Results 10,981-11,000 of 18,729 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Senator is referring to anticipated amendments in the Criminal Justice Bill which is before the other House and in that context I do not want to anticipate the debate in that House. I concede, however, that the issues that will arise in that debate have a bearing on this issue but we should jump that stream when we come to it.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am very grateful to Senator Tuffy for moving this amendment and to her colleagues for tabling it. The proposed amendment would broaden the definition of the term "account" where it is used in the legislation and on the face of it there are aspects of it which appear to merit inclusion in the Bill. I ask Senator Tuffy to give me more time to examine the wording she has proposed, in...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: Again, I am grateful to Senator Tuffy for tabling these amendments. They are to permit the applications in respect of these orders to be heard otherwise than in public. There is precedent for this in other areas. Perhaps the Senator will let me do the same as I proposed earlier, that is, consult with the Parliamentary Counsel on the matter. If the Parliamentary Counsel is satisfied with the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: Amendments Nos. 13 and 18 would have the effect of deleting the provision that an account information or account monitoring order made with regard to criminal investigations in the State or in a member state of the European Union would have effect as if they were orders of the District Court. The effect of the acceptance of amendment No. 26 would be to delete the reference to an order made...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: The amendment seeks to permit account information or account monitoring orders to be made relating to financial institutions in the European Union outside Ireland and to financial institutions in Ireland which are not in the district of the District Court to which the judge is assigned. Under section 12(2), applications for account information and account monitoring orders may relate to...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to the Senator for tabling this amendment. I fully agree with her and the wording in the amendment is correct. I accept the amendment.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (30 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I will seek further advice from the Attorney General on that point. The purpose of the provision is to give effect to Articles 18.6 and 18.7 of the convention of 2000 and the provision is included to give Ireland the option of making a notification to the European Union at the time of ratification that we are unable to provide for immediate interception and transmission of telecommunications...

Written Answers — Garda Deployment: Garda Deployment (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the Garda authorities responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that the personnel strength of Castleisland Garda station as at 27 March 2006 was nine, all ranks. I have been further informed that the unit detailed for work on St. Patrick's night 2006 consisted of one sergeant and one garda. To augment the unit a third member was...

Written Answers — Garda Deployment: Garda Deployment (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the Garda authorities, which are responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that the personnel strength, all ranks, of the Garda Síochána as at 31 December 1997 and 20 March 2006 was 10,702 and 12,445, respectively. This represents an increase of 1,743, or 16.3%, in the personnel strength of the Garda Síochána during that period. I...

Written Answers — Garda Deployment: Garda Deployment (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the Garda authorities responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that the personnel strength, all ranks, of the Garda Síochána as at 31 December 1997 and 20 March 2006 was 10,702 and 12,445, respectively. This represents an increase of 1,743, or 16.3%, in the personnel strength of the Garda Síochána during that period. I have been...

Written Answers — Garda Deployment: Garda Deployment (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I have been informed by the Garda authorities responsible for the detailed allocation of resources, including personnel, that the personnel strength, all ranks, of the Garda Síochána as at 31 December 1997 and 20 March 2006 was 10,702 and 12,445, respectively. This represents an increase of 1,743, or 16.3%, in the personnel strength of the Garda Síochána during that period. I have been...

Written Answers — Garda Vetting Procedures: Garda Vetting Procedures (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Garda central vetting unit, GCVU, was established in 2002 and currently processes vetting requests in respect of, inter alia, prospective full-time employees of the Health Service Executive and certain agencies funded by the Health Service Executive, as well as in respect of selected employments in other sectors. In 2004, an inter-agency working group on Garda vetting reported with a...

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am informed by the Garda authorities that the following table provides the total number of headline offences, by group, recorded and detected in the Garda division of Tipperary for the years 2000 to 2005, inclusive. The introduction of the PULSE computer system by the Garda Síochána in 1999 has led to more complete and comprehensive recording of crimes reported than was previously the...

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am informed by the Garda authorities that the following table provides the total number of headline offences, by group, recorded and detected in the Garda division of Cavan-Monaghan for the years 2000 to 2005, inclusive. The introduction of the PULSE computer system by the Garda Síochána in 1999 has led to more complete and comprehensive recording of crimes reported than was previously...

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am informed by the Garda authorities that the following table provides the total number of headline offences, by group, recorded and detected in the Garda division of Clare for the years 2000 to 2005, inclusive. I am pleased to note that the statistics show a decrease of 7% in recorded crime when comparing 2005 with 2004, a decrease of 16.8% when comparing 2005 with 2003 and a decrease of...

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I refer my colleague to the answers I gave to Parliamentary Question No. 59 on 2 February 2006 and Parliamentary Question No. 678 on 21 March 2006. The legal representatives of the person concerned wrote to my Department requesting a further opportunity to submit representations on his behalf and, as an exceptional measure, my Department has allowed these further representations to be...

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may, at his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. Those conditions are that the applicant must be of full age, or by way of exception, be a minor born in the State, be of good...

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am informed by the Garda authorities that figures requested by the Deputy are not readily available at Garda sub-district level and could only be obtained with the expenditure of an inordinate amount of Garda time and resources.

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: At present, when determining whether or not a foreign national should be admitted to the State to join an Irish national, a number of questions arise. One fundamental consideration in most cases relates to the extent to which the couple will in the future be in a position to support themselves without recourse to public funds. That in turn requires an evaluation of the nature and extent of...

Written Answers — Crime Levels: Crime Levels (29 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 250 and 251 together. I am informed by the Garda authorities that figures requested by the Deputy are not readily available at Garda sub-district level and could only be obtained with the expenditure of an inordinate amount of Garda time and resources.