Results 6,641-6,660 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It is a garda of any rank and can equally be a chief superintendent under the legislation.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: To answer the last speaker, the definition of a criminal organisation is in section 3.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: To be fair, there is an understanding of where we are in regard to this issue. I would agree with this amendment if we were talking about a garda giving opinion evidence as to the guilt of a particular person. It would have to be someone of senior rank of the Garda to give that evidence, obviously with the addition of corroborative evidence, but that is not what we are about. What we are...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: He did.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: To answer the Deputy's question on the definition of a criminal gang, it is very similar to the definition in the New Zealand legislation but that is no coincidence because that is the internationally recognised definition under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, and a number of countries across the world have the same definition. It is not just New Zealand...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It is word for word because it is taken from the UN convention. The legislation the Senator referred to was a dramatic plagarisation-----

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----word for word, of the New Zealand legislation, apart from the omission of the word "crown" on two occasions.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: To respond to the Senator's point about following my gut instinct and that it is not necessarily the Garda Commissioner I should be listening to, the Attorney Generally fully accepted, in the discussions we had both before the drafting of this Bill and in the period between the taking of Second and Subsequent Stages in the Lower House, the issue of whether we should put in some rank but the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I cannot accept these amendments, about which we had a good discussion in the Dáil.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The issue under discussion is opinion evidence. Senator Bacik referred to the Hederman report. The normal understanding of opinion evidence is based on section 3(2) of the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1972, which states with regard to certain offences related to paramilitary organisations: "Where an officer of the Garda Síochána, not below the rank of chief superintendent,...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I thank Senators for their comments. Senator Regan said I referred to this legislation as a panacea, which I did not. At no stage did I say that.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I am not naive enough to think this Bill will cure all the ills of our society or get rid of all the gangland crime in the country. Of course it will not. Senators Harris and Walsh mentioned the possibility of going further. I would not exclude this possibility, nor should the Oireachtas. I reiterate that the Bill is not what some people have made it out to be. It is not a seismic change...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We did not make that decision based on comments from judges, State solicitors or Paul Williams, who is well-respected and who holds strong views on this issue.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: We based it on the hard evidence given to us by the Garda Commissioner and a large number of the testimonies provided by individuals such as the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: People came to me privately and indicated the difficult situation that obtained in Limerick and elsewhere in respect of the intimidation of witnesses. I want to nail that matter on the head.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: It is ironic that I should be accused of rushing the legislation through. As stated in this House following the murder of Roy Collins, I was pressed to introduce various measures in the aftermath of the murder of Shane Geoghegan. I did not believe it was necessary to do so but, as Senator Harris stated, the murder of Roy Collins was a clear indication that there are people who are willing...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: However, we are now being criticised for reacting to the situation. In addition to the hard evidence provided by the Garda, we also received evidence from court officials, particularly those who work in the Limerick area-----

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I have very little time in which to reply.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The evidence provided by the officials to whom I refer particularly related to the difficulty of encouraging jurors to participate in trials. The top official in Limerick indicated that there is "a tacit understanding that there is no point in holding gangland murder trials in Limerick". That view was clearly underlined a number of years ago when, in the context of the murder of Kieran...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Second Stage (14 Jul 2009)

Dermot Ahern: -----there was an inability to encourage people to act as jurors.