Results 3,761-3,780 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

Social Housing: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: The Government's amendment starts with the phrase "recognises the high priority which the Government has afforded to increasing housing supply, through its Construction 2020 strategy and its Social Housing Strategy 2020". The situation has got consistently worse over five years. How poorly the Government has dealt with the housing crisis beggars belief. At the core of the crisis is the...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: The Minister stated that my friend's case would qualify as a spent conviction after seven years, but my friend believed she had been suspended for 12 months, not seven years. What the Minister is really saying is that, even though my friend has served her suspension, she will serve it for a good while longer because she cannot afford to pay the €2,000 per year that the insurance...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: A person would usually be let off half of that the first time around.

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: I find it strange that an individual with a spent conviction - in other words, one who is supposedly forgiven - must, on finding himself being interviewed by gardaí, tell them he really was a criminal in the past. If he is being interviewed by gardaí, he will more than likely be trying to prove his innocence in the process of the interview. He may be dealing with a member of the...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: The exclusion of spent convictions from general court proceedings is to be welcomed. The Irish Penal Reform Trust has queried the circumstances that might require courts to deviate from this general approach. They are described in section 6(2) of the Bill as circumstances in which "justice cannot be done except by so admitting or requiring the evidence" of spent convictions. The provisions...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: Do not be confusing us now.

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: I have nothing to do with her. It is disappointing that we are almost assuming the Government will not accept our amendments. I do not think that is how the parliamentary process should work. I would like someone to count the number of Opposition amendments that have been accepted in this Chamber during the five years I have spent as a Member of the House. I suggest that anyone who...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: The Irish Penal Reform Trust makes a simple point when it says the length of time since a person has offended is the clearest indication that they have moved away from offending behaviour, and not the number of times they may have offended in the past. Likewise, the people who commit road offences, like myself, are not necessarily the people who need the most help in society. The people who...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: I support the points made by Deputy Pringle. A young fellow may find himself in a bad place, which sometimes happens, and unable to get out of it for one reason or another. As we are aware, this is not rocket science as most of the people affected bring many problems to the table. I do not really understand the rationale behind the idea that repeat offenders should be so penalised. If I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Surveillance Operations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: Despite media reports to the contrary, prior to today I had raised issues around surveillance 11 times during the lifetime of this Dáil. When I raised with the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, the question of whether GCHQ had tapped into a fibre optic cable off the coast of Wales, giving total access to Irish phone lines, I was met with blankness. There was no...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Surveillance Operations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: There is; Snowden produced it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Surveillance Operations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: Absolutely.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Surveillance Operations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: 3. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if the legislation regulating State surveillance measures, such as data retention, interception of communications and the use of surveillance and tracking devices, is sufficient to protect the privacy rights of Irish citizens; if she intends to strengthen this legislation in favour of citizens; and if she will make a statement on the matter....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Surveillance Operations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: Last week in the Dáil, Deputy Clare Daly and I addressed the absurdity of the Minister instigating a review into the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 regarding information on journalists without also conducting a review of the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009, the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Surveillance Operations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: One page or one day reports at the end of the year do not represent oversight. Section 7 of Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009 allows any garda above the of superintendent to approve internally covert surveillance by another garda. Although section 7 is intended to apply only in exceptional and urgent situations, it clearly allows gardaí to bypass the District Court judge and to...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Promotions (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: 17. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if her reform programme has been successful to date; if she is satisfied with the manner in which promotions in An Garda Síochána are handled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3024/16]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Military Aircraft Landings (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: 21. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she has had discussions with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Defence or the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in relation to any assessment of the risk to Ireland from a terrorist attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria due to the continued use by the military of the United States of America of...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Military Aircraft Landings (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: 23. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she has has discussed carrying out of an assessment of the risk posed to Ireland by publicity surrounding the use by the Military of the United States of America of Shannon Airport, with the Garda Commissioner; if she supplied the results of any such assessment to the Tánaiste prior to her comments in Dáil Éireann during...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Misconduct Allegations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: 25. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the nature of the further investigations proposed into those cases selected from the independent review mechanism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3027/16]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Misconduct Allegations (27 Jan 2016)

Mick Wallace: 31. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the recommendations of the independent review mechanism into historic cases of malpractice by An Garda Síochána, with particular reference to the number of cases where follow-on action was proposed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3025/16]