Results 17,201-17,220 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: The arrests in question relate to individuals who, it is alleged, committed a number burglaries across the country. Perhaps the Deputy might, for once, acknowledge-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: -----that, regardless of procedural and other difficulties that arose on this issue-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: -----we have a police force-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: -----of which we can be proud. The members of that force are doing their duty and in the past 24 hours many of them have been out in the floods helping to ensure the safety of members of the public.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: On every occasion on which he has something to say about An Garda Síochána, Deputy Wallace appears to be engaged in a campaign to undermine public confidence in the force.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: The Deputy is incapable of acknowledging in any shape for form the good work done across a broad range of matters-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: -----and the substantial reduction in crime rates across the vast majority of areas. This is an issue in respect of which he is also incapable of acknowledging that even some of the allegations made have been established to be incorrect.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: As the Deputy knows, Assistant Commissioner O'Mahony's report only became available in May 2013. It was then referred to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: The Deputy is at it again. Is there any aspect of that report he accepts to be true or accurate?
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: The Deputy is at it again.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: Deputy Wallace is making a career out of blackguarding the Garda Síochána.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: That is exactly what the Deputy is at.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Judicial Appointments (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: The Deputy will be aware that, under the Constitution, judges are appointed by the President on the advice of the Government. The current process for the appointment of judges is set out in sections 12 to 17, inclusive, of the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995 which established the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board. Under the existing system of judicial appointments, the board submits...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Judicial Appointments (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: The Deputy is right that we are not proposing any constitutional change. The great merit of the current position is that it is the Government or the Minister - it would end up coming to me, as Minister for Justice and Equality - who is ultimately accountable to the Dáil should an appointment be made that clearly is not appropriate. I want to repeat what I have said previously, that...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Judicial Appointments (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: Under the legislation in place since 1995, the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board has had the capacity to interview applicants for judicial appointment. It has been said judicial appointments should only be made on merit. I totally agree and it has been my view for many years, well before I was appointed Minister. In government we have sought to make appointments based on merit. The...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Oversight (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: It is of crucial importance that the Garda Síochána be operationally independent but also democratically accountable. The Garda Síochána Act 2005 seeks to achieve these objectives by specifying the functions of the Garda Commissioner and the force, on the one hand, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, the Government and the Houses of the Oireachtas, on the other....
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Oversight (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: I find it ironic that the Deputy should continue to advocate a structure that has been removed in England and Wales.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Oversight (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: When I was spokesperson on justice, one of the issues in the debate about whether there should be a separate police authority or police board was substantially influenced by the approach taken in the United Kingdom. That has proved to be an approach in which there is a lack of democratic accountability. The Policing Board in Northern Ireland has been created for particular and unique...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Oversight (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: I have no idea how we can provide funding for our police service that is separate from Government, does not take account of budgetary issues and does not appear in the Estimates that can be carefully examined, as they were only a few days ago at the Oireachtas Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. The Deputy is saying that a police authority could magic up from some...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Oversight (5 Feb 2014)
Alan Shatter: The Deputy has made the case that the Commissioner conceals cutbacks in smart policing. Smart policing, the careful use of resources in circumstances where the strength of the Garda force has unfortunately been reduced because of the economic difficulties of this State, has resulted in a substantial reduction in crime in 12 out of the 14 categories of crime. Targeted policing has produced...