Results 26,181-26,200 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: A number of contentious issues arose when this Bill was published and I have dealt with them all except one. We have dealt with them in a way that modified them substantially. The issue of the testimony of a member of An Garda Síochána above the rank of chief superintendent arose under section 7 and we made a substantial modification. We have modified mandatory sentencing and are now...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: Where?

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: I am reading the subsections for the first time to capture their essence. Do they apply to both orders?

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: Is it clear that they are civil orders?

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: What is the level of proof required?

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: Is a sentence required? The original order did not imply a sentence; it was a crime prevention measure, or at least was presented as such, and was almost like a civil order. The two proposed orders are quite different and therefore the section has been completely rewritten. We have 30 seconds or so to deal with it.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: This is no way to make law of this nature. We have made substantial progress, except on one issue on which we are not going to touch, that is, the detention period. Had we the facility in any of the preceding debates, we would have convinced the Minister to modify it also. I greatly regret we did not do so.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: I will be brief because I am conscious we have only approximately one hour and ten minutes left in which to discuss the Bill. I hope we reach the issue of periods of detention which we have not discussed at any level in the House. We did not reach it on Committee Stage. My view on electronic tagging is well-rehearsed and we debated it previously. Deputy Ó Snodaigh's amendment proposes the...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: That is like comparing bus routes or the underground. It is a matter of scale.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: I am conscious of time and aware that we want to proceed with these sections. However, our debate on this section has been extremely useful because the more we debate it, the clearer it becomes that the proposed amendment No. 33 is a horse of an entirely different colour to the subsection as originally presented by the Minister. The original subsection was commented upon by, among others,...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: It was not at all a matter raised on foot of The Irish Times.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: The Tánaiste will have time to bring in a Private Members' Bill in the next Dáil.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 26: In paragraph (e), after a "serious offence", to insert the following: "or for any offence committed within the previous 10 years". I saw the Minister's amendment since we had the reasonable debate on Committee Stage and he had accepted my amendment and substituted my wording of subsection (e). I wondered why the Minister was bringing forward two...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: Perhaps the Tánaiste will read into the record the list of serious offences.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: Does it cover every offence in respect of which a penalty of over five years in prison applies?

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: The Tánaiste tabled an amendment to this section which captures the argument I made on Committee Stage to delete the word "considered" because the original draft added a great deal of confusion. The Tánaiste has redrafted that amendment. Other than dropping the word "considered" in the new section 2A(1) I am not sure what other changes are necessary. I made a detailed submission on...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: I have read again the judgment of the Shortt case and it certainly tipped my view. It was a very learned opinion by the Supreme Court, obviously rehearsing case law from the United States. I am beginning to take liberties. We all rely on the Garda Síochána and in the past we have probably given too much weight to its mere opinions on these matters. This House should also learn from the...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: The Tánaiste has dropped it.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: Yes.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (24 Apr 2007)

Brendan Howlin: He would bolt.