Results 4,781-4,800 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Social Partnership Agreements. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Yes.

Social Partnership Agreements. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: As usual, I do not agree with anything the Deputy said.

Social Partnership Agreements. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: Pay levels for organised labour across the crafts, construction, manufacturing, financial sector and other grades are well balanced in comparison with their European counterparts or are higher than them. Those who had no jobs in the past are now working so we have moved to a position that does not tally with Deputy Joe Higgins's argument. As the Deputy knows, the old figures relating to...

Order of Business. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It is proposed to take No. 19, the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 — Report Stage (resumed) and Final Stage. It is proposed, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, that the Dáil shall sit later than 8.30 p.m. and business shall be interrupted not later than 10.30 p.m. The proceedings on the resumed Report and Final Stages of No. 19 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a...

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The use of force must be proportionate and that is the issue. Obviously a person has the right to defend himself, his property and family, but it must be proportionate.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: That right is in the law. The objection of the Government and others to the Fine Gael Bill as drafted is that it goes too far. A gate-crasher into a party——

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I must tell the Fine Gael backbenchers that everyone who has read their Bill considers it to be over the top legally.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: It is not a suitable Bill to put on the Statute Book. While the issue of somebody defending his property must be proportionate, the Fine Gael Bill is not.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy has asked me three questions. He asked me whether people have the right to be safe in their homes. The answer to that question is "Yes". He asked me whether people can use force to protect themselves. That is defined as reasonable force and is currently in the law. People who are attacked in their houses by intruders or others are entitled to use reasonable force.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: That is the law. The Deputy also asked whether it is right that a person who defends himself or herself has to make his or her own case. He should know that the presumption of the criminal code is that the accused is innocent. The law is based on that presumption.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: No. The Deputies opposite should not try to change legal principles which have been in place for hundreds of years. The presumption of the criminal code is that the accused is innocent. We can refer to all the circumstances we like, but we know we must have the law of the land. We cannot allow people to feel threatened or intimidated in their homes.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputies opposite know my views on these things. If we do not have clear and good law, people will start to take the law into their hands.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We had a controversy about that last year, when an intruder who was retreating from a property was shot in the back with impunity.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: We had that debate. How can one write a law——

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——that allows the occupant of a house to wait until the intruders have gone out the door and then it is all right to shoot them in the back? Let us be sensible.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I remind Deputy Kenny, who seems to want to make this a populist issue, that people are entitled under the law to use reasonable force.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: I will be brief. I do not intend to stand up and just say populist things.

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: If Deputy Kenny wants to achieve a position in law whereby, when a person walks into a house, the defence of reasonable force cannot be used any more, or there is no longer a presumption of innocence——

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——or one is allowed to blast away one's gun at anyone——

Leaders' Questions. (28 Jun 2006)

Bertie Ahern: ——that is not the way the law works and I oppose that.