Results 1,461-1,480 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: This section, to some extent, anticipates the next amendment in Senator Norris's name which deals with forensic samples. I hope the Senator will allow me to get my retaliation in first. I do not agree with the general principle of the destruction of anything. I hold the view — it certainly applies to politicians — that one's photograph is in the public domain and it is no great intrusion...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: ——to prevent ourselves from being photographed.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: I am sorry I let that out. There are not many implications for the infringing of civil liberties in the Garda having a person's photograph or not having it. The whole of continental Europe operates on the basis that citizens carry an ID card. One cannot board a Ryanair flight without producing one's photograph. The world has moved on in this context. To address Senator Jim Walsh's point, in...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: One would hope so.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: Senators Norris and Henry represent the Trinity College constituency and Professor McConnell as they probably know——

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: ——is a strong advocate of the universalist principle that, from a criminal law point of view, none of us has anything to concede and we should be happy, in the same way as our photograph is displayed on our driving licence, to assist the Garda to enable it to exclude us from an investigation. I am not being dismissive of Senator Henry's argument. If three brothers were of a criminal...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: ——all he or she seemed to be and had a different parent from those whom that person considered to be his or her natural brothers and sisters. There is an issue in that respect. Without going as far as Professor McConnell's view of saying that everyone's DNA should be automatically on a register as of duty, although I have some sympathy for that point of view because some of his arguments...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: We have not moved on the Senator's amendment.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: I accept the proposition that privacy and the use of material is a crucial question. This will be dealt with in the DNA legislation when we bring it forward later this year. Listening to Senator Norris, I was struck by his description of the retention of fingerprints, photographs or DNA samples as an additional penalty. I do not see how retaining these samples constitutes a penalty. I have a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: I do not know whether the Soaps would agree with me or Senator Norris on this matter. One of the great things about DNA and paternity testing is that when a person is a citizen of a republic, ideas surrounding heredity are slightly less important than in a society based on aristocracy or breeding. It reminds me of the story about an English monarch who visited Ireland and, while touring the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: The king asked the Irishman whether his mother had ever visited London. The Irishman replied that she had never visited London but that his father had.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: I remind the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and all those of the same mind that rapists, homicidal people and assailants would be more careful and less likely to commit offences if they knew there was a significant chance of trace evidence of DNA being used to tie them to particular offences. Therefore, this is not just a matter of the civil liberties and rights of those accused — I take...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: They will not.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: I forgot to comment previously on Senator Norris's cousin who submitted to the test. I wonder whether the man was the Senator's cousin.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: Which was more offensive, the video or the sample? What happened to the video afterwards was more offensive.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: It is not impossible to provide for such a measures under regulations dealing with people in custody. I will examine the issue and take a long hard look at whether samples should be taken under camera surveillance. What was done with the video was the most offensive thing about the arrest of Saddam Hussein. I do not recall violence being used to take the sample but the humiliation resulting...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: Getting a doctor to come to the station to pluck two or three hairs from a person requires two or three hours of his or her time away from surgery. It may not be practicable but I will look at the question because there is a consensus that this is not a manufactured concern on the part of Senator Norris.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: I cannot say off the top of my head.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: I will come back to the issue tomorrow.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jul 2006)

Derek McDowell: To make a statutory declaration that is in any way false or that one does not believe to be true is an offence. Sections 16 and 17 provide a system whereby someone can say something solemnly to the Garda as a statement of truth, knowing that a lie will constitute a criminal offence. Let us feed that back into section 16 as an issue that a court might take into account in deciding whether one...