Results 321-340 of 987 for garda speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...taken place in recent days - the shootings at the M1 retail park in Drogheda, in Corduff in my constituency and in Coolock in Deputy Broughan's constituency. The Government is working with the Garda to improve its resources and capabilities to deal with all forms of crime, particularly violent crime. For many years, there was little or no investment in the Garda as a consequence of the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I will ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to contact the Garda Commissioner about that matter. We should allow the Garda Commissioner, the OPW and the Department to work together to establish where the best, most practical location is for that new headquarters. I imagine other people will have different views as to where it should be located and everything will have to be taken into...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...of possession of small amounts of drugs or narcotics might be the way to go for Ireland. It would not involve legalisation but it would involve decriminalisation, thereby focusing Garda resources on those who are involved in pushing, selling and distributing drugs, rather than those who possess them. It would move away from a criminal-justice approach to minor possession towards a...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...next week. There are often areas that do not involve everyone but do involve several Departments, and that is where the Cabinet sub-committees come in very useful. Deputy Howlin mentioned the Garda reform programme. Our response to the O'Toole commission's recommendations went to the Cabinet sub-committee before it went to the full Cabinet, because that did not involve everyone but it...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...out of the Sláintecare implementation office, which is in the Department of Health, but I will put some officials on that. In the same way as I have officials designated to monitor the implementation of the Garda reform package and the justice reform package, I will assign officials to do the same with Sláintecare. On the question of VAT on supplements, I answered questions on...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...take it from there and make decisions on foot of full consideration of that submission. I answered the question on the Coroners Act and the Succession Act earlier. It is acknowledged that the Garda can learn from awful cases such as this, and from other family homicides that have occurred in recent years. I am informed that the Garda is carrying out a review of cases of domestic...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Micheál Martin asked a specific question about the book of evidence. I understand from An Garda Síochána that when someone gives evidence as part of an investigation, that evidence is privileged. There is concern that if this was removed, it would be harder to convince people to give evidence to the Garda in other cases if they knew that evidence given under privilege...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...that it did in the past. We can, therefore, learn lessons. In terms of what we can do, we think it is a combination of changing laws - in fact, we have already changed laws - reform of the Garda and how gardaí deal with such cases, reform of the law and maybe some specific actions around this case. The Domestic Violence Act, which was passed in 2018, made coercive control an...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Urban Renewal Schemes (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...in childcare, youth work, elder care and physical environmental projects; the completion of refurbishment works on the Lourdes daycare centre; commencement of enabling works to Fitzgibbon Street Garda station; 51 new gardaí assigned to the area since last April; and the development of the P-TECH initiative in three second level schools in the area to link industry and education...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff (5 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The 21 political staff mentioned include drivers. I am not included as I have garda drivers, but the Chief Whip and the Leader of the Seanad have drivers. The figure of 21 is inclusive of drivers. It also includes staff in my office in the Department of the Taoiseach and my constituency stafs. Also included are staff assigned to the Independent Alliance, independent Ministers and the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (30 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...that, particularly around rural taxis and hackney licences. We are trying to liberalise that system and make them more available, particularly at night-time and on weekends. There are more Garda checks because there are more gardaí. We now have 14,000 gardaí again. How they are deployed and the work they do is entirely a matter for the Garda Commissioner. It is not done...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (30 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: People who abide by the laws passed by this Oireachtas have nothing at all to fear from the Garda. People who take alcohol or drugs and then drive are a threat to themselves and others. People who drink several drinks, get a few hours' sleep and then drive in the morning are impaired. They do cause accidents, they do kill people and they do cause injuries. That is a law that should be...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (29 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...its recommendations on the basis of it being mandatory on both sides. That is not the way our industrial relations machinery works. The Deputy is incorrect to say that the resolution of the Garda dispute did not have a consequence for public sector pay; it did. It required a renegotiation of the existing Lansdowne Road agreement and had a knock-on effect across the public service,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (22 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...of interruptions makes it harder to answer. The legislation was adopted by the Oireachtas. The vast majority of Members of this House and the Seanad voted for it. The Government supports the Garda in enforcing the law. If we do not want it to enforce the laws, we should not pass them in this House. The Garda has my full support in enforcing the law. I do not believe that any Minister...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (22 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...in the House I am very dissatisfied that thousands of crimes committed by young offenders did not result in prosecution. I really feel for the victims, who have not got justice. They went to the Garda, reported an offence - serious in some cases - and assumed it would be dealt with but it was not. In many cases, those offences are beyond the period specified in the Statute of...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Staff Data (15 Jan 2019)

Leo Varadkar: ...on the Future of Policing in Ireland happen, so I have a few people working in the Department on that and pursuing it, and they are working closely with Department of Justice and Equality and the Garda authorities. We will set up a strategic threat analysis centre, STAC, given the O'Toole commission recommended that such a centre be established within the Department of the Taoiseach, with...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: ...have, in terms of funding and resourcing. That is something that has to be dealt with during the annual Estimates round but there certainly is funding in place for 2019 to do that. I note that the Garda Commissioner has taken a decision to recruit differently next year, actually slowing recruitment a little. Instead of recruiting 800 next year as planned, we will recruit 600 new...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: ...national security co-ordinator will report to me through the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach and have a co-ordinating role. Several bodies collect intelligence, namely, the Garda and Army intelligence sections and the cybersecurity centre in University College Dublin. The strategic threat analysis centre is not designed to take over that work but, rather, to...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed): Cabinet Committee Meetings (19 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: ...the report, 136 in full and 21 in principle but requiring further work. The report provides a clear vision for a modern, highly professional, human-rights-based police service. The core focus is on a Garda organisation working closely and collaboratively with communities and other agencies to keep communities safe and to prevent harm to vulnerable people. This is the right vision for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Dec 2018)

Leo Varadkar: -----should have a CEO type model and the Garda Commissioner should be allowed to run the Garda in the same way as the CEO of any organisation is allowed to run it.