Results 10,601-10,620 of 18,729 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: If we are to compare performances — there is an unwillingness to accept there was a problem — the problem was significantly worse when some members of the Deputies' parties opposite were at the Cabinet table. The Deputy asked me about resources. The resources that have been devoted to the Garda Síochána have never been higher——

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——both in financial terms and in numbers.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I remind the Deputies opposite of what happened——

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——when they were in office. It is fascinating that every time we discuss the record of the parties opposite, they start shouting. I remind the Deputies that when they were in office the numbers of gardaí in the force declined, whereas while I have been in office and while the two parties have been in office, the numbers of gardaí have dramatically increased. The size of the Garda...

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: There is no point in the Deputy heckling me and denying the fact. Ireland is not in the middle of a crime wave and it is an exaggeration to say it is.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am glad Deputy Howlin now accepts that it is legitimate to look at the comparative records of the rainbow Government and the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalitions in these matters.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I reiterate that the number of headline crimes when he was at the Cabinet table——

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——with a population of 3.6 million——

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Howlin is in the shouting down business again.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: Deputy O'Keeffe only had one supplementary question, but what a supplementary it was.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: The number of headline crimes when Deputy Howlin was at the Cabinet table exceeds the current number——

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——with a population of 3.6 million then and 4.1 million now. The number of gardaí was allowed to drop when the rainbow coalition was in office and I and my predecessor, Deputy O'Donoghue, have increased the number of gardaí substantially.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: The resources of the Garda Síochána have never risen faster than they are rising at present and the number of crimes per 1,000 of population has come down from 29.6 at the time——

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: ——the rainbow coalition was in office to 24 per 1,000 of population now. Those are the facts.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: The table is set out in the reply which I will furnish here today.

Crime Prevention. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: No amount of bluster, filibustering, heckling or anything else changes those facts.

Garda Reserve. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: The provision in the Garda Síochána Act 2005 for the establishment of a Garda reserve won widespread support in the House, although the Deputy and his colleagues opposed it.

Garda Reserve. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: No, I am taking Deputy Howlin's separately.

Garda Reserve. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: I did not want to put Deputy Howlin into the same category as Deputy Ó Snodaigh.

Garda Reserve. (27 Apr 2006)

Michael McDowell: In giving effect to the will of the Oireachtas, I am committed to real and substantial consultation. I have met each of the garda representative associations to discuss the Garda reserve. I have also invited them in for more detailed discussions on the Garda Commissioner's proposals on the recruitment, training, powers, duties and deployment of reserve members. The chief superintendents have...