Results 12,901-12,920 of 18,733 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am informed by the Garda authorities that 13 prosecutions under section 49(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1961, as amended, were dismissed by the district judge sitting at Belmullet District Court on 9 November 2005. An application has been made, by way of case stated, to review the decisions of the district judge. As the Deputy will appreciate, the courts are subject only to the Constitution...

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: The courts are independent under the Constitution and carry out their functions independently.

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: I will not comment on a decision that is to be the subject of an appellate process. The decision on whether to provide information requested is primarily for the person having carriage of the prosecution, the Director of Public Prosecutions. He is the person in charge of a prosecution and it falls to him to decide what information is supplied or what facilities for examination should be...

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: This is the point that must be decided by the courts and not by me. It is not appropriate for me to express opinions on the merits of an outcome.

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: If it is reasonable, a set of implications follows but if it is not correctly legally based, other inferences must be drawn. I am not in a position to speculate on what a court will decide on these issues and it would not help if I did so.

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: In a process of discovery in a criminal prosecution decisions are primarily for the prosecutor because we have an adversarial legal system. The prosecutor decides if, as part of bringing the case, he will make available certain information. It is not the function of the Minister to send directives to the gardaí as to what they should do in particular cases.

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform would be wholly unaware of the state of litigation in any particular case and would have no reason to become involved. These are matters left by the Constitution for others to decide.

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am not aware who made the decision.

Road Traffic Offences. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: It is certainly not, however, a decision made in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Prison Building Programme. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Government has approved in principle the development of a new prison complex on the Thornton site on a value for money PPP basis. The Irish Prison Service is preparing a detailed assessment of the project in accordance with the Department of Finance guidelines for the provision of capital projects through public private partnerships which will result in a detailed business case being...

Prison Building Programme. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: With regard to the process envisaged, consultants will be appointed because that is justifiable in these circumstances. I visited the Midlands Prison last Monday. The new buildings were constructed there on a quasi-PPP basis in good time and to a high quality. It compares favourably with the construction of prison buildings in the past, which caused substantial problems.

Prison Building Programme. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: No. This is a design, build and maintenance project and, therefore, the prisons will not be operated privately, similar to those in America and the UK. I intend to keep the operation of prisons within the public sector as long as that is economically feasible.

Prison Building Programme. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: "Almost" makes me a socialist but not quite. With regard to transport, it is not my intention, unless I am forced to do so in the future, to outsource escort services. On Monday I was informed that the new cellular transport vans are in operation and they are proving a success. They are operated by Prison Service staff.

Prison Building Programme. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: I do not want to give misleading information and, therefore, I stated the cost would be between €200 million and €300 million because if I stated hundreds of millions, the figure would be leapt on and we would be at €1 billion before we finished.

Prison Building Programme. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: However, the private sector tenderers for a PPP must submit competitive tenders and I will not, therefore, outline the cost. Even if I could offer an educated guess, it would not be helpful.

Prison Building Programme. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: It is not being offered as an educated guess. If the Minister for Health and Children decides to relocate the Central Mental Hospital, land will be available at Thornton Hall for that purpose. A significant capital dividend will accrue to the State because the lands at Dundrum have a colossal redevelopment value. The premises on the site are wholly unsuitable for the purpose for which they...

Gangland Killings. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 48 and 49 together. The questions asked by the Deputies arise in the immediate aftermath of the brutal killing of two people in Firhouse and the equally callous killing of another man in Clontarf in the past two weeks. Both these incidents are being fully investigated by the Garda Síochána and I am sure the House will appreciate that I have to be careful...

Gangland Killings. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: In answer to the Deputy's first question, I believe it is a serious problem. I do not minimise the threat from this violence between these gang members on each other because, inevitably, if it continues somebody other than the intended victims of shootings will become involved. On the Deputy's suggestion that we should break out provisions of the Criminal Justice Bill and move with them...

Gangland Killings. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: A good deal of scepticism was expressed on this. The numbers are increasing. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, referred to the number of people who will have completed their two-year training by 2008.

Gangland Killings. (23 Nov 2005)

Michael McDowell: The number of gardaí involved in the activities of the force and its organisational strength will reach 14,000 in December 2006.