Results 14,121-14,140 of 18,734 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Written Answers — Prison Building Programme: Prison Building Programme (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 568 and 569 together. Preliminary estimates of the cost of servicing the Thornton Hall site were prepared as part of the detailed site evaluation process which was carried out by engineering consultants on a number of sites. This placed the total estimated cost of providing mains water, foul sewer and power including gas and electricity to the site at €8.5...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I can inform the Deputy that the Censorship of Publications Board currently has one vacancy for a member due to the death of one of the members. The Irish Legal Terms Advisory Committee has two vacancies, one being for chairperson due to the resignation of Mr. Pádraig Ó hUiginn. The other vacancy is due to Mr. Justice Aindrias Ó Caoimh taking up a position in the European Court of Justice....

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Vacancies are due to arise in the following bodies between now and 31 December 2005: Name of Board/Statutory/State Body Courts Service Board Prison Visiting Committees Arbour Hill Prison Visiting Committee Cork Prison Visiting Committee Limerick Prison Visiting Committee Loughan House Place of Detention Visiting Committee Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee Portlaoise Prison...

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The person concerned arrived in the State on 29 March 2000 and applied for asylum. His application was refused following consideration of his case by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and, on appeal, by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Subsequently, in accordance with section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999, as amended, he was informed by letter, dated 5 November 2001, that the...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The 11th group of amendments consists of amendments Nos. 121 and 122. In its second report the Morris tribunal referred to the plan being implemented by Garda management to strengthen the Garda internal audit section and noted it was a matter of worry that the internal audit section had not been strengthened by the presence of officers from outside police forces. The tribunal acknowledged it...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I fully echo what Senator Jim Walsh has just said. I intend to fast-track the ethnic diversification of the Garda Síochána, since we know that in Britain youths from racial minorities in particular saw a police force in the 1950s and 1960s which did not reflect their community at all. It indelibly marked the relationship between those minority communities and the force. Now is the time for...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: By way of background information, I can inform Senators that section 91 is one of the most important in Part 3 of the Bill, dealing with the powers of the investigation staff or ombudsman commission to search Garda stations. It is a carefully worded provision in all respects, particularly in the case of certain Garda stations with sensitive material, written, tangible, or computer-based,...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: It contains a typographical error.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The typographical error is being corrected under the relevant Standing Order.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: It is a difficult task to balance these two interests. I have done my best but I am impressed by Senator Walsh's point that, under the general power to make disciplinary regulations, it appears that procedures could easily be put in place — subject to discussion with the Attorney General — for a system of vouching and counter-signature by another member of the force. Another...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Group 13 concerns the subject matter of amendments Nos. 117 and 118. These are technical amendments. They arise from my correspondence with the Chief Justice with regard to the provisions in the Bill as it stands, which permit me to appoint a judge to inquire. This is being changed to "invite a judge to inquire (while serving as a judge)". Amendment No. 118 concerns the replacement of the...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Senator Walsh will be interested to learn that we are currently drafting judicial conduct legislation with the co-operation of the Judiciary, the views of which we are taking on board.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Amendments Nos. 38 to 50, inclusive, are comprehended by this group. Senators will no doubt recall the long discussions we had in this House on the joint policing provisions of the Bill. As I said afterwards, these provisions are all the better for the changes made in the House. I brought forward further changes on Report Stage in the Dáil . The first concerns a recommendation, contained in...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am very grateful to the Senators for the supportive remarks they made. I would make the point to Senator Jim Walsh that he won the war, effectively. He may not like the exact terms of the peace treaty at the end of the war but he won the war in the sense that when I came into this House with this Bill about a year ago, the model was radically different.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I listened carefully to what was said here and it accorded with my own hunches that we were going down the wrong track then and we have switched to the right track. On the guidelines, it is to be noted that section 36(1) of the Bill as it now stands states that a local authority and the Garda Commissioner shall arrange for the establishment of a joint policing committee in accordance with...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am talking about the members of a local authority.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Some areas may have very active chambers of commerce with business improvement district arrangements in place but that may not be the case in other areas. I do not want to mention a town in case it has an active chamber of commerce but councils in some areas do not have developed infrastructure of that kind. I want to put guidelines in place that offer a menu of choices, thereby allowing...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Local authorities sometimes say they have no money but they often get money for projects about which many people would be slightly sceptical. They can always find money for many projects when it suits.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I will conclude on that note. I believe we have the balance just about right. I realise Senator Jim Walsh believes I have moved back somewhat from my earlier position but I will keep him happy by putting different models of local policing committees into the guidelines to allow people choose from a menu of models which are best suited to their own needs and give local authorities that degree...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (30 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: If we had said that one of the functions of the ombudsman commission was to entertain complaints by gardaí against other gardaí, the force would be mud-wrestled to the floor as an institution and would become an arbitrator and industrial relations kind of theatre of war. I do not want to go down that road. I want the commission to be one that deals with the public's complaints about...