Results 9,721-9,740 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: "(2) The Firearms Acts 1925 to 2007 and Part 4 may be cited together as the Firearms Acts 1925 to 2009 and shall be construed together as one.". This is a standard provision clarifying the Firearms Acts, including the provisions in Part 4 of the Bill. I commend it to the House.

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I move amendment No. 3: In page 8, to delete line 10 and substitute the following: "(b) by the deletion of subsections (4), (5) and (6), (c) by the substitution for subsection (7) of the following: "(7) For the purposes of this Act, a document shall be deemed to be a true copy of an original document if it has been certified as a true copy of the original document by— (a) the issuing...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I cannot accept the amendment because it would remove a provision required to give statutory effect to a Council decision. There is not much difference between the texts of this one and the existing section 14 except that in the new text a person may be remanded for a period not exceeding 14 days pending production of the warrant to the court as opposed to seven days. Already under the...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I fully accept that such a person in custody should be detained for the least amount of time possible. Section 12 of the 2003 Act requires that warrants that are not in English or Irish should be accompanied by a translation into either of those languages. Obviously there is a difficulty over a period and that is one of the reasons for extending the time to 14 days. The courts have also...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte referred to the role of the Attorney General in terms of certification. That provision was deleted from the Bill on Committee Stage. The point was made on Committee Stage that if the Attorney General sat at the Cabinet table it might be viewed that he had some role in this area and as such that provision was removed on Committee Stage. The effect of the amendments would be...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We are trying to streamline the process as much as possible. Under the 2003 Act the court has an obligation to vindicate the rights of anyone before it based on the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. It must take those into account. The High Court can decide under section 12(g)(13) to remand a person in custody or on bail pending the appeal. If he is remanded in...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I move amendment No. 6: In page 13, to delete lines 23 to 27 and substitute the following: "(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1), where a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Sergeant states that he or she believes that a person may not be in the State, the statement is admissible as evidence that the person may not be in the State.".". This is a technical amendment....

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The difficulty from the point of view of the Garda is that under the existing section gardaí are required, in effect, to prove a negative, which is causing extreme difficulty for them. The current text of section 33 requires the court to be satisfied that the person is not in the State. We want to amend this to allow the court to issue a European arrest warrant once it is satisfied that a...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The wording is "may not be in the State." This is because it is difficult for the Garda, following on from a domestic warrant, to prove somebody is not in the State.

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We are all agreed that this is an extremely complex area of legislation. As such, the minutiae of which gun qualifies under one category or another for certification and licensing are best left to statutory instruments. Deputy Ó Snodaigh is proposing in these amendments that all such statutory instruments must be discussed in committee prior to their implementation. There would be great...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The Garda Commissioner will shortly publish a 35-page document setting out guidelines on firearms licensing. Only certain issues can be addressed in the legislation and detailed background guidelines are required to ensure people fully understand its implications on a case by case basis. The guidelines were compiled by the firearms policy unit of the Garda Síochána in conjunction with the...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I concur with the Deputy and will ensure, in consultation with the Garda Commissioner, that a comprehensive review will carried out and a comprehensive report made available to the Oireachtas. Clearly, such a report will include a significant amount of statistical information, given the number of firearms in circulation. I take on board the Deputy's suggestion and will make his views known...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: An amendment has not been tabled on this issue. It is necessary to include the relevant provisions because the number of those engaged in airsoft has dramatically increased, as have the numbers and types of airsoft guns. It is not uncommon for people to have weaponry which, to all intents and purposes, are imitation weapons. While I accept that people use these weapons in a sport, if this...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I have nothing further to say other than to agree with Deputy Charles Flanagan that the review should include more than simple facts and figures. It should touch on compliance and trends of the types of weapons being licensed. The committee should be given the opportunity to decide whether it wishes to discuss the report.

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I move amendment No. 10: In page 23, between lines 41 and 42, to insert the following: 31.—The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 3D (inserted by section 30): "3E.—The Commissioner shall conduct an annual review of the operation of the Firearms Acts 1925 to 2009 and shall submit a report to the Minister specifying the number and classes of...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We had no legalised handguns here until 2004. The former Minister for Justice, Des O'Malley, banned hand guns in the early 1970s, so there were no legalised hand guns here for more than 30 years. As a result of a series of High Court decisions, the number of hand guns increased since 2004 to about 1,800 today. The decision in 2004 centred around the suitability of the person rather than...

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: No.

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: That is and will be allowed under the legislation.

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Rightly so.

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I, in no way, misrepresented Deputy Flanagan's position. Under the legislation and the guidelines, there will be no difficulty with normal target shooting.