Results 301-320 of 689 for garda speaker:Mattie McGrath

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (13 Jun 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...the rules of evidence regarding the offence of membership of an unlawful organisation. As the report on the operation of the Act makes clear, the Government of the day moved to ensure that An Garda Síochána and the legal system had the necessary powers to deal effectively with those responsible for these murders and to make clear to all like-minded persons that the State...

Death of Shane O'Farrell: Motion [Private Members] (12 Jun 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...to obtain justice and accountability for Shane. I was surprised at what the Minister said in an earlier debate. I know he was not in government at the time but he made ridiculous comments about the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, and the inquiry. We want to support GSOC, but as I said it is toothless, useless and fruitless. That is what it is proving to be for...

Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Motion (12 Jun 2018)

Mattie McGrath: I, too, welcome the opportunity to comment briefly on the appointment of a member to GSOC. The current arrangement, in terms of the relationship between An Garda Síochána and GSOC, is not as effective as might be the case. There remain many areas of contention between both organisations. I do not think anybody would dispute that. In April, Niall O'Connor reported that the...

Fatal Road Traffic Collision in County Monaghan in 2011: Statements (31 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...incident in 2011 as an accident. I do not - I call it outright and wanton slaughter. That individual and his comrades were careering around in an uninsured and untaxed car without an NCT. Worse, gardaí had stopped them that night. I am not here to point the finger of blame at any individual garda and I do not know whether the gardaí did not bother to check or did not have the...

Questions on Promised Legislation (30 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: .... Pat Esmonde - who were killed off Helvick Head seven or eight years ago, a matter I have raised in the House. There was no proper investigation by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board or the Garda and no appeal for witnesses. Their families have been left languishing as a result. It is a disgrace. As such and not meaning to take away from the death of Shane, if there is a public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rural Bus Services: Discussion (30 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...lives off Helvick Head but who is policing the waters, the pleasure craft and everything else? Their boat was turned upside down and they were killed. A proper investigation was not carried out by the Garda or by the Minister. There are no answers for the families of those two young men. There are many other areas of safety. Deputies Collins and Healy-Rae and others who are passionate...

Pay Inequality in the Public Service: Statements (Resumed) (24 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...we are having to go on trawls all over the world to try to get people back in. That kind of crisis is staring the Minister of State in the face across a wide variety of sectors. One can look to the Army or even to the Garda Síochána. I heard the Garda Síochána advertising this morning, thankfully, but new entrants are turned off because of the way they are...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (22 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: I welcome Templemore being open of course. We need more gardaí and we need support for them. The figures quoted by the Taoiseach are just a fraction of what we need to tackle crime. People are sick and tired of these private consultancy companies. The Taoiseach has admitted that his Department is unable to do this. We are talking about the amount of money spent by one Department. I...

Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (22 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...Rural Independent Group, I would like to be associated with the expressions of sympathy on the tragic deaths of Ana Kriegel and Jastine Valdez and to thank all the emergency people, including An Garda Síochána and everybody else. These are atrocious crimes, and so sad. This morning I received a reply to a parliamentary question I submitted to the Department of Public...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...rushing legislation. Bad legislation is worse than even rushed legislation. No explanation has been given for this from the assistant commissioner or anybody else. I am not blaming the ordinary gardaí on the road or the traffic corps; I am blaming senior people, including the most senior person in Tipperary. The breath tests were exaggerated by 380%, which is staggering. The...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: Yes, but to get the penalty points the people in this case with a particular blood-alcohol level must be breathalysed and brought to a Garda station and go on the special machine. Of course, that is the case and we must have trust and faith in that system, but we have no faith in the system. The people with the responsibility to stop drivers on the road are members of the Garda, and they are...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...of these areas or immediately adjacent to them for whatever reason. Sometimes it is said that it is too dangerous to locate them there but I am sure the county council could set up a bay for Garda cars or these vans to be located at accident spots, as it has done on many motorways. We all know the tragic results of these accident black spots in our counties over decades, possibly nearly...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...area. One such well-known spot in my area is Duggan's Bends outside Cahir in Tipperary, where there have been multiple fatalities. As I said, they did not do as I asked. There is enormous cost associated with operating a Garda safety camera contract. In each year from 2012 to 2015, it cost the State over €17 million to maintain the contract, at a cost of almost €16...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...opposition, for any technical errors. We are the people who live in and represent rural Ireland. I refer also to the proposal to amend the Road Traffic Act 1994 to provide for the detention by An Garda Síochána of a vehicle being driven by an unaccompanied learner driver. I have been contacted by many people over last week and the weekend. I referred in the main previously to...

Markets in Financial Instruments Bill 2018: Second Stage (3 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...and they resisted, and the family ended up down in the courts. We are very good at that, we have all the power when it comes to the banks and all the State's resources are used. The special forces such as An Garda Síochána often give cover to what I would call marauding thugs who have no business in this country - some of them are ex-soldiers or mercenaries - and who perpetrate...

Markets in Financial Instruments Bill 2018: Second Stage (3 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...cavalier traders and big business, there is little success in holding them to account, as we have seen in the courts system. They play games of cat and mouse with State institutions, including the Garda Fraud Squad, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the prosecution service, and also hire the brightest and most expensive lawyers. We cannot allow this to continue. There must be some sense of...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...sanctions for excessive speeding. A road safety group, PARC, and the motoring body AA Ireland have both stated that while the plans were welcome in principle, they would be very hard to enforce. Garda sources have also expressed doubt over the Minister's statement that he was considering more speeding sanctions that would involve more penalty points for motorists caught driving over the...

Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...the enormity of the problem at local level. What the Minister wants is that people who are waiting for tests and those who fail tests for the slightest reason who are caught driving - he wants the Garda to impose this if he gets his way - to have their cars taken from them. He also wants those people to be fined and brought before the courts and the owners of the relevant vehicles -...

Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (2 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: ...it. The Criminal Justice Act 1994 is amended as well. It is important that we put them all together and have a workable document. It is important to provide clarity for our police service - the Garda Síochána in this case - and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. They need to be able to understand clearly rather than playing hide-and-seek with these marauding...

Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (2 May 2018)

Mattie McGrath: I have dealt with the amendments and the different Acts that we are pulling together with advice from the OECD and others. The idea is to provide a basic Bill and the tools of the trade for An Garda Síochána and our prosecutors.