Results 11,121-11,140 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Other Questions: Drugs in Prisons (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy's question relates to the report of the Penal Policy Review Group. Some of the group's recommendations can be implemented in the short to medium term but others will require a more long-term approach. As an initial step, last November - shortly after the report was published - I obtained permission from the Government to follow through with some very key recommendations. These...

Other Questions: Drugs in Prisons (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: As already stated, the issues of both drug addiction and the availability of drugs in our prisons are receiving the most serious attention. I have spoken to the director general of the Irish Prison Service in respect of this matter and he assures me that addressing it will be a key strategic action which will involve the introduction of the range of measures I outlined earlier. This issue...

Other Questions: Drugs in Prisons (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Key components of the new drive will include an increase in the number of drug detection dog teams. Training in this regard is ongoing and all teams will be fully operational by the end of May. The introduction of a standardised screening procedure across the prison estate will ensure a consistent response to this issue in all of our institutions. The confidential telephone line to which I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Operations (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: This is a very serious crime. Organised crime gangs are involved in it and they have tried to spread their activities throughout the island. It is clear that a combined approach by the Revenue Commissioners, the Garda Síochána and the PSNI is being used to deal with this issue. These crimes are being interrupted and the figures show this. We will take every action we need to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Operations (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I agree fully with the Deputy. This is absolutely serious criminal activity which has very serious implications for people's lives in this country. Everything possible will be done to interrupt this activity. There are links to paramilitary groups. I take the Deputy's points. These are criminal gangs and are being dealt with clearly as such by the PSNI and an Garda Síochána....

Other Questions: Redress for Women in Certain Institutions (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for her question and her interest in this area and the support last night for the passage of the Bill which provides for medical services for women who were in the Magdalen homes. I am very pleased to say the Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill was passed in the Dáil without a division and I thank all Deputies on the opposite side of the...

Other Questions: Redress for Women in Certain Institutions (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Approximately 40 women in this situation have been identified. These women need to be helped as envisaged by the provisions in the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill. They may need support and there will be a range of options. The Bill provides for decision-making assistants, co-decision makers and decision-making representatives and the public guardian. I wish to reassure the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Gambling Legislation (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy is aware that there are detailed proposals in the general scheme of the gambling control Bill for the licensing of casinos in Ireland for the first time. This is the first Government to bring forward legislative proposals for changes in this area. My colleague, the Minister for Finance, is bringing forward the Betting (Amendment) Bill 2013 which was debated in the Seanad...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Gambling Legislation (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The legislation is seriously out of date, about which there is no question. The betting laws date from 1931, while those on gambling date from 1956. Increasingly, gambling is carried on by remote means and is not regulated. I agree with the Deputy that enforcement has suffered as authorities grapple with outdated laws and constant technological changes. A large and growing section of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Gambling Legislation (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The proposals made by Mr. Galvin, an expert in the area, will certainly be examined. I will take serious note of his suggestions. The Department is working on the legislation which is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and on which I want to make progress as quickly as possible. It must, howver, take its place among the Department's priorities, but I understand the urgency in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Operations (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The point made by the Deputy about criminal gangs involved in diesel laundering, cigarette smuggling and petrol stretching throughout the island but concentrated to a degree along the Border is an extremely serious one. The issue is receiving the attention of the PSNI and An Garda Síochána which work in close co-operation through the joint policing strategy and the North-South...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Station Closures (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I agree with the Deputy that prevention is critical, the Garda response is critical and working with the community is critical. In Stepaside, the area Deputy Ross is specifically addressing, the decisions that have been taken by the Garda involve increased Garda visibility and patrol hours. As I said, a high percentage of these crimes are committed by gangs who are very mobile and who...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Station Closures (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy is not correct that gardaí are not arresting people for burglaries. That is not accurate.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Station Closures (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Gardaí are investigating burglaries, prosecutions are going to the District Court and people are being jailed for periods. Clearly, what we have to do is focus on those recidivists, those repeat burglars and serious offenders who we specifically need to ensure are not free to commit burglaries as they do. That is the focus of the work between the Prison Service, the Garda...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Station Closures (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The whole focus now is to have what the Deputy decries, namely, the kind of effective and smart policing that is necessary. It is that kind of policing we need, policing that is out there patrolling, gathering intelligence and interrupting these crimes. 10 o’clock This is the approach being taken by An Garda Síochána.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: White Collar Crime (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: In so far as the specific circumstances referred to by the Deputy are concerned, I understand that these have been the subject of investigation by the Revenue Commissioners following receipt and assessment of information in regard to those accounts. While the Deputy will appreciate that I have no role in regard to the Revenue Commissioners, it may be helpful to inform the House that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: White Collar Crime (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The question Deputy Mac Lochlainn raised with me relates to the HSBC and I have given him the figures of the investigations that were carried out. Criminal investigations, where there was evidence in regard to fraud or a criminal matter, have been pursued, and I have given him the results of that. The Deputy makes the broader point on tackling white collar crime, which is the key point...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: White Collar Crime (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: That this is a priority area in the policing plan for this year illustrates the seriousness with which this issue is being taken. Deputy Mac Lochlainn makes a point about resources. I am pleased that this year we have been able to increase the resources to An Garda Síochána for the first time in a number of years and that we are working on the ICT issues, which are essential in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Station Closures (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The publication of crime statistics is a matter for the Central Statistics Office, as the independent national statistical agency. The CSO is carrying out, at my urging having met it, an investigation and detailed analysis of certain issues raised by the Garda Inspectorate on the recording, classification and reclassification of crime to see whether and to what extent they may have...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Strength (19 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy's party when in government introduced a moratorium. I am pleased that the Government has been able to reopen Templemore training college and restart recruitment. There are now 300 recruits in the college in Templemore. This has proved possible because of the improved economic situation and been welcomed by everybody. The strength of An Garda Síochána on 31 December...