Results 1,941-1,960 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: This amendment relates to the obligation to retain data and requests by the Garda Síochána to have access to such data. It provides that the Garda Commissioner may request a service provider to retain data for the purposes of the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of crime, including but not limited to terrorist offences, or the safeguarding of the security of the State.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: This amendment provides for a prohibition on access to data, except in accordance with those provisions set out in subparagraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (1). It means that telecommunications companies may not allow access to data or access data, except at the request of the person to whom the data relates, or for the purpose of complying with a disclosure request under subsection (2) or (3)...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: Amendment No. 11 inserts a safeguarding section providing for a referee and judicial oversight function.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: This amendment provides that the President of the Circuit Court may invite a judge of the High Court to undertake the functions to which I referred.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: This amendment gives the judge, among other things, an obligation to keep the operation of the provisions of this Part under review to ascertain whether the Garda Síochána and the Army are complying with its provisions and to include in a report to the Taoiseach, under section 8(2) of the 1993 Act, such matters relating to this Part that the judge considers appropriate.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: This is a technical amendment which provides for inclusion of a reference to section 14(7).

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: The purpose of this amendment is to introduce, with regard to European arrest warrants, a presumption that an issuing state will comply with the requirements set out in the framework decision unless the contrary is shown. In other words, it will be presumed that member states of the European Union will comply with the requirements of the framework decision unless somebody shows the contrary.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: No, it is a different issue. We have moved on to European arrest warrants. At present, if a person is contesting a European arrest warrant, the question which arises is how does one know that France, for example, will comply with its obligations under the law. This new section will provide for the assumption that the issuing state will comply with its obligations unless it is shown otherwise....

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: This amendment provides that offences under European arrest warrants are assumed to correspond to an offence under the law of the state where the act or omission which constitutes the offence would, if committed in the state on the date on which the European arrest warrant is issued, constitute an offence under the law of the state.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: The amendment amends section 63 by the insertion of a new paragraph (b) after paragraph (a). Its purpose is to substitute a new subsection in section 14 of the Act of 2003. It is a technical amendment which follows from an amendment to section 12 of the European Arrest Warrant Act, which was inserted in the Dáil and clarified the status of warrants received by fax. The amendment to section...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: The revised section 21 provided for by the amendment allows the arrested person to raise a question about the intention of the issuing state and, in this case, to raise a question about the issuing state's intention to proceed with a prosecution. However, amendment No. 18 adds a presumption that there has been compliance by the issuing state with the terms of the framework decision unless the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: Committee Stage. (3 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: There must be an intention to prosecute rather than a general desire to engage in a fishing expedition. Having included these protections, we wanted to make clear that it is not sufficient for a person to ask questions in court and list a series of matters which must be proved. The warrant system would collapse if one had to effectively move the judicial officers to Ireland with a view to...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am preparing proposals to bring to the Government which will provide for extensive reform of the law concerning defamation, taking into account the work of the Law Reform Commission, the Commission on the Newspaper Industry, the legal advisory group on defamation and the public consultation process I initiated on publication of the group's report. Most of the responses received during the...

Written Answers — Ground Rents: Ground Rents (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy is aware that the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act 1978 provides for a statutory scheme for the acquisition of the fee simple by the owners of dwelling houses. Part III of the Act provides a special procedure, operated at low cost by the Land Registry, whereby owner occupiers of dwelling houses may acquire readily and relatively inexpensively the fee simple in their...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy may be aware that the equal opportunities child care programme provides grant assistance towards the staffing costs of community and not-for-profit child care services which have a clear focus on disadvantage. I have been informed by the child care directorate of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform that the group in question has been awarded two separate annual...

Written Answers — Departmental Strategy Statements: Departmental Strategy Statements (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: The implementation and progress report of November 2004 was prepared by the programme manager in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. No other member of staff in the Department was directly involved in compiling the report, which consolidates progress reports in each area of responsibility under my remit as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The vast majority of...

Written Answers — Family Law: Family Law (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 provides a range of measures to ensure that proper provision is made for the maintenance of spouses and any dependent children of the family. The Act encourages couples to think in terms of agreeing the key elements of their divorce in advance of any court proceedings. The court may order the attachment of earnings at the same time as it makes a maintenance...

Written Answers — Registration of Title: Registration of Title (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the registrar of titles that an application for subdivision in this case was lodged on 13 December 2004, dealing number D2004SM011130M refers. I have been further informed that a query issued to the lodging solicitor on 7 February 2005 and that the application cannot proceed until the query has been satisfactorily resolved. I assure the Deputy that the matter will...

Written Answers — Registration of Title: Registration of Title (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the registrar of titles that there is no record of an application pending on the folio in question at present. If the Deputy can provide me with the date of lodgment of the application and a Land Registry application number, I will make further inquiries on his behalf.

Written Answers — Prisons Building Programme: Prisons Building Programme (8 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 414 and 446 to 448, inclusive, together. At the start of 2004, I announced my intention to replace the facilities in the Mountjoy Prison complex with a new prison facility on a greenfield site in the greater Dublin area. In February 2004, advertisements were placed in the print media inviting interested persons to put forward potentially suitable sites for...