Results 13,921-13,940 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Chair will announce any groupings.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not a good idea to say that every regulation made out of the Bail Act 1997 should not have effect unless and until this and the other House have considered it. It is better to operate on the basis that where anything is done that requires scrutiny, Members can raise it in the ordinary way.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Schedule to the 1997 Act is being expanded to cover several weapons related offences. Paragraph (a) amends paragraph 14 of the Schedule to provide for a list of further offences. The effect of the provision is that a court can refuse bail to a person charged with one of the offences if it is reasonably satisfied that such a refusal is necessary to prevent the commission of a further...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will consider this issue further. My officials are urging me not to accept the amendment.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Sureties are dealt with separately.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: First, I would like to address Deputy Jim O'Keeffe's specific proposals. A working group on sentencing in the courts is currently operating in the Dublin Circuit Court.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is chaired by Mrs. Justice Denham and includes Mr. Justice Kevin O'Higgins, Mr. Justice Esmonde Smith, Her Honour Judge Miriam Malone and Professor Tom O'Malley. They are reviewing sentencing systems worldwide and have decided to establish a pilot project in the Dublin Circuit Court. I understand that two researchers have been selected to collect and collate information on sentencing...

Criminal Law Review. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The exclusionary rule is the rule that defines the circumstances under which a court will exclude evidence on the grounds that it has been obtained in violation of the accused's rights. This issue was examined in some detail by the Balance in the Criminal Law Review Group chaired by Dr. Gerard Hogan. Customarily, the common law did not have an exclusionary rule and the courts allowed...

Criminal Law Review. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I agree with the Deputy and the minority view in the Kenny case. I am bound, as is every citizen, by the majority view of the Supreme Court but, had Deputy Jim O'Keeffe or I held the swing vote things might have gone the other way. However, we were not there and other people decided the case the way they did.

Criminal Law Review. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I do not mean to put that thought in anyone's head. The Deputies should take a look at the rule on unforeseen consequences. I once defended a person and the garda applied for a warrant for St. Audoen's House, an apartment complex, but the District court clerk, misreading the garda's handwriting wrote it out for St. Andrew's House and the case collapsed on that point. The garda knew what...

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: There is no doubt that the circumstances giving rise to the judgment in question constitute further evidence of an extremely disturbing picture of misbehaviour by some gardaí in County Donegal in the 1990s. Anyone who strongly supports the Garda Síochána, as I and the vast majority of Deputies and citizens do, is entitled to express and feel a great sense of shock, disappointment and...

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is of some note that the judgment of the Chief Justice states: "Who was involved in making this offer of a "deal" to the plaintiff and how the fulfilment of a promise to drop outstanding charges and ensure early release could have been achieved was never explored or explained in the evidence." I am totally in the dark, as was the Chief Justice when he wrote the judgment, as to precisely...

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ——and there was a general feeling of revulsion among those present, who were almost sick to the stomach about the effect on the Garda Síochána of behaviour of this kind. It defies belief that people would do——

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Exactly. The Garda Síochána Act put in place a radically different approach to accountability from that found by Mr. Justice Morris when he conducted his inquiries into events in County Donegal. Apart from individual accountability and remedies and new disciplinary procedures, the Act also provides for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Ample inquiries have been made in the case...

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I do not want to add to the suffering of the individual who was so wronged by the State by dragging him into this matter. Clearly, the individual in question must know how the offer was communicated and who communicated it, if not who was behind the making of the offer. It may have come through lawyers but, as I do not know the facts, it is a matter I will have to examine. Before I appoint...

Criminal Assets Bureau. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I refer the Deputy to my reply of 22 February 2007 to Priority Question No. 3 in which I dealt with this subject. I set out the following summary points in responding again today to the issue of a more localised Criminal Assets Bureau structure. I have no difficulty in principle with a proposal for more localised CAB bureaux but what must determine our attitude is an assessment of how in...

Criminal Assets Bureau. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I would not like Deputy Cuffe to create the impression that CAB's activities are confined to the city of Dublin, which is not the case. It is active and pursues the proceeds of crime throughout the country. For example, it has been very active on a number of occasions in Deputy Howlin's constituency and has recovered very large sums of money. It is not the case that CAB members are somehow...

Criminal Assets Bureau. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not a choice between one and the other. I welcome the support for the Criminal Justice Bill of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and most of the political parties, with the exception of the Deputy's party and Sinn Féin. My views are not unusual on these matters, although I might sometimes find myself lonely on the matter in some newspaper columns. The inspector of...

Criminal Assets Bureau. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: She is there because I pushed through the Act to create that position. Let us remember that.

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am not in favour of establishing a separate Garda authority as I believe we have a fully independent and democratically accountable Garda authority already, in the form of the Oireachtas.