Results 6,621-6,640 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: I will do so. For example, Deputy Rabbitte stated that "The public mood is to assent to measures in the present crisis that people would not otherwise tolerate". He also stated that "the first test of any Government is the protection of its citizens". He further stated: This cannot go on, Minister. There must be some tipping point where the State asserts its democratic mandate and asserts...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: Both of them.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: My Department indicated clearly-----
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: -----the context.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: I have some sympathy with the Senator on this matter, as I did when it was raised in the Dáil, but the advice of the Attorney General is that it would be better dealt with in amendments to the primary legislation rather than in the Bill. We would like to consult with a wider group with regard to the legislation which Senator White proposes to delete.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: This section introduces a new section 72A to the Criminal Justice Act 2006. The new section will permit inferences to be drawn as a result of the failure in particular circumstances of an accused to answer questions. It will apply to organised crime offences under Part 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, including an additional offence of directing. As with other aspects of the Bill this...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: With regard to the issue of solicitors, we considered what the Human Rights Commission sought but its wording does not allow for where a person refuses or does not want legal advice. This would effectively give the detained person a veto as to whether the inference provision could be used against him or her. We felt that we could not accede to that. The Human Rights Commission also...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: We touched on this in respect of the preceding amendments and on Second Stage. I cannot accept the amendment on the basis that doing so would give rise to the suggestion that opinion evidence as to the guilt of a person is provided for in the Bill; it is not. Section 13 provides that nothing would prevent the court from excluding evidence that would otherwise be admissible if, in the opinion...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: We are not getting rid of juries altogether.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: The Senator did say that.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: Yes. We are not doing that. Cases will go into the Special Criminal Court unless they-----
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: That is an important rider.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: It may well be-----
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: I am doing so for the purposes of clarity-----
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: -----and correctness.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: It may well be that at the end of the year the Director of Public Prosecutions may decide in effect to take all the cases in the ordinary courts.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: I was then encouraged, as a more reduced measure, to bring in opinion evidence. As I pointed out, opinion evidence has been successful but one must obtain corroborative evidence, which is much more difficult in the area of gangland crime. The reason we are now introducing these measures is that we regard them as an alternative. It has been extremely difficult to ground prosecutions on the...
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: On a point of information, the Senator stated that a person's bad character must be taken into account. That is not the case.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: The garda would not be called to give evidence that a particular person was a member of a gang. That is not what this section is about. It is about the fact that a gang is in existence.
- Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)
Dermot Ahern: No, we are not stating that either.