Results 5,021-5,040 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am not certain that it is possible for a chief superintendent to become involved in any case and state——

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: A garda can give evidence of opinion in these matters.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Not necessarily. A garda's means of knowledge might have to be established in advance of his or her giving evidence, particularly if he or she was challenged. If a chief superintendent was asked whether he possessed any knowledge of a matter or whether he had investigated it or carried out research in respect of it, his evidence would be of no value if his answer was that he had never...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I intend that, in serious cases, the Garda Síochána will be in a position to tender as admissible witnesses senior officers who will have researched matters before the courts. I do not intend that it will merely be a case of arresting officers being asked to come to court to provide their opinions.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: The circumstances are such that a court would be almost bound to inquire as to why a chief superintendent offered certain information and what he knows about the accused. If the person had a spotless record and the chief superintendent stated----

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: In those circumstances, the judge would state that he or she would be obliged to make up his or her own mind and that he or she could not decide what weight to attribute to the chief superintendent's evidence. There is also the question of an accused stating that he or she would attend for his or her trial. The court is obliged to weigh up all the evidence and arrive at its own judgment in...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is the case at present, as has been pointed out, that hearsay and opinion evidence is admissible on bail applications and I do not intend to diminish that now. As far as bail is concerned, it is my intention, save in the cases provided for in subsections (4) and (5), that there should generally be this statement of application for bail in the written form. Obviously, in run-of-the-mill...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am considering it.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 31: In page 9, line 29, to delete "belief or of evidence of opinion" and substitute the following: "belief, or of evidence of opinion, whether tendered by any member of the Garda Síochána or other person".

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: We do not want title deeds handed over in court and it is not reasonable to ask persons to produce evidence of their title deeds because that would necessitate persons going to building societies or solicitors' firms and the searching of safes for these documents. This deals with instances where, for instance, a person has a joint account or something that is not real property, about which...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It could be a bank draft, I do not know. I do not want to be prescriptive in this regard. It is for the court to decide what it wants by way of evidence of title. One cannot merely shove something such as a bearer's bond in front of a court and state that it will do, without the court knowing from where it came or who had the right to produce it.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: No. I want to provide that where the court wants to take some security, it is possible and made easy to produce such security, and that no obstacles are unnecessarily thrown in the way. I am not trying to make it more difficult for persons to get liberty where a court wants to give it to them, I am trying to make it more possible for a court to give it to them. In America, walking along the...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: ——which are quite amusing because they post pictures in the front window of persons who have let them down.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It includes leases.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: The subsection provides for cases where a court requires the payment of moneys into it. It has nothing to do with people being asked to prove they own their homes.

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Great minds think alike. I felt there was nothing wrong with the good behaviour provision but the Attorney General is worried that it is too vague to include in a statute which has consequences for breaches. He was of the view that the provision should be removed, having regard to sudden developments in jurisprudence on the European Convention of Human Rights and the undesirability of using...

Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Attorney General is worried about it. If somebody is on bail following a bank robbery and gets involved in an altercation or breach of the peace which has nothing to do with the case such as a shouting match with neighbours, will that amount to a breach of the bail condition? Section 6, as it stands, states the accused person shall not commit an offence and shall otherwise be of good...