Results 4,781-4,800 of 6,188 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Domestic Violence Bill 2017 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Sinn Féin will also support the amendment. The amendments proposed on Report Stage are generally drafting amendments. I commend the quick progress of the Bill from the Seanad onwards. That is because of the desire of organisations such as Women's Aid, the Rape Crisis Network and SAFE Ireland to see it progressed. A great deal of good work was done in the Seanad. I commend Senators...

Nurses' and Midwives' Pay and Recruitment: Motion [Private Members] (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I commend Deputy Louise O'Reilly on drafting what is a very detailed motion which sums up many of the issues that exist in the sector. I met in recent weeks with the chief executive of Cork University Hospital and representatives of the INMO. There are many things they do not agree on but there was clear agreement on the issues that exist around the recruitment and retention of nurses,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank the representatives of An Garda Síochána present. The witnesses stated that they accepted the evidence given by Ms Lois West and Ms Laura Galligan and that it could be relied upon. Is it the same case with the evidence given to this committee by the head of the Policing Authority, Ms Josephine Feehily?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I refer to what was stated by Ms West when she appeared before this committee. She said the report, which I think is the same as that referred to by Deputy Daly, that she drafted in respect of the homicide review was submitted on 11 April for onward transmission to the Policing Authority. Will the witnesses confirm that is the case? I understand it was also discussed at a meeting of senior...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: My understanding is that senior Garda management were aware of the concerns of Ms Galligan and Ms West from, at the very latest, 13 April. Is it fair to say senior management were aware of concerns that existed within the Garda data analysis service at that time or earlier?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Would that extend to those who represented An Garda Síochána at the public meeting of the Policing Authority on 27 April?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: My understanding is that Ms West and Ms Galligan formally informed senior Garda management on 11 April of their concerns and that it was discussed on 13 April. At the last meeting, at which Mr. Finn was present, he said about the meeting on 27 April:I accept that concerns were raised about this [lack of consultation with the analysis service]. In the report presented to the Policing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: How would Mr. Finn categorise it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I do not think Mr. Finn understands me correctly. I quoted Mr. Finn's answer to my question on that occasion on why the Garda data analysis service was not asked for a sign-off on the document presented to the Policing Authority. Is his answer that it can be categorised as an oversight?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: On 27 April, at the public meeting of the Policing Authority, a document was presented to the authority and the impression was given that it was a full and considered opinion. There was no indication given that the data analysis service had not been consulted and it was not contradicted at the meeting in any way. At our meeting approximately two months ago, I asked Mr. Finn about that and I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am trying to understand how it happened that they were not consulted.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am still not satisfied. The key point about the meeting on 27 April was that the impression was given to the Policing Authority that there was no disagreement relating to the document presented at the public meeting. It is a crucially important point. It was clear that the Garda data analysis service was not satisfied with this document and that it had not been run by it. They had not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: This is what my question is about. Was this an oversight?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It was extraordinary that the document was presented at a public meeting. The document was relevant to the work of the analysis service but it did not have the chance to sign off on it. I believe this to be a very serious error. I asked Ms West and Ms Galligan whether they thought the statement that it was an oversight was credible. Ms West responded that she was not sure she could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It seems there are two possibilities. There is the possibility that it was an oversight. I will allow people to judge whether that is a likely possibility. It is difficult perhaps to put ourselves in that situation. It was either a conscious or an unconscious decision. If it was an unconscious one, it was an oversight. If it was a conscious one, there was a deliberate decision not to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It goes to the heart of the matter. I will move on to the pressure that was put on them. It came somewhat after that. They had not all signed off on the document at that stage. I am referring to the Garda data analysis service on key data issues. My understanding is that at 12.20 p.m. on a date in May of last year, Mr. Singh was furnished with a document and the data analysis service was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Whatever about from here on in, and people can have different views of different engagements and conversations, but certainly it was felt severe pressure was put on them and clearly there was a request, at the very least, for the analysis service to sign off on a document with which they were not happy, within a period of two to three days of having sight of it. Obviously, that is not a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I will move on from this matter. It is in the context of the pressure that was felt, that for some reason, which we cannot quite establish, they were not consulted for a statement even though their concerns were widely known. When this issue was first debated in the public domain, nobody came back and checked with them if they were okay with this. They certainly felt at a later date that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: With respect to the progressing of the ongoing review, Ms McPartlin referred to an interim report being available relatively soon, if I understood her correctly, but that it is not yet possible to put a date on the final conclusion of the report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight and Accountability: Discussion (25 Apr 2018)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It accept that it is important that this is done right, rather than rushed. We need to have this concluded as soon as possible but it is important that it is done correctly. In the context of a big concern in this regard, at our last meeting the witnesses were firm in trying to put people's minds at ease that, in so far as they are aware, all the cases that had been potentially incorrectly...