Results 7,121-7,140 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 30:In page 5, to delete lines 3 to 6. These amendments are the most substantive before us today.I would like to explain in detail the reasons for the changes I am proposing in the Bill and in the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012. The Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill and the commencement of the National Vetting Bureau (Children...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 10:In page 3, line 30, to delete “relevant non-custodial” and substitute “non-custodial”.

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 11:In page 4, to delete line 1.

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 12:In page 4, lines 2 to 4, to delete all words from and including “ “relevant custodial sentence”, in line 2 down to and including “court” in line 4 and substitute the following:“ “custodial sentence”, in relation to a person convicted of an offence, means any sentence of imprisonment imposed by the District Court...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I thank Deputies for their contributions. Different sentences are handed down for offences in the North and the United Kingdom and different regimes are in place for spent convictions. In the United Kingdom, for example, a four-year limit applies to spent convictions but only non-custodial sentences become spent under the UK system. The provisions in the Bill are more generous than the...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 7:In page 3, line 27, to delete "by a court" and substitute "by a court, other than the District Court". The purpose of these amendments is to allow that excluded sentences under the spent convictions regime will not exclude sentences in the District Court. Amendment No. 7 will ensure that on those relatively rare occasions on which the District Court imposes consecutive...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 1:In page 3, line 9, after “time;” to insert the following:“to amend the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and the Garda Síochána Act 2005;”. The purpose of these amendments is to enable us to use the Bill to amend the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012. I also propose...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 2:In page 3, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “PART 1 PRELIMINARY AND GENERALShort title, collective citation, construction and commencement 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016. (2) The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and Part 3 may be cited...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 3:In page 3, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:“Definition 2.In this Act “Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality.”. These are minor drafting amendments that insert the section defining "Minister" and make provision in respect of expenses.

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 4:In page 3, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:“Expenses 3.The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.”.

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 5:In page 3, line 12, to delete “Act” and substitute “Part”. These are minor drafting amendments to have an orderly structure in the Bill. We are creating three Parts to the Bill. The first concerns general and preliminary matters, the second concerns spent convictions, and the third concerns amendments to the National Vetting Bureau Act...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move amendment No. 6:In page 3, lines 23 and 24, to delete “relevant custodial sentence or a relevant non-custodial sentence” and substitute “custodial sentence or a non-custodial sentence”. The amendments are to alter slightly the meaning of the terms "relevant sentence" and "relevant non-custodial sentence" in order to harmonise the wording between the Criminal...

Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 [Seanad]: Order for Report Stage (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

Other Questions: Refugee Numbers (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: To take up the Deputy's last point, if one attends the citizenship ceremonies, one can see that on any one occasion, 1,000 or 2,000 people are getting Irish citizenship. Of course, that arises from people following legal routes and being welcomed into Ireland and other countries. Well over 1 million people have now arrived in Europe from the various countries. One of the features of the...

Other Questions: Refugee Numbers (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I agree with the Deputy regarding standing up to racist voices. However, I do not agree that there has been a "fortress Europe" response. I do not think that is accurate when one sees what is actually happening and the major initiatives and responses to the tens of thousands of refugees arriving into communities across European countries. We were not under any legal obligation to respond...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Family Support Services (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I am pleased to have the opportunity today to outline the Government's policy on support for the marital family and on provision for divorce and separation in the context of family breakdown. The Senator is aware that there are very substantial legal protections and recognition for the family based on marriage at both constitutional and statutory level. These are recognised not only in our...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Family Support Services (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: We need to continue to increase the supports available to families and counselling services. The development of high quality universal services in child care can and will be extremely supportive of families. Anything that reduces the pressures on individuals and families will be of benefit to the lives of children. We must do all we can to improve people's economic circumstanes, but that...

Other Questions: Sexual Offences Data (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I observe that the recorded crime statistics published by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, for quarter 3 of 2015 show some encouraging trends across a number of crime categories. Everyone in the House will welcome the latest official figures which show a notable decrease of 47.4% in the number of murders recorded as well as reductions in other important crime categories such as robbery...

Other Questions: Sexual Offences Data (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: I would like to see the sexual offences legislation enacted. It has arrived to us rather late from the Seanad. The Deputy could propose cross-party agreement on the floor of the House. It would mean there would not be time for amendments from the Opposition if all Stages were taken tomorrow. There would need to be cross-party agreement on this. If it is the wish of the Opposition, I have...

Other Questions: Refugee Numbers (27 Jan 2016)

Frances Fitzgerald: To take up the phrase the Deputy used, that Europe has done very little, I attended the meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers on Monday, and if the Deputy heard my Swedish, French, Belgian, Croatian and many other colleagues, he would not say this. I understand the perspective he is using to state it has to do with the relocation programme. The reason I state he would not say what...