Results 4,841-4,860 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Garda Equipment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I do not.

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am informed by the Garda authorities that a total of 331 gardaí are dedicated to national and regional drugs units. These units are also supported in their work by officers from other national units such as the national bureau of criminal investigation, the Garda bureau of fraud investigation and the Criminal Assets Bureau. In addition, all gardaí are tasked with confronting...

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: It was before that.

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am consulted. Additional Garda resources are coming on stream all the time, with an accelerated intake of approximately 1,100 new recruits per annum into the Garda College. These additional human resources will facilitate the Garda Commissioner in transforming the Garda Síochána by the allocation of additional manpower to areas most in need. There is a demand for members of the Garda...

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I remind the Deputy that, when his party was in office with the Labour Party, the number of gardaí was allowed to decline at a time when the population was rising.

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will put this discussion in context. We discussed the Criminal Assets Bureau earlier and the strength of the Garda Síochána in terms of numbers involved in the battle against drugs has grown substantially over recent years but they are located across the country.

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The 331 officers to whom I referred are the ones on whom we should concentrate, as opposed to those in the centralised unit. The same arguments made by Deputy Cuffe for localising resources apply to CAB. At the end of December 2002, there were 50 people in the national drugs unit and in 2003 there were 52. In 2004 the unit had 49 members, in 2005 it had 55 and in 2006 there were 48.

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: That is correct. It has not changed by more than a handful over that period. However, the strength of drug units nationally has expanded substantially in the same period. I agree with Deputy Howlin that drugs are a very serious issue but drugs units are not the only component of the battle against gang land. Detective units carrying out surveillance and other operations and the armed...

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Nanograms are very small.

Garda Deployment. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Competitive interviews were carried out recently so appointments will follow very rapidly. I cannot give a date as I do not micromanage the Garda Síochána.

Anti-Social Behaviour. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: While obviously it is difficult to predict in advance the extent to which ASBOs will be resorted to, there is absolutely no question of a lack of resources inhibiting the effective operation of ASBOs. I directed the commencement of Part 11 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, which provides for civil proceedings for anti-social behaviour by adults, on 1 January 2007. The application by the...

Anti-Social Behaviour. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy has a somewhat mathematical approach to the matter. I cannot say in advance, nor can anybody make an intelligent guess as to the level of resources that would be applied unless we came to a conclusion on how many such orders would be issued. If I were asked in December how many orders would be issued by the start of April, I could not have predicted whether it would have been 21...

Anti-Social Behaviour. (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: That is the point. Therefore she is asking whether a mathematical exercise was carried out to determine the amount of resources necessary to make them effective. The answer is that it was not. We do not live in a command economy where somebody can sit in a room and predict on the basis of 1,000 ASBOs by December so many additional Garda resources would be necessary. The real world does...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: When the debate adjourned earlier, we were discussing a register of sentences. A number of options are open to us on the broader question of sentencing guidelines. In continental Europe under the civil law system, which is somewhat more structured than our system, minimum and maximum sentences are provided for. In general under the common law system, it is for the Judiciary to decide...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ——it is a fact that judges deal with a huge volume of cases. We generally do not allow juries to determine penalties. If one is faced with a murderer on one day and on succeeding days with a rapist, a burglar, an assaulter, a white collar thief, a child abuser and somebody in court on a child pornography charge, it allows one to see the broad mass of humanity and to see crimes in a more...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Report Stage (Resumed) (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The point can also be made that judges get tired and worn out with the volume of crime with which they must deal and that they lose the freshness of anger and dissatisfaction that people facing the issue for the first time would have. The truth lies between the two positions. That is the reason I do not believe we should have a system of selection of penalties by juries or that we should...

Order of Business (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am asking people to concentrate on what is in the Bill. We had an interesting discussion, and I am not criticising it, on a new proposition that we should treat unconstitutionally obtained evidence in a new way. I am happy to discuss that type of issue but the Bill before us does not contain that proposal. I ask the Deputies opposite to concentrate on what concerns them in the Bill,...

Order of Business (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am not suggesting that.

Order of Business (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Yes but not all of the Hogan report is in the Bill.

Order of Business (4 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Would the Ceann Comhairle put the question?