Results 9,781-9,800 of 18,729 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Written Answers — Human Trafficking: Human Trafficking (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: My Department has provided substantial funding to Ruhama (more than €1.6m in total from 2002 to 2005) and I understand that funding is also provided by the Health Service Executive. The funding provided relates to the organisation's overall objectives, of which assisting persons trafficked for sexual exploitation is an important part. Insofar as my Department is concerned, Ruhama receives...

Written Answers — Disability Act 2005: Disability Act 2005 (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I can confirm that under the Disability Act 2005, I have declared by order, on 6 April 2006, that the code of practice prepared by the National Disability Authority in relation to sections 26 (on accessibility to services provided by public bodies), 27 (on accessibility of services supplied to public bodies) and 28 (on access to information through communication formats) of the Act, is an...

Probation and Welfare Service. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The proposals will give a court power to suspend or partially suspend sentences, subject to certain conditions. This will not reduce custodial sentences but it will permit the courts to leave major further sentences hanging over offenders to give them an incentive to comply with the conditions laid down by the courts for rehabilitation and probationary purposes, as well as a significant...

Probation and Welfare Service. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The newly appointed head of the probation and welfare service, Mr. Michael Donnellan, is implementing a complete reformation of the probation and welfare service to refocus its efforts in a manner which is most productive of its time. He reported that much of its time was absorbed in furnishing reports for court cases while he believed its resources would be better utilised handling...

Probation and Welfare Service. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I would like to strengthen the service in any way I can. Its new head, Michael Donellan, has a clear vision of where it is going and I have given him an assurance that I will support him in implementing reform and refocusing the service.

Crime Levels. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I consistently emphasise that care must be taken in interpreting statistics, especially when considering short-term fluctuations and extrapolating trends over short periods. I emphasised this when the level of crime decreased and, on occasion, when it increased. I have indicated my concerns at recent trends but we need to be conscious of what the figures taken over a prolonged period show....

Crime Levels. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I agree with the Deputy that firearms homicides are a major concern. I also agree it is difficult for the Garda to detect them not because of the firearms used but because the great majority of such homicides are carried out by members of small gangs who are impervious to ordinary pleas of humanity and who are gripped by a sense of viciousness towards the people they deal with. One of the...

Crime Levels. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: Witnesses are unwilling to co-operate in many cases with the Garda in the detection and prosecution of these offences. I have provided immense resources for the force and I informed the Garda Commissioner on a number of occasions that if he believes he can get more value for additional resources under Operation Anvil, I will give him 100% backing. A budget of approximately €11 million has...

Crime Levels. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I would love to dilate on the subject of honest knowledge or honest belief as a defence but I do not have time. If a person is found in possession of cocaine worth €3 million, his or her knowledge is only one of the issues that should be taken into account.

Crime Levels. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The sentencing provision rather than the crime is important in this regard. It must be established whether a person is in possession of drugs. The value and consequences of these drugs are different matters. Just as I did not believe in respect of the 1935 Act that the cards should be handed to the accused in these matters, I do not believe it should be open to somebody who is carrying...

Human Rights Issues. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: At the invitation of the Human Rights Commission, I participated in the launch of a research report commissioned on the rights of de facto couples on 12 May 2006. There is no obligation in international human rights conventions to give legal recognition to de facto couples. The research report acknowledges that the European Convention on Human Rights imposes no positive duty on states to...

Human Rights Issues. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Ancient Order of Hibernians has apologised to me for the incident but is not convinced that the perpetrators were in good standing as members of the organisation. The Human Rights Commission report will inform the deliberations of the working group, as will the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution's report on the family and the deliberations of the Law Reform Commission on...

Human Rights Issues. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The group is chaired by the chairperson of the Legal Aid Board and former Deputy, Ann Colley, and is composed of a high-powered group of people including representatives from the gay and lesbian community and my Department. These issues are being considered with a view to drawing a clear picture of the implications of any particular option. I have not ruled out constitutional change but the...

Human Rights Issues. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am not ruling out any options but the Taoiseach has indicated that the group chaired by Ann Colley should operate within the parameters of the Constitution as it stands because an early change to accommodate a more ambitious plan would not, in the Government's collective judgment, stand a good chance of success at this stage.

Human Rights Issues. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I do not agree with the general point made by the Deputy that there must be an equivalence in respect of the arrangements made on both sides of the Border. I do not accept that we must do everything they do or that every human rights initiative taken in the Six Counties, as the Deputy terms it, must be mirrored in this State. This is a constitutional State and we must uphold our Constitution....

Sexual Offences. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: One of the consequences of the judgment of the Supreme Court that section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1935 is unconstitutional is an increase in the evidential requirements on the prosecution in prosecutions under the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006. As a result, child victims face the prospect of being subjected to adversarial court procedures that may be damaging to them....

Sexual Offences. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I will regard it as a matter of extreme urgency and when I receive the first report from the HSE next week I will ensure I have a final report as soon as possible from it. In the meantime I will look at what my Department should do rather than approaching this on a linear basis and waiting for them to pass something down.

Sexual Offences. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I do not know. Last week I had little time for reflection, as the Deputies will understand, but something has occurred to me on a growing basis. An age category of 15 and 16 year old children was provided for in section 3 of this Bill and in section 2 of the 1935 Act and a separate offence was created for them. Suppose that, under the honest belief defence, a jury listens to an accused claim...

Sexual Offences. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The change in the law that was forced on us has not been a step forward.

Sexual Offences. (8 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: It was. We had stern rules — the Law Reform Commission report of 1990 called them harsh but I call them stern — that any adult interfering with a young person at an age or in a category prohibited by law took the entire risk. Now the risk is not borne exclusively by the accused, who can wriggle out of it. It will have some strange effects in individual cases including the fact that people...