Results 14,581-14,600 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 to 95, inclusive, together. Following the submission to me in 2004 of a report and recommendations by an expert group on crime statistics, I decided that the compilation and publication of crime statistics should be taken over by the Central Statistics Office, as the national statistical agency, from the Garda Síochána. The Garda Síochána Act, 2005...

Written Answers — Refugee Status: Refugee Status (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I refer the Deputy to my replies to Dáil Questions No. 120 of 22 February, 2007, No. 407 of 31 January, 2007, No. 151 of 14 December, 2006 and No. 56 of 30 November, 2006, in relation to this case. I wish to inform the Deputy that the position remains unchanged.

Written Answers — Family Reunification: Family Reunification (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The person in question made a Family Reunification application on behalf of his wife in November 2004 and his 2 children in May 2005. The Immigration Division of my Department has informed me that the application in respect of the children has recently been approved. The application in respect of his wife is currently under consideration and my Department will be in contact with the person...

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Question Number 124 on Thursday 8 March 2007. The position remains as stated.

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 240 of Thursday, 25th May, 2006; 440 of Wednesday, 27th September, 2006; 93 of Thursday 9th November, 2006, and 200 of Wednesday, 22nd November, 2006, and the written replies to those Questions. The position is unchanged.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will repeat what I said in the Dáil on this proposed amendment. It is outside the scope of the Bill as it was originally intended and it raises some interesting questions. There was a notion that a person could not be subjected to what is termed double jeopardy regarding a charge which had ended in acquittal. My view is in accordance with that of Senator Cummins. I believe that if new...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Hogan committee was established last November and, in respect of the right to silence issue and the drawing of inferences, I asked the committee to produce a break-out report because I was legislating in an affected area. I did not ask the committee to rush through its full report for the purpose of this legislation and allowed it time to consider the other issues at greater length....

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: This amendment was tabled in the Dáil and seeks to make provision for identification parades to be conducted through one-way mirrors. The idea is that the accused person need not be necessarily physically in a position to see the identifying person or that the old method — which happily is now gone — in which, for example, the victim of a rape was obliged to put his or her hand on the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Following the Dáil debate, I asked my Department to examine the issue. It will consult the Garda on the practicalities of the proposal. I cannot give a firm deadline, but it is a necessary reform that should be introduced.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I strongly agree with the Senator's proposal and if I had a free hand, I would accept the amendments. However, I reiterate the argument I made in the House that these amendments say to the Supreme Court that we do not like the decision made in 1990 and we agree with the two judges in the minority rather than the majority of three judges. We would, therefore, be legislating on the assumption...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: If gardaí search a house on foot of a warrant and discover evidence relevant to another case, they are entitled to seize it and act on foot of it. While I am not an expert on American law, I can say that the exclusionary rules there are very strict. While I do not know if it is still the case, it seemed to be upheld at federal and Supreme Court level that the use of a scanner from a road...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: This is a proposal to insert in the conditions under which bail can be granted that the person shall not infringe the criminal law and also "shall otherwise be of good behaviour". It mirrors the conditions frequently laid down when sentences are suspended that the person being admitted to liberty on a suspended sentence enters into a cognisance to keep the peace and be of good behaviour....

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The proposal in this group of amendments is to establish a register of sentences in criminal cases. The establishment of such a register would require the case number, the offence, the particulars of the offence and any mitigating factors relied on by the convicted person or his defence counsel, as well as other details, to be noted. It would be an enormously difficult task for a person to...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: While I am not keen on the statutory approach, the Courts Service, which is an independent body that administers the operation of the courts and on which the Judiciary has a majority, established a steering committee in October 2004 to plan for and provide a system of information on sentencing. The initiative of the board was designed to provide some systemic form of information as a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is a cause of regret to me that insufficient progress has been made on the judicial council legislation. In defence of my Department and its officials, they worked on a number of drafts and are still awaiting a response from the consultative process we put in place involving the Judiciary.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: These are technical amendments based on a number of issues raised in the other House in regard to sentencing and repeat offenders under Schedule 2. We have amended the law satisfactorily in the other House. There was a general welcome for the scope of the amendments we made and it is not necessary to reopen the debate.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Perhaps I can be of some assistance to the Senator?

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: In the Dáil we amended the Bill by inserting section 32, which deals with the form of cautions that can be administered to people under the judges' rules. That is in section 32, as it now stands. Senator Cummins's amendments may, in effect, try and deal with the same territory from a slightly different angle, but the matter has been addressed.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: As the House will be aware, the judges' rules are a series of rules laid down by a judicial committee on a reference from the UK Home Secretary in the early 1900s, in which he asked judges to examine the question of what safeguards should be applied to people who are at risk of making inculpatory statements to the police. They more or less remained the same until now with some minor...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I have considerable sympathy for the general proposition that there seems to be a creeping policy of excluding Members of the Oireachtas from virtually anything that moves. Any such exclusion must be justified on an individual basis. I agree that every time there is a draft Bill, this little item should not appear from the word processor concerning any State body. There is a reason to go...