Results 10,681-10,700 of 16,849 for speaker:Dermot Ahern

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: As the Deputy will be aware, applications for refugee status in the State are determined by an independent process comprising the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal which make recommendations to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on whether such status should be granted. A final decision on each application is made following receipt...

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Question No. 819 of Wednesday 24 September 2008 and No. 163 of Thursday 29 May 2008 and the written Replies to those Questions. The person concerned applied for asylum on 30 October 2002. His application was refused following consideration of his case by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and, on appeal, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal....

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: The Refugee Applications Commissioner (RAC) determined on 10 July 2008 that the United Kingdom is responsible, pursuant to the provisions of Article 16(1)(e) of Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003, for examining the application for asylum of the person concerned. The Dublin II Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003), is intended to prevent the phenomenon of 'asylum shopping' across...

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I refer the Deputy to my Reply to Parliamentary Question No. 137 on 9 October 2008. The position remains as stated.

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 1206 of 30 January 2008. My Department wrote to the person concerned on 8 October 2008 requesting the submission of original documents relating to identity and residence in the State. The person will be advised of any decision made when the requested documentation is received.

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: The person concerned has been granted temporary Leave to Remain in the State for a three year period to 9 October 2011. This decision was conveyed to the person concerned by letter dated 9 October 2008.

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: The position in relation to granting long term residency is as follows: persons who have been legally resident in the State for over five years on the basis of work permit/work authorisation/work visa conditions may apply to the Immigration Division of my Department for a five year residency extension. In that context they may also apply to be exempt from employment permit requirements. The...

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I would advise the Deputy that the officials in my Department have informed me that the name and reference number of the person supplied do not match any person on Departmental records. I regret that I am therefore unable to answer the Deputy's question.

Written Answers — Judicial Appointments: Judicial Appointments (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: A judge is assigned on a temporary basis to Waterford District at present. Plans are in place to make a permanent assignment in the very near future.

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: There is no specific annual budgetary provision to allow for incremental pay increases. This is based on the principle that the overall cost of increments for staff on incremental scales should be offset by reductions in costs arising from the retirement or other movements of staff at higher salary points and their replacement by staff at lower salary points. Therefore there is no separate...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (23 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: The estimated annual cost of the 2.5% increase under Towards 2016 in respect of the Justice Equality and Law Reform Vote (Vote 19) is €3.95 million. The annual cost of the planned 3.5% pay increase in September 2009 is estimated at €5.7 million.

Written Answers — Road Safety: Road Safety (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: €10 million has been set aside in the 2009 Estimates for the provision of an outsourced safety camera network as part of the Government's strategy to reduce fatalities on our roads, in line with the Road Safety Strategy. A tendering process for procuring an outsourced safety camera network is under way, the contracting authority for which is An Garda Síochána. A preferred bidder has been...

Written Answers — Criminal Prosecutions: Criminal Prosecutions (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: My Department has been examining the High Court's judgement in the case Niall Dillon v. The DPP in which the Court held that the current law under which prosecutions for begging were brought, i.e. section 3 of the Vagrancy (Ireland) Act 1847, was unconstitutional. I hope to be in a position to bring proposals to Cabinet shortly that will entail the introduction of new legislation to address...

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I have been informed by the Immigration Division of my Department that they have recently been in contact with the person referred to by the Deputy in relation to her immigration status. Further documentation has been requested from the person concerned in order to facilitate the Immigration Division in examining her case.

Written Answers — Disposal of Firearms: Disposal of Firearms (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: Approximately 3,850 firearms, which had been held at Clancy Barracks, were destroyed at a secure location on 32 occasions between 1st July, 2000 and 31st December, 2001. Ammunition which had also been stored at Clancy Barracks, was removed and temporarily stored at the Garda Technical Bureau before disposal and destruction. Any ammunition required for evidential purposes was removed....

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I have approved the applications of the persons in question and certificates of naturalisation will issue once documentation requested by the Citizenship Section of my Department has been received. Officials in the Citizenship Section inform me that letters seeking this documentation issued to the persons concerned on 12 August 2008, 2 September 2008 and 24 September 2008 to the address on...

Written Answers — Prisoner Rehabilitation: Prisoner Rehabilitation (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 to 139, inclusive, together. Prisoner rehabilitation involves significant multi-dimensional input by a diverse range of general and specialist services provided both by the Irish Prison Service and in-reaching statutory and non-statutory services. Amongst these are healthcare, psychiatric, psychological, educational, vocational, counselling, welfare and...

Written Answers — Prisoner Releases: Prisoner Releases (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: The Programme for Government set out targets for fully resourced and staffed rehabilitation programmes to be available for the entirety of the prison population by 2012 and the linking of remission with rehabilitation. The Prison Rules provide that prisoners shall be eligible, by good conduct, to earn a remission of sentence not exceeding one quarter. The Rules provide for the granting of...

Written Answers — Drugs in Prisons: Drugs in Prisons (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: I am committed to ensuring that all prisons are drug free in line with the commitments contained in the Irish Prison Service Drugs Policy and Strategy and I will continue to pursue strategies to achieve that objective. With regard to supply elimination, the implementation of the Policy and Strategy has seen an intensification of efforts to eliminate the availability of illicit drugs within...

Written Answers — Prison Discipline: Prison Discipline (22 Oct 2008)

Dermot Ahern: Part 3 and section 35 of the Prisons Act 2007, both of which came into operation on 1 October 2007, provide a legislative basis for disciplinary and governance related issues within the State's prisons. Section 35 of the Act permits the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to make rules for the effective governance of prisons. In that context the Prison Rules, 2007, came into effect...