Results 301-320 of 4,842 for garda speaker:Michael McDowell

Criminal Law Review. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I do not mean to put that thought in anyone's head. The Deputies should take a look at the rule on unforeseen consequences. I once defended a person and the garda applied for a warrant for St. Audoen's House, an apartment complex, but the District court clerk, misreading the garda's handwriting wrote it out for St. Andrew's House and the case collapsed on that point. The garda knew what...

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: There is no doubt that the circumstances giving rise to the judgment in question constitute further evidence of an extremely disturbing picture of misbehaviour by some gardaí in County Donegal in the 1990s. Anyone who strongly supports the Garda Síochána, as I and the vast majority of Deputies and citizens do, is entitled to express and feel a great sense of shock, disappointment and...

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...if that were the case. This begs the question as to who was behind the making of such an offer. On Deputy Howlin's first question, I completely endorse and repeat, in the same terms, what the Garda Commissioner said in his letter to Mr. Shortt. Everybody who has heard about these matters shares a sense of revulsion, shock and contrition that servants or agents of the State would behave...

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ——and there was a general feeling of revulsion among those present, who were almost sick to the stomach about the effect on the Garda Síochána of behaviour of this kind. It defies belief that people would do——

Garda Investigations. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Exactly. The Garda Síochána Act put in place a radically different approach to accountability from that found by Mr. Justice Morris when he conducted his inquiries into events in County Donegal. Apart from individual accountability and remedies and new disciplinary procedures, the Act also provides for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Ample inquiries have been made in the case...

Criminal Assets Bureau. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: .... I will first deal with any possible misconception that CAB's work is wholly centralised, without any connection or interaction with what is happening at local level. I am advised by the Garda authorities that while the bureau requires a high degree of specialist staff for its functioning, CAB's operational success is very often intrinsically linked to information made available to it...

Criminal Assets Bureau. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...people. The Deputy makes the point that the more CAB can do throughout the country, and the more it can operate on the basis of local information, the better. I have conveyed these views to the Garda Commissioner and the head of CAB, who are responsible for the day to day operation of the Garda Síochána and CAB respectively. Contrary to what has been said in Deputy Howlin's...

Criminal Assets Bureau. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not a choice between one and the other. I welcome the support for the Criminal Justice Bill of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and most of the political parties, with the exception of the Deputy's party and Sinn Féin. My views are not unusual on these matters, although I might sometimes find myself lonely on the matter in some newspaper columns. The inspector of...

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am not in favour of establishing a separate Garda authority as I believe we have a fully independent and democratically accountable Garda authority already, in the form of the Oireachtas.

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The perceived advantage of a separate authority is that it interposes an additional layer of independent accountability between the political process and the management of the Garda Síochána. The idea of such an authority makes perfectly good sense in the context of the UK regional police structure where there is no corresponding regional democratic unit, and in Northern Ireland, where...

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Garda Síochána is our intelligence service. It would be unspeakable and an error of monumental proportions to put that away from Government. I appeal to the two parties opposite to consider my final point very carefully, namely that our Constitution requires the executive powers of the State to be answerable in the House to the public representatives here.

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...powers of the State are required by our Constitution to be the subject of accountability in the House. That is the reason Ministers for Justice have statutory functions with regard to the Garda Síochána and are called to book here in the House when something goes wrong. The Deputies opposite cannot have it both ways. They cannot say I am not doing my job and at the same time say...

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...forum. That is the way forward. I have established, in the legislation we will debate later this afternoon, an executive advisory board to bring in outside executive schools to assist the Garda Commissioner in the governance of the Garda Síochána. That is the right way forward and I emphatically reject the notion that it would be in any way an advance for democracy, civil liberties or...

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: No, I emphatically do not — that is the short answer. I am amazed to hear Deputy Jim O'Keeffe say, having espoused the notion of an independent Garda authority, that he does not yet know whether elected public representatives would be part of such an authority or in what numbers. This is astonishing. The Deputy has obviously not even consulted with those in the Labour Party who were the...

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...an independent authority, I do not think the Deputy can say that what I have done in five years is wrong. The other point is that we are part of a Dáil that is entitled to accountability from the Garda Commissioner, who is now the Accounting Officer for the Garda Síochána. There is and will be provision in the about-to-be-formed policing committee for him to be directly amenable to...

Policing Authority. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: If the Deputy sits down I will answer him. For the past four years I have been pushing the Garda radio project with vigour and determination. I have had to negotiate several public procurement hurdles and roundabouts——

Garda Equipment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...is tested prior to court. In this jurisdiction, there are no published statutory provisions governing the procedure to be followed in the conduct of an identity parade. I am informed by the Garda authorities that instructions issued to every member of the Garda set out how, based on established best practice and case law precedent, a parade should be conducted. The current procedure used...

Garda Equipment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I agree with the Deputy that this is an urgent matter which should be addressed. A decision must be made on this. I do not organise the interior of Garda stations and I urge others to do so.

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am informed by the Garda authorities that a total of 331 gardaí are dedicated to national and regional drugs units. These units are also supported in their work by officers from other national units such as the national bureau of criminal investigation, the Garda bureau of fraud investigation and the Criminal Assets Bureau. In addition, all gardaí are tasked with confronting...

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am consulted. Additional Garda resources are coming on stream all the time, with an accelerated intake of approximately 1,100 new recruits per annum into the Garda College. These additional human resources will facilitate the Garda Commissioner in transforming the Garda Síochána by the allocation of additional manpower to areas most in need. There is a demand for members of the Garda...