Results 5,661-5,680 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Written Answers — Interception Orders: Interception Orders (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 212 to 214, inclusive, together. Lawful interception is governed by the provisions of the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993. Section 2 of that Act states that an authorisation to intercept may be granted only for the purpose of the investigation of serious crime or in the interests of the security of the...

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: The person concerned arrived in the State on 20 November, 2000 and applied for asylum. Her application was refused following consideration of her case by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and, on appeal, by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. In accordance with Section 3 of the Immigration Act, 1999, as amended, she was informed by letter dated 31 October, 2003, that the Minister...

Written Answers — Anti-Social Behaviour Orders: Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: The information requested by the Deputy is currently being researched. I will contact the Deputy again when the information is to hand.

Written Answers — Prison Staff: Prison Staff (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the Irish Prison Service that the person referred to joined in a temporary unestablished position on 14 November, 1970 and became an established Officer on 5 December, 1970. He paid a modified rate of PRSI (Rate B) and retired on 26 October, 2001.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Perhaps it should be a crime and maybe we should look at that. However, whatever we do, I do not believe there is a basis for saying a 16 year old gay boy should be dealt with differently from a 16 year old heterosexual girl in the same circumstances. I do not see there is a huge difference between the two. If, as a Legislature, we say a girl is entitled to behave in a manner which would...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am not suggesting it is but it is not criminal.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: All I will say is that before we go down that road, let us remember it was Deputy Jim O'Keeffe who caused ripples at our all-party committee by saying he wanted the age of consent to be stuck at 17 and that Deputy Howlin and I took a different view. The answer to that is: "I do not know." This is not an easy one and I do not want to get into the matter. The principle of the 2006 Act was...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Howlin should become a barrister because he is putting an awful question to me, namely, whether I am happy that both should be in a situation where one of them is and one of them is not criminalised.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I do not know whether I am happy with the concept of a 16 year old girl engaging in heavy petting with a 55 year old man. All I can say — to use the old colloquialism — is that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not criminal.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Courageous as always.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: We had a fairly vigorous debate on civil unions recently and I do not believe Deputy Howlin would have made this point before that audience.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Ó Snodaigh will concede that if there is a consensus in the House that this should be an arrestable offence and that people should be detainable for questioning for soliciting children to engage in sexual activities, the ordinary consequence of that is it would be an indictable offence carrying a five-year penalty. It would be very strange indeed if asking somebody to do something...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: This should be put in context, and the context is that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is working on a major bill, the Criminal Justice (Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Offences) Bill, which will deal with the question of grooming in a comprehensive way. The UK Sexual Offences Act 2003 is extremely far-reaching legislation. I would not be immediately attracted to some...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is very difficult to interpret and one would not know what one was doing by enacting it. I feel if I produced section 14 in a Bill and sent it to the Attorney General's office the staff would, as they have done on a number of occasions, state it is so vague it is impermissible. If one wishes to criminalise something, one should state what one wants to criminalise.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is extremely opaque. To be fair, my officials examined the Fine Gael Bill and saw what was done. It tweaked the 1998 pornography Act and brought in a travelling having groomed offence. Those are two fairly safe changes. I am grateful to Deputy Howlin for raising this issue. It underlines that certain provisions introduced in UK legislation are extremely vague in their ambit. Section...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to Deputy Howlin for drawing our attention to section 14. However, if Deputy Jim O'Keeffe tabled section 14 for my acceptance today, I would not have gone down that road and he did not do so.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will repeat what I stated on Second Stage. We are working on a major piece of legislation relating to grooming. It is very difficult to create grooming offences and we must be extremely careful about the language used. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe's two proposals in his Private Members' Bill occurred to us as reasonable amendments which were safe, and he tip-toed around the unsafe aspects. That...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) (Amendment) Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Mar 2007)

Michael McDowell: As I understand the background to the British legislation, this provision mentioning "two occasions" was inserted in order to avoid any doubt but that there had to be an established pattern of behaviour before the offence was committed.