Results 4,461-4,480 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will make it clear to Members what I will do in a fortnight and, therefore, they will have ample opportunity to call a division if they do not agree with what I propose on Report Stage.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I appreciate those comments but I have undertaken to listen to the debate. Just because I am listening to the debate does not mean I must instantly decide a point made is worth accepting.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy has indicated that he opposes this and other sections. He is not particularly worried about the board of the National Museum certifying firearms but, nonetheless, I get the message that he does not like Part 6. This section inserts a new subsection, which states: "The purpose of subsections (5) and (6) of this section is to provide that in view of the harm caused to society by the...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The first is related to possession with intent to endanger life.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Unless the legislation states the sentence should always be ten years, which has a constitutional implication on the advice of the Attorney General, a formula must be devised that allows the Judiciary to avoid a grossly disproportionate sentence, for instance, in a case where somebody was in temporary possession of a firearm out of sheer curiosity for 24 hours and was not involved in gangland...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Perhaps. There could be extraordinary circumstances but to have a firearm with intent to endanger life is a very serious offence. The norm should be a ten-year sentence and only in exceptional and specific circumstances should there be a departure from the ten-year norm. That is the intent of this section.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: If the Deputy has a formulation that is preferable and constitutional, I would love to hear it but I must provide a safety valve constitutionally, which must take a statutory form. If I insert a laundry list relating to coercion, duress and so on, my worry is that I would leave something out and I would be told following an Article 26 reference that the Bill had collapsed.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: "Specific" means they are specified.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The judge. It must be specific to the individual or the offence and it must be articulated by the judge why he is departing from the ten-year norm.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of a firearm while hijacking a vehicle, possession of a firearm to resist arrest or to aid an escape, possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances — that is the phrase used for possession of firearms in circumstances giving rise to the reasonable inference that one does not have them for a lawful purpose, which is a...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Yes. The remaining sections relate to possession of a firearm with criminal intent and altering a firearm such as sawing off a shotgun.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Section 38.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy always had army council authorisation.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It was not rushed but took two and a half years.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: So, despite all the time the Deputy spent on the Bill, he did not identify the problems.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: There are a number of firearms offences, namely possession with intent to endanger life, possession with intent to commit indictable offences and possession with a number of other specific intents. If a garda goes to my house this evening and finds, in my sock drawer, a loaded pistol and there is no explanation as to why it is there, meaning it is my possession rather than, for example, that...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The issue of corporate governance of the Garda Síochána is important. For that reason, the Government authorised me to ask Independent Senator Maurice Hayes to establish a group to advise on this area. He has given me his report, which I have published. We have also received a report from the Garda inspectorate. Happily, there was considerable overlap between the two in their approach....

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Exactly. That is also true.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: We have in mind a system of public appointment. I considered all the possibilities involving some competition. However, I am sure that a top executive in a bank, chemical company, computer company or whatever would not submit himself or herself to a public examination before the Houses of the Oireachtas and then rejection in some competitive process or to controversy in such circumstances....

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed). (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I believe it would destroy a Government that attempted to do it. I have explained what Senator Maurice Hayes's group had in mind, which is having top level executives with the capacity to assist the Garda Síochána to do its job. As a barrister, I can say that most barristers have no experience of operating at such a level. Mismanaging their own time and managing one secretary is about...