Results 3,621-3,640 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The Deputy can put out as much PR as he likes, but I have the responsibility to act legally as regards the laws passed by this House.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: If anyone is whittering on it is Deputy Reilly because he is merely repeating what was said a couple of minutes ago. I sponsored the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill to ensure that we would not have a gun culture in this country. In such a culture guns would be available in houses where one might be used in haste in a domestic violence situation.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: In my view it was the correct legislation.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I faced down the vested interests which Deputy Reilly and others are representing. Gun clubs and others want to have what they call practical shooting. This is, in effect, running around and shooting at moving targets. In my view and in the view of the Garda Síochána this is akin to replicating the incidents which are happening, unfortunately, in certain areas of the country where people...

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I decided to bring in two elements of legislation-----

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: -----to deal with the gun culture that I saw was about to happen.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: A High Court judge clearly indicated that if the Oireachtas did not take some action in this regard we would have a gun culture. In view of Mr. Justice Peter Charlton's judgment in a seminal case that the matter should be looked at, I introduced the legislation.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Despite the fact that Deputy Flanagan's posterior is sore from sitting on the fence on this issue, it is the right legislation.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: That legislation had nothing to do with the response of the Government to gangland crime. That was a matter for the criminal justice legislation.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Reilly is a doctor. I will not tell him how to do his job. He knows as little about the law as the chair in front of him.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The fact of the matter is that it takes a number of months for the Garda to put a case together.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: If Deputy Reilly does not know that he is stupid.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte did.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: Deputy Rabbitte is always good with his words but action is better than words. The actions the Government and I, as Minister, took was to increase the budget to deal with organised crime. Funding of Operation Anvil has increased from €20 million to €21 million per year. Resources for the Criminal Assets Bureau have gone up by 15% year on year, despite the fact that other Votes have...

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The number of gardaí dedicated to fighting organised crime has gone up to a record high. We also have passed significant legislation. Deputy Rabbitte's party opposed that legislation.

Gangland Killings. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The Deputy need not say I am criticising myself. He criticised me time and time again. Criminal legislation is not retrospective. If it had been left until September it could not have been applied to anything that happened over the summer. That is why we brought it in sooner rather than later. I am proud we did. I have no doubt in the coming months and years that the Criminal Justice...

Sexual Offences. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: The Sex Offenders Act 2001 contains a comprehensive series of provisions aimed at protecting children and other persons. The Act makes persons convicted of a range of sexual offences subject to notification requirements in Part 2. These requirements also extend to any offenders convicted abroad of the same range of sexual offences who enter the State, including from Northern Ireland. The...

Sexual Offences. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: As I said in my reply, both Governments signed a memorandum of understanding in 2006. In fact, I was the Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time. Together with the British Northern Secretary, Peter Hain, I signed that document to bring together the know-how and contacts between both jurisdictions. It is the desire of the Government, the British Government and the Northern Ireland Executive...

Sexual Offences. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: I would not like it to go out from the House that there is no post-release supervision in this jurisdiction. There is very substantial supervision by the Garda under the terms of the sex offenders register. Section 10 requires certain notification aspects. In addition, the Garda Síochána operates a domestic violence and sexual assault unit which oversees the notification and...

Referendum on Blasphemy. (25 Mar 2010)

Dermot Ahern: My views on the question of a referendum on blasphemy are as stated in the House during the debate on 20 May 2009 on Committee Stage of the Defamation Bill 2006. I clearly stated that I hoped the matter could be addressed by referendum at a suitable opportunity in the near future. In debates on the Bill in this House, I explained the nature of the constitutional obligation imposed, not just...