Results 14,521-14,540 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Crime Levels. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I do not agree with that. Ireland is one of the safest countries in the world. If one examines the figures I gave, the number of people who died last year as a result of homicides — involving either manslaughter and murder — was 45. That is one of the lowest figures in ten years, despite the fact that the population increased dramatically in that time. We must be clear on that.

Crime Levels. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I share the Deputy's point of view on firearms to some extent but the figures to which he referred are not quite right. In 1998, for example, four murders involving firearms took place. That increased to 12 in 1999, stayed at 12 in 2000, decreased to nine in 2001, increased to ten in 2002, increased to 20 in 2003 and decreased to nine last year. This year the figure has already reached nine....

Crime Levels. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I agree with the Deputy that the phenomenon of paid——

Crime Levels. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: ——gunmen is extremely worrying. That is what Operation Anvil is all about. The Deputy asked if we should have bursts of activity such as that surrounding Operation Anvil or if we should we adopt a constant approach. I discussed this matter with the Garda Commissioner. His view is that special operations have merit. It is similar to playing a football match. One must say to the team at...

Crime Levels. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: When we get the Criminal Justice Bill and the firearms provisions through, I will deal with the amnesty issue. The sooner we get the Criminal Justice Bill through the better.

Crime Levels. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I would like to do that.

Crime Levels. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I will write to the Deputies setting out everything that is planned in respect of that Bill.

Garda Deployment. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: As the Deputy is aware, over the years numerous organisations have requested and have been given the assistance of gardaí on a non-public duty basis. This non-public duty is performed by members of An Garda Síochána under arrangements made by the Garda authorities with organisers of events such as football matches, race meetings and rock concerts who seek their services to perform duties...

Garda Deployment. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Deputy Gregory that if event organisers, particularly those who organise high profit events, were obliged to pay their fair share of the extra security and policing costs the event creates, there would be more resources and it would be easier for local district officers to assign gardaí to deal with the problems to which the Deputy refers. For instance, we all see people on...

Garda Deployment. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Exactly.

Garda Deployment. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I fully appreciate that people who live in the environs of large stadiums want the area and the patrons of the event to be properly policed. In Lansdowne Road, for instance, in my constituency, one aspect on which the residents have a very strong view, especially in the context of its redevelopment, is that there would be a comprehensive traffic management plan which would come into effect...

Garda Deployment. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Nobody has given me any tickets.

Libel Laws. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am in the process of finalising the details of the proposals for the defamation Bill and following Government approval, which I have obtained, I intend in due course to publish the heads of the draft Bill so that they are in the public domain. As in the case of other Bills, in the course of formal drafting I will take account of the comments I receive on publication of the draft heads. I...

Libel Laws. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: It all depends on what one means by the term "statutory". A purely voluntary body would be wholly ineffectual because its judgments, decisions and so on would be subject to being sued. In other words, it would not have any teeth. By the same token, a statutory press council of the other kind, in which the State, through the Government, decided what a press council would be and who would serve...

Libel Laws. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: No, it is possible to have two points of view. One of them is that privacy is a very complicated issue. For example, at one level, one could claim the intrusion into Leas Cross nursing home was a breach of patient privacy whereas at another level, it could be claimed it was in the public interest that the information should be published. How, in a statute, to work out the exact line of...

Libel Laws. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: These are the kinds of cases where drawing an exact line between what is and is not permissible is difficult. The Government's point of view is that we should not shy away from the issue just because it is difficult if we can come up with a law which is a help and protects privacy. The Attorney General and I will work on that in the next few months. The Deputy asked for an indicative...

Libel Laws. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I will give the Deputy a Delphic reply to his last question: watch this space. With regard to funding, I have never known the media interests in Ireland to have an unwillingness to fund an independent press council. They could not reasonably expect the State to fund a press council which was genuinely independent and not accountable to the taxpayer. That is not a runner.

Libel Laws. (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The media in our society are sufficiently well-to-do to pay the cost to the community of policing their own activities through a press council. It would not be fair to tell pensioners, hospital patients and others that the resources they seek should be taken away and given to a press council, when the media are in a good position to fund it.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed). (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I wish to address some remarks made earlier today in the House by some of the Members opposite on an apparent inconsistency between what former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue, told the House in May 2001 and what I told the House last Friday. I draw the attention of Members opposite to their duty, before they make an allegation of dishonesty or impugn the...

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed). (23 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Yes, he did.