Results 281-300 of 4,842 for garda speaker:Michael McDowell

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the Garda authorities that as part of their contribution to the Europol Organised Crime Report, which was recently refined to become the Organised Crime Threat Assessment (OCTA), An Garda Síochána undertakes an annual assessment of organised crime in Ireland. The most recent assessment was completed in November 2006. The analysis concludes that the nature of...

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...group on crime statistics, I decided that the compilation and publication of crime statistics should be taken over by the Central Statistics Office, as the national statistical agency, from the Garda Síochána. The Garda Síochána Act, 2005 consequently makes provision for this and the CSO has established a dedicated unit for this purpose. Following the setting up of the necessary...

Written Answers — Garda Strength: Garda Strength (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 140 together. I am informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that the personnel strength (all ranks) of An Garda Síochána increased to a record 13,178 following the attestation of 273 new members on Wednesday 14 March, 2007. This compares with a total strength of 10,702 (all...

Written Answers — Garda Equipment: Garda Equipment (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from the Garda authorities. I will be in contact with the Deputy when this information is to hand.

Written Answers — Garda Stations: Garda Stations (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 142 and 143 together. I am been informed by the Garda authorities, who are responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that the personnel strength (all ranks) of An Garda Síochána increased to a record 13,178 following the attestation of 273 new members on Wednesday 14 March, 2007. This compares with a total strength of 10,702...

Written Answers — Closed Circuit Television Systems: Closed Circuit Television Systems (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...funding now enables these Community groups in the Tallaght area and, indeed, groups in the other areas of the country involved to install and operate their own CCTV systems under the guidance of An Garda Síochána and the Local Authorities. Pobal will continue to monitor progress on behalf of the Department as these projects are implemented. Community-based CCTV schemes are an important...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...be unjust to do so for specific and exceptional reasons it need not be done. As far as I am concerned, that is sufficient latitude but there can be no doubt it is extremely dispiriting for the Garda, which finds a person with a few hundred thousand euro worth of cocaine, to see that person walk out of court or to get a one or two-year sentence. Public opinion and public confidence in the...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The reason is that the only person who may ask the question is the arresting garda under the 1984 Act, which is bizarre.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...determining whether her accusation was true. That was part of the law at the time. It moved from there to a proposition that no inference could be drawn from a failure to make a statement when in Garda custody. That was the situation up to 1984, when we provided for Garda detention for the purpose of questioning. That law provided that presence at a particular place or marks on one's...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The arresting garda had to put the questions.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am not sure, I will check it. The 1984 Act provided for the arresting garda. We now have a different situation. First, videotapes are made of these interviews and, second, there is a different understanding of the right to silence. The right to silence, as I understand it, is a right not to be forced to incriminate oneself. It is categorically different from circumstances where if one...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...drawn. Third, there is an explicit condition of reasonable opportunity of access to a solicitor. In response to Deputy O'Keeffe's question about the 1996 Act, the Act refers to a member of the Garda Síochána, not the arresting member. This Bill is a well balanced set of proposals. It puts Ireland in a similar position to Britain under the 1994 Act. However, the British Act includes a...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 102: In page 30, after line 47, to insert the following: "31.—(1) The Minister may make regulations providing for the administration of cautions by members of the Garda Síochána to persons in relation to offences. (2) The regulations may include provision for— (a) the form of caution to be administered to a person— (i) at any time before the person is charged with...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Howlin also deals with the liability of a garda and I will await his comments before making my comment on it.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...on mandatory sentences for drug offences. I am strongly of the view that there should be a general tariff of ten years for serious drug trafficking offences. As I said at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors conference, I strongly believe that a sentence of seven and half years, taking account of standard remission, should be the norm for persons convicted of a serious...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...effect for the victims of crime. This is not mandatory but if a court imposing sentence says that a person has been seriously involved in the drugs trade it can provide that he must notify the Garda of his whereabouts when he is released. This is similar to the requirement that sex offenders notify the Garda in certain circumstances of their whereabouts. It enables the court to impose on...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: If any member of the Garda is enabled to accept notification by an offender, the offender will say, for example, that he or she told Sergeant Clohessy at the fair in Castletownbere last week where he or she was living. There must be formality and, therefore, an inspector or superintendent should preform this function. The inspector route was chosen because his or her knowledge would be more...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...half his life speculating on the outcome of the forthcoming general election. However, if the House was to be graced again by Paddy Jer Sheehan, perhaps the Beara Peninsula would be dripping in gardaí.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will be brief. I do not think that speech is an aggravation or necessary. When imposing sentence, a judge should have obtained from the Garda the effects on the victim, the antecedents on the accused and he should have the facts of the case fairly clearly in his or her mind. A judge does not need speeches to remind him or her of that. We do not have to go down the road where people are...

Criminal Law Review. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...of victims are vindicated by the courts. Neither does a strict exclusionary rule allow the courts to have regard to whether a defect in a warrant is caused by factors outside the control of the Garda Síochána. It is against this rule that the Balance in the Criminal Law Review Group developed its recommendations. The group considered three alternative approaches: a constitutional...