Results 4,861-4,880 of 15,389 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: I agree with what the Senator is trying to achieve here but it is covered in what we already have. Subsection (3) provides for actions by the appointed person, that is, the person who has been appointed to undertake the special inquiry. Where there has been an inexcusable delay or some sort of delay on the part of the person who is supposed to comply with the direction, the appointed person...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: Section 101 provides that the Garda Commissioner is liable to an action for damages in respect of damage resulting from an actionable wrong committed by a member of An Garda Síochána acting in the course of performing the member's functions. It restates section 48 of the 2005 Act, subject to amendment, to substitute the Garda Commissioner for the State. The section confirms the...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: If someone is on the way from a station to respond to a burglary, that occurs in the course of his or her duties or as part of the Garda function. That is not the case where the garda is not working or on the roster and takes a Garda car and something happens. Where it is within the remit of An Garda Síochána, the Garda Commissioner has a role. However, if a member heads off...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: That is only where the member is not working. If a member is in a Garda car but not working, the liability lies with the individual member, but if the garda is working and in a Garda car, whether driving to an event-----

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: Yes, absolutely. The liability falls under the Commissioner.

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This section is very much connected with the following sections in which provision is made for the membership and overall role of the community safety partnerships. The purpose of this section is to set out what is meant by public service bodies. They include An Garda Síochána, local authorities, the Probation Service, the HSE and Tusla. There is nothing in the later sections to...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: While the regulations are not finalised, what is being worked through at the moment is a proposal that there would be 30 members of each community safety partnership, 20 of whom would be from specific designated bodies, including elected members of the local authority, the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána and the local authorities themselves. There will also be a representative from...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: I could propose that I come back on this. I know I cannot come back specific to today, but this will relate to the regulations. There is nothing in the next section, section 104, to prevent me from adding this to the list of public service bodies for the purpose of section 3 in setting out the regulations. While the intention is not specifically to name drug and alcohol task forces as one...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: It will be.

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: It will be but it will not be specific because every county has different organisations and different groups. We could not list them and say, "X organisation must be on all them." There might not be such an organisation in every county. It is a membership of 30 and at least five of those will be designated for community alone, so-----

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: It is for the purpose of this section only and just to name the statutory organisations. We refer to partnerships in the next section.

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: None of it is named in this because it is all in regulations, so for the membership of the partnership-----

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: Because they are the statutory organisations, that is, the statutory bodies: the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána and the Probation Service. A task force is not designated as a statutory organisation.

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This section is simply a definition of certain words and terms under this Part. There are lots of different elements of the Bill that relate specifically to community groups and community representation. Because community groups as a whole are not a statutory body or a statutory organisation, they are not listed specifically in this section. They are later on as part of the partnerships....

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: While we are specifically speaking to amendments Nos. 61 to 63, inclusive, I will respond to some of the comments more broadly. I, too, am an advocate for councillors and absolutely support the work of councillors. Not only that, I champion the work they do. I personally think we have some of the finest councillors in County Meath, and I am sure that everybody here will say that they have...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: I want to make sure I respond to each individual amendment. We are talking to quite a number of them. As Minister, I have always been happy to engage with every colleague in this House on any legislation. This section has grasped many people’s attention for obvious reasons. I have been happy to engage with all colleagues. I was happy to have the meeting with Fianna Fáil...

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: All 30 will be equal.

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: All 30 will be equal.

Seanad: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: Obviously, this is to be agreed upon and worked through, but at the moment the intention is that there would be 30 members in total, with one chair, 19 other specified members according to the allocation I outlined, and then the ten others would be any ten others. What is in the legislation is that we would try to have a gender balance and that we would have a diversity of views and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Programme (24 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The Victorian-era laws that were repealed by the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 caused immeasurable harm to generations of gay and bisexual men, criminalising and stigmatizing them simply because of their sexual orientation. I am deeply conscious that people who were criminalised by these laws, and their families, are hopeful that a disregard scheme can be put in place in the near...