Results 5,601-5,620 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: The letter continues:In fact, I believe it was a genuine attempt to help me. While in this case I believe I would have had a very strong argument for having the points removed, it does not change the fact the system used is open to some. This must change. If at the end of this process [I do not know what process the Deputy is referring to] it is decided that I should in fact have received...

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: -----out of a newspaper report. Whatever appeared in the newspapers about Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan’s initial imbroglio with this issue, I did not raise it. The journalist who reported it first would know I did not raise it. My only role in this particular matter has been to ask the Garda Commissioner-----

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: -----to investigate the matter. In the context of the two reports I received about the fixed-charge ticket issue, I inquired whether the investigation into this matter, on which Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan had written to me and was anxious to have investigated, had completed. I was informed by the Garda Síochána that any relevant person had been interviewed except...

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: In case Deputy Clare Daly thinks that I had any hand or any part in anything to do with Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan’s points, I did not.

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: On the whistleblowers, what I said last week and what the report shows is that some of the more extreme allegations made against members of the force are not valid. One of the more extreme allegations, which one Sunday newspaper gave much airing to, was that nine people had lost their lives on the roads because a fixed-charge ticket had not been paid. Each of those matters was investigated...

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: I will answer the last question first. All I can say is that the Deputy should ask the journalist. One thing the journalist will be able to confirm is that they got no information from me. I do not know where the journalist got the information. It seems to me that it was only after the journalist got the information that Deputy Wallace had a mature recollection of the particular event. I...

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: Journalists find me quite awkward, as some of them might tell the Deputy-----

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: -----because I do not reveal information until it is appropriate to reveal it. That is the reality. The Deputy asked how did the information reach the Commissioner.

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: Let us deal with the more amusing part of this. Of course I do not get information on a regular or any basis about who might get warnings from the gardaí. This arose as an aside. I am assuming it arose in a normal human context in circumstances in which first the Commissioner, who, as the Deputy says, has wide powers under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, would be conscious that...

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: I will come back to that.

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: Does the Leas-Cheann Comhairle want me to reply to that question now?

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: I thank Deputy Niall Collins for the questions he has raised. By way of context, I refer the Deputy to the entirety of subsection 41(1) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, which provides that the Garda Commissioner shall keep the Minister and the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality fully informed of certain matters. The Deputy was somewhat selective in his...

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: There was no issue because I was driving along a route one could drive along and a traffic garda was confused about the issue.

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: In the context of gardaí exercising discretion before fixed-charge tickets are issued, as an aside during our conversation the Commissioner mentioned to me the incident to which Deputy Wallace referred. Deputy Niall Collins asked me how the Commissioner knew of the incident. I do not know how he knew of the incident. Did I get a briefing in writing on it? I did not. Did I go looking...

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: I am grateful for the opportunity to address issues arising from last Thursday's "Prime Time" programme. I regret that comments made by me may have inadvertently resulted in concerns being expressed that I am prepared to use confidential Garda information to damage a political opponent. Nothing could be further from the truth, but I am happy to offer reassurances to Deputies on this point....

Issuing of fixed ticket charges and exercise of Garda discretion: Statements (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: It may be helpful to clarify the issue of Garda discretion in dealing with road traffic matters. After our initial exchange on "Prime Time", Deputy Wallace acknowledged that it was okay for gardaí who stopped someone to exercise discretion but stated that, once a fixed charge notice issued, no discretion should be exercised by gardaí. In his view, no matter what the circumstances,...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Residential Institutions Issues (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 513 and 515 together. I met with members of the Bethany Survivors Group together with Minister for State Katheen Lynch on Tuesday 16 April. The group raised the question of their inclusion within the Residential Institutions Redress scheme or a similar type scheme designed for children who had been in the Bethany Home. They also raised the question of...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Commercial Rent Reviews (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 514, 516 and 538 together. As I have indicated in my replies to previous Parliamentary Questions on the subject of upward only rent review clauses, there are no plans to re-examine the decision which was taken in 2011 not to proceed with legislation to abolish such clauses in commercial leases which were entered into prior to 28 February 2010. Neither of...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Equipment (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: The provision and deployment of Garda resources, including bicycles, is a matter for the Garda Commissioner in the context of his identified operational requirements. I am advised by the Garda authorities that the full information requested by the Deputy is not readily available and could not be compiled without a disproportionate use of resources. However, I am informed that the current...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Services Regulation (21 May 2013)

Alan Shatter: Consultations in relation to the Legal Services Regulation Bill have been ongoing since its publication in November 2011 as a key structural reform under the EU/IMF/ECB Memorandum of Understanding. A wide range of stake-holders have now provided views on the Bill reflecting its modern balance of interests between those of the legal professions and those of business or private clients who...