Results 7,621-7,640 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Written Answers — Prison Inspection Reports: Prison Inspection Reports (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Reports of the Inspector of Prisons are submitted to me as Minister. They are then laid before each House of the Oireachtas and published. They provide an independent report on the operation of our prison system and are of great value to me in drawing attention to progress being made and to any particular difficulties arising. As a matter of course all such reports are referred by my...

Written Answers — Sexual Offences: Sexual Offences (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 74 together. An Garda Síochána and a number of other agencies have participated in a detailed research project funded by the EU Daphne II programme, relating to the attrition rate in rape cases in eleven EU countries. While there is as yet no published report from the main research project, data in respect of Ireland was recently published. I look...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: Following a competition organised by the Public Appointments Service, the Equality Authority, on the 19 May 2009, approved the appointment of Renee Dempsey as Chief Executive Officer. It is expected that Ms Dempsey will take up her position shortly. Ms. Dempsey is an experienced senior civil servant who has worked with a number of Government Departments and is currently a member of the board...

Written Answers — Garda Stations: Garda Stations (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I am informed by the Garda authorities that there are a total of 703 Garda Stations. Email facilities are available at 347 networked locations within An Garda Síochána and internal email facilities are provided to all ranks of An Garda Síochána via the PULSE environment. External email facilities are also provided to all Gardaí from Inspector rank upwards and are made available to...

Written Answers — Garda Training: Garda Training (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I am informed by the Garda authorities that a considerable investment in training facilities has been made over the past two years including the provision of two Modular Firearms ranges at the Garda College and in the Dublin Metropolitan region. These modular ranges are newly designed products that facilitate live fire shooting for up to four persons in a carefully managed environment which...

Written Answers — Prisoner Literacy Levels: Prisoner Literacy Levels (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The findings of the most recent survey commissioned by my Department were published in 2003 in the Irish Prison Service publication entitled "The Prison Adult Literacy Survey - Results and Implications". The survey found that a significant number of prisoners have virtually no literacy skills, with 52% of them at Level 1 or Pre-Level 1 literacy levels. Level 1 is defined as knowing the...

Written Answers — Programmes for Government: Programmes for Government (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question No.109 of 22 April, 2009. The information requested by the Deputy is published on the website of the Department of the Taoiseach. It can be accessed at www.taoiseach.gov.ie under Publications (archive 2008). The information will be updated later this year.

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: My Department has responsibility for seven EU directives which have to be implemented. There are four directives which are currently overdue as follows: Council Directive 2005/85/EC of 1 December 2005 on minimum standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status. Irish law and practice in this area is already substantially in compliance with the terms of...

Written Answers — Prison Building Programme: Prison Building Programme (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The cost of the acquisition of the site for the prison development at Thornton was €29.9 million. The cost of the site was completely offset by the sale of the prison lands at Shanganagh, County Dublin. An additional 8.7 acres has also been acquired to provide a dedicated access road to the main prison site at a cost of €1.3 million. This was done following representations from the...

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: One of the priorities I have set for An Garda Síochána in 2009 is the targeting of serious crime, in particular organised, gun and drug related crime. The Garda Policing Plan for 2009 contains a series of measures aimed at reducing the impact of crime and criminal behaviour. These goals are backed up by strategic actions which include a commitment to continue and intensify...

Written Answers — Gangland Crime: Gangland Crime (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 96 together. The following table contains the number of cases of murder recorded and detected in which firearms were used, the number of prosecutions initiated and the number of convictions secured in each year from 1998 to 2008 and in 2009 up to 21 May. Figures provided are provisional, operational and liable to change. The detection rate for murders...

Written Answers — Gaming Regulations: Gaming Regulations (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The position as regards Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in betting offices was outlined by a former Minister for Justice. Equality and Law Reform. On 14 December 2006 the then Tánaiste and Minister for Justice. Equality and Law Reform stated on the Order of Business that the placement of these machines in betting offices would not be lawful under current legislation, and that if placed in a...

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The emphasis of Garda speed enforcement is on the use of mobile speed cameras, and their capacity in this area has been substantially enhanced recently. In September, 2008 the Garda Commissioner and I launched eight new Garda mobile speed detection vehicles. These state of the art vehicles represent a substantial upgrading of the resources available to An Garda Síochána to address the...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: The context in which financial provisions have been made by the Government for the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission is with regard to the current exceptional circumstances in relation to public expenditure and the need for substantial savings. The EU has no competence in relation to national budgetary decisions. The Council of Ministers explicitly recognised that the...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: A tender competition is currently being held to provide for interpretation services within An Garda Síochána. The completion of a declaration of bona fides, which identifies any criminal history relating to directors and partners of each company, was a mandatory requirement of the tendering process. Furthermore all companies were required to agree that the interpreters calling to An Garda...

Written Answers — Community Policing: Community Policing (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Question No. 98 [14274/09] which was answered on 22 April 2009.

Written Answers — Garda Investigations: Garda Investigations (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I am informed by the Garda Authorities that the inquiries into this matter being carried out by an Assistant Commissioner are ongoing. I await a report from the Garda Commissioner once those inquiries have been completed.

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I welcome many of the positive trends revealed by the statistics on recorded crime for the first quarter. Of the 14 crime groups for which statistics are given, ten show reductions. They are evidence of the focused deployment by the Garda Commissioner of the resources available to him. As well as ensuring that the level of frontline resources remains high, I am determined to continue with...

Written Answers — Inquiry Report: Inquiry Report (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I would like to express my sympathy to the O'Brien and Dunne families on their loss in such tragic circumstances. I can inform the Deputy that the Garda Commissioner has received the Monageer Inquiry Report and has considered its findings. He has accepted the report's findings and is committed to ensuring that the safety and protection of children remain a key priority for An Garda...

Written Answers — Data Protection: Data Protection (27 May 2009)

Dermot Ahern: I refer the Deputy to my comprehensive answer to Parliamentary Question No. 100 on 22 April 2009 which dealt with this topic. I understand from the Garda Authorities that the audit system is to be expanded to cover an additional 11 PULSE inquiry categories as part of a new system release in June and that they continually examine system auditing to ensure that it meets all data protection...