Results 11,581-11,600 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

International Agreements. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Any Government would wish to bring as many tourists as possible to the island. We are not part of the Schengen Agreement, mainly because the UK is not part of it. If Ireland were to be party to the Schengen Agreement without the UK, this would mean border controls in the constituencies of Deputy McHugh and myself. He would not want us to have this because it would do away with free...

International Agreements. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I have not been made aware that there are difficulties in this respect. I would hazard a guess that the Deputy should take this matter up with the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. If there is anything we can do to facilitate more tourism, we will do so. We cannot allow our immigration and visa regime to be diluted as a result of changes made with the valid reason of bringing in...

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to answer Questions Nos. 6, 40 and 52 together. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the number of gardaí assigned as dedicated community gardaí in each division, as of the latest date for which figures are available, is as set in the table I am circulating with this answer. The new Garda Síochána national model of community policing was launched earlier this year. One...

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: There are 994 community gardaí specifically designated within the overall complement of 14,600. They work in the community and I do not accept that they are not known in their communities. In my area, community gardaí are well-known to the people they serve. The reality is that every garda should be a community garda. It is important that gardaí are visible and known in the community....

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: With fewer resources in 2010 than we had in 2009, it will be a difficult year in respect of the overall budget and Garda numbers. I know Deputy Rabbitte will support me when I say that my number one priority is to ensure we have as many gardaí in the force as possible. My priority in the coming year is to keep Garda numbers as high as possible given that they now stand at 14,634. By the...

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Under the model every district officer superintendent will take ownership of community policing in his or her district. A community policing team will be established in each district, headed up by a sergeant. Four deployment models were used, depending on the type of location. The models are based on four categories of district, namely a busy city centre, a suburban district, a large...

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I hope the Commissioner is listening.

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I agree that gardaí should be known in their areas but from another point of view they can sometimes be too well-known and become too embedded in a community and therefore not do their job to the fullest extent.

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It is for the Commissioner to decide how best to allocate people. It should not be for me or Deputy Carey to determine. The general point can be made to him, and I think he recognises that there is a strong view that gardaí should not operate in the areas they come from or in which they live. To try to facilitate family life they operate in areas contiguous with those in which they...

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: There are 994 community gardaí, six shy of 1,000.

Garda Deployment. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: That is a big enough percentage, but the greater the number dedicated as community gardaí, and in the various areas such as drugs, sexual assault and crime investigation, the fewer there are in other areas. It would be our desire to have more community gardaí but I do not want to tie the hands of Garda management by saying that it must reach a certain quota and thereafter all the other...

Legislative Programme. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I expect to be in a position to seek Government approval for the publication of the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill very shortly. A central element of the Bill will be the establishment of a DNA database system to aid the investigation of criminal offences and to assist in finding or identifying missing and unidentified persons including deceased persons....

Legislative Programme. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It is all good news. To answer his first question on the legislation, "very shortly" means next Tuesday, when I will bring the draft Bill to Government.

Legislative Programme. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We will publish the Bill very shortly thereafter, before the end of the year. The reason there has been a delay in this, particularly during my time, which is what I am directly responsible for, is due to the Marper v. United Kingdom case, in which judgment was given by the European Court of Human Rights in December 2008. This raised significant issues in regard to the right of privacy,...

Legislative Programme. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----an increase of 30 posts since December 2006, so substantial numbers of new staff have been taken on in recent years. It is also the case that the OPW will proceed with the building of the forensic science laboratory, which is a purpose-built facility on available State land at Backweston campus in Leixlip, which is already the location for the State Laboratory and the Department of...

Legislative Programme. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We cannot have the database without the legislation. Preparatory work is being done and any money that was allocated earlier had to await the legislation. I explained the delay in the legislation because we needed to get it right in regard to the privacy and human rights issues. It is expected that we will be able to commence the forensic science laboratory in the second half of next year,...

Legislative Programme. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The forensic science laboratory is currently in pretty difficult, cramped circumstances, although it has moved just this week to another location given that it has taken on extra staff in recent years. There is €4.1 million in my Estimate for 2010 in regard to the database, which is the responsibility of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The responsibility for building...

Garda Reserve. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: At 30 November 2009, there were 484 attested reserve gardaí and there are currently 171 reserve trainees. Details of the stations to which the reserve members were assigned are set out in the following table. The agreed programme for Government has set a target strength for the reserve at 10% of the full-time strength of the force. As the Garda Reserve depends on volunteers who undertake...

Garda Reserve. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I am not aware of any difficulties in that respect. If the Deputy has particular information, he might bring it to my attention. As they are members of the Garda Síochána, albeit reserves, I expect that all the normal back-up available to a normal garda would be available to the reserves. As always with an initiative, it will take some time. To be fair, while there originally had been...

Garda Reserve. (10 Dec 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It is not done on the basis of tolerance. Under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, section 15(5) states that the range of powers and duties of the Garda reserve is a matter for the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána to determine. He has initially determined that the duties of the reserve members shall include station duty, other than care and custody of prisoners, communications room duty,...