Results 10,061-10,080 of 15,268 for speaker:Kathleen Lynch

Other Questions: Traveller Community Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: The Department is consulting a wide range of people. The Deputy will be aware that many different organisations represent the Traveller community. I am not certain when the consultation process will conclude or, following it, whether legislation will be introduced. Travellers, as Irish citizens, are covered by all the anti-discrimination legislation enacted in this State and are named...

Other Questions: Traveller Community Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: As is the case with all groups in society, some people are criminals and others are not. Members of the settled community also engage in criminal activity, yet we are not all tarred with the same brush. I understand what the Deputy says. This is a huge dilemma which we will have to address, although that will not be happening any time soon. The Deputy is correct that there is a need for...

Other Questions: Drug Seizures (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: The Minister has been informed by the Garda authorities that provisional figures for the period January to August 2012 indicate that a total 11,263 drug offences were detected and 9,743 related arrests were made. The Minister is further informed that, based on figures provided to An Garda Síochána by the Forensic Science Laboratory in relation to quantities of drugs analysed at the...

Other Questions: Drug Seizures (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: I do not have the information sought by the Deputy. If it is available, I will have it forwarded to him. The implementation of actions of the national drugs strategy will continue to be overseen by the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall. Deputy Niall Collins's supplementary question highlights more than anything else the interconnectiveness in regard to drugs between health and policing....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Policing Plans (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: By the end of October each year, the Garda Commissioner is obliged under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to submit to the Minister a policing plan for the following year which sets out the proposed arrangements for the policing of the State. The approved plan is laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. When preparing the plan, the Commissioner must under the Act have regard to a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Policing Plans (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: I have reviewed the briefing material that accompanied the reply and I fully accept what the Deputy says. The commuter belt has a significant spread of population which gives rise to a particular difficulty. As I stated in my reply, the Garda Commissioner is obliged to prepare a policing plan each year and in doing so is obliged to take a number of factors into account. When the Minister...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Policing Plans (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: I have very little to add other than the suggestion I have already made. Such a meeting should take place before the policing plan is submitted.

Other Questions: Traveller Community Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: During the course of the examination by a working group of the UN Human Rights Council of Ireland's report to that council, prepared under the universal periodic review procedures of the council, the Minister, Deputy Shatter, was asked, among many other matters, about the position of Travellers in Irish society. One delegation specifically recommended that Ireland should recognise Travellers...

Other Questions: Traveller Community Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: The matter is under consideration as outlined in the reply I gave. It is something the Minister feels is being given serious consideration. There is not always agreement among the Traveller community on this issue. The informal consultation which has been ongoing with the Department for some time will continue. It is important not to cause additional or any friction in any community....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Prison Accommodation (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: Whereas I agree with the concept of single cell occupancy, I am not certain the Government should move towards a massive prison building programme that would provide it. There are other things it can do and the present Minister in particular has brought forward legislation that will ensure people are not automatically jailed on foot of particular offences. A two-pronged approach is required...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Courts Service Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: In July last the Government approved the Minister's proposals to hold a referendum to amend the Constitution to provide that the Oireachtas may establish additional courts, including superior courts. As the Deputy will be aware, the present position is that Article 34 of the Constitution provides that the High Court is a court of first instance and the Supreme Court is the court of final...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Courts Service Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: While I take on board the point made by the Deputy, for as long as I can recall, that is, for up to 25 years, I and the other two Deputies present in the Chamber - Deputy Catherine Murphy for certain - have been involved in calls for separate family courts. Moreover, there is a very good argument for this to happen. It would take additional personnel who were specially trained to adjudicate...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Courts Service Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: I understand.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Courts Service Issues (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: No, that has not been stated at all. Basically it is like any expertise in that most judges who deal with family law cases on a regular basis build up a degree of knowledge and expertise in the area. I share the widely-held belief that it might not necessarily be a judge of the High Court, for instance, who must deal with it. Instead, it might require a different category of officer of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Station Closures (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: There is no buck passing. The Commissioner and the Minister have their jobs to do. We are living in a time of reduced resources and the Commissioner's job is to put a plan in place to ensure the best value is obtained from available resources. That may mean closing Garda stations to release gardaí to do what the Deputy wants and to patrol rural areas, in particular, where people are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Station Closures (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: No one is denying we have significantly reduced resources. It is as simple as that. The Commissioner has legal responsibility for directing and controlling the force and he has informed the Minister that it is intended, where possible, that the resources currently available in Garda stations that have been closed will remain in their own districts, subject at all time to operational...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Prison Accommodation (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: There has been a consistent increase in the total prisoner population in Ireland over recent years. The problem of prison overcrowding therefore remains a challenging issue which unfortunately cannot be resolved overnight. Given the current number of prisoners in custody - 4,248 on 13 September 2012 - the Irish Prison Service is not in a position to provide single cell accommodation to all...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Prison Accommodation (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: This is not being proposed as a virtue. All of us agree that the optimum is single cell occupancy but that cannot be achieved in the foreseeable future. New prisons will be built in Cork and Limerick as the Deputy rightly said, but because of overcrowding in the current prisons we will simply alleviate that with the new buildings. I am sure this will be a great relief to people there...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Operations (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: I apologise for the Minister's absence. He is indisposed today and sends his apologies. I also join him in congratulating Deputies Collins and Mac Lochlainn on their new appointments and hope they do well in their new brief. I remind the House that three persons are before the courts following a Garda Síochána operation undertaken in the light of events at the funeral. Deputies...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Operations (19 Sep 2012)

Kathleen Lynch: I thank the Deputy for his support. The Minister takes advice from a wide range of people in terms of additional legislation or resources, especially the Garda Commissioner, and no request has been made. The resources the Garda has to deal with dissident terrorist groups are sufficient according to the Commissioner. If additional resources or legislation are required, the Minister will...