Results 15,181-15,200 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (8 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Since June 2005 one assistant secretary retired from my Department. No Secretary General retired in the period in question. The provisions of the Superannuation Acts and Regulations stipulate that retirement lump sums are calculated on the basis of 3/80th of pensionable salary for each year of reckonable service subject to a maximum of 1.5 times pensionable salary.

Seanad: Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I said at the end of Second Stage that I thought it had been an excellent debate, and it was. Unfortunately, as I predicted, the way in which Committee Stage has been dealt with has not done the Senate any service. I do not have to point the fingers in that respect. I am implacably opposed to the deletion of this section for the simple reason that to do so would be discriminatory. It is...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendment No. 1 arises from amendment No. 24 which amends the Courts Act 1991. It makes the necessary alterations to the Long Title as a result of an amendment to that Act being added to the Bill. Amendment No. 24 relates to the issuing of bench warrants. It amends section 22(5) of the Courts Act 1991 by deleting the words, "if the complaint or accusation has been substantiated on oath...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendment No. 2 deletes the word "Equality" from the definition of "Minister" to reflect the recent alteration to the name of the Department and the title of the Minister responsible for it. Amendment No. 3 arises from amendments to Parts 3 and 4 which concern exceptions to the rule against double jeopardy and appeals, respectively. Its purpose is to ensure certain terms in the Bill which...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendment No. 4 arises from the debate on section 4 in this House. As Senators will recall, section 4 reforms the law relating to victim impact evidence, principally to give the family members of homicide victims the right to make a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing. The Bill, as published, retained the existing categories of offences to which the victim impact provisions...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendments Nos. 5, 10 and 12 relate to the tainted acquittal re-trial procedure in section 9. The tainted acquittal re-trial procedure is one of three re-trial procedures in the Bill, the other two being the new evidence re-trial procedure in section 8 and the with-prejudice prosecution appeals avenue in section 23. This set of amendments raises the threshold that must be met before the...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 concern the definition of "new and compelling evidence". I referred earlier to what we understand by "compelling" in the case of tainted acquittals. This time the definition relates to the procedure in section 8 which permits the DPP to seek an order for a retrial where fresh evidence emerges post-acquittal. Amendment No. 6 is focused on the part of the definition...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: This set of amendments concerns the scope of the new evidence retrial procedure in section 8 and the tainted acquittal retrial procedure in section 9. The amendments will allow persons charged and sent forward for trial before commencement but tried and acquitted after commencement to be the subject of a retrial application. Only the trial and the acquittal must follow the commencement of...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendments Nos. 11 and 13 make identical amendments to section 10(1) and (2). Subsection (1) relates to the new evidence retrial applications. It provides that in the event that the court grants the DPP's application and directs that the acquitted person is to be retried, that direction may be subject to any conditions and directions the court considers necessary or expedient to ensure the...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: These are drafting amendments. Amendment No. 16 is a minor drafting amendment to section 22. It has the effect of replacing "or" with "and" to allow Rules of Court to be made to provide for the expeditious hearing of the retrial applications and of any retrials ordered. Amendment No. 20 corrects a drafting error in section 26(3), namely, the words ", the legal aid (trial on indictment)...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Senators will recall that I indicated in this House my intention to bring forward amendments to refine the scope of this section in order to ensure that jury verdicts following receipt of all admissible evidence would not be brought into question. With this in mind this suite of amendments specifies the type of rulings that may be appealed by the prosecution, specifies the standard that must...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: As the Senator is aware, heretofore an appeal could be made to a higher court to determine a point of law on a without prejudice basis to the person who was acquitted. What this procedure is bringing in is the possibility that it would be on a with prejudice basis. In other words, an appeal can be made in regard to an erroneous point of law which would then have implications because it is...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Both sections 31 and 33 as passed by this House amended the Courts of Justice Act 1924, albeit different sections of that Act. One of the effects of amendment No. 21 is to combine the amendments to the 1924 Act in one section, that is, section 31, with the consequent deletion of section 33 by amendment No. 22. Amendment No. 21 has two other effects. Paragraph (a) of section 31, the...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendment No. 25 deletes the word "and" between paragraphs (a) and (b) in section 37 and facilitates amendment No. 26 which inserts a new paragraph (c) in section 37. Amendment No. 26 amends section 24(5) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1967. The amendment addresses a lacuna in the law governing the production in court of accused persons who had been remanded in custody. The jurisdiction of...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Amendment No. 27 relates to the Schedule which lists the offences in respect of which the Director of Public Prosecutions may seek to have an acquittal quashed and a retrial ordered on the basis of new evidence. The procedure is limited to the most serious offences on the Statute Book, that is, offences that generally carry a mandatory or discretionary sentence of life imprisonment. In line...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I thank the Seanad, the officials who dealt with this Bill, the Members on the other side of the House and those on my side of the House. This is a significant Bill that makes a fairly dramatic change in the criminal law. I believe the procedures under this Bill will be used sparingly. The main procedures regarding the issue of retrial will be used sparingly. It was never intended that...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I was not having a go at the Senator.

Order of Business (29 Sep 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte should go back to "The Frontline".

Written Answers — Visa Applications: Visa Applications (29 Sep 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The visa application referred to by the Deputy was received in the Visa Office on the 5 August 2010. Following consideration it was refused on the 9 August 2010 for the following reasons: 1. The evidence of finances available was deemed insufficient; 2. The obligations of the applicant to return to the home country were not deemed sufficient; 3. It was the opinion of the Visa Officer that...

Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (29 Sep 2010)

Dermot Ahern: In the timeframe provided, it has not been possible to collate all the information the Deputy has requested. I will revert to the Deputy when this information is to hand.