out on Committee Stage, an immediate risk may exist to a person from stalking behaviour and delays may arise placing a person on notice. The amendments provide for an application for an order to be made ex parteand for the grant of an ex parteapplication where there...