Results 14,641-14,660 of 18,734 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Sorry, that has already been covered.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I will not delimit the immunities. It is the powers and duties that are to be the subject of Garda Commissioner stipulation in subsection (5). I want reserve members to have all the immunities that a member of An Garda Síochána has. I do not want them to be sued personally in circumstances where, for example, a person standing in the same line at a demonstration cannot be sued personally....

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Yes, but their protections should not be delimited.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Of course, in some circumstances that might be the case.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: One never knows, there could be an emergency where it would be necessary to have them to protect property or whatever. I listened carefully to the points made on Committee Stage and I have adhered faithfully to what I said I would do then.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I have.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I did what I told Deputy Jim O'Keeffe I would do.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: On Committee Stage, Deputy Jim O'Keeffe indicated strong support for the concept of a reserve force.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: He indicated that he was strongly in favour of the idea and he asked me to make a particular amendment, which I am doing. Others who do not agree with the whole idea of reserve gardaí are not satisfied. However, I am doing what I said I would do——

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: ——in favour of those people who support the idea. Obviously, I will not be faithful to all the ideas of the people opposed to the idea. That would be nonsense. I welcome what Deputy Finian McGrath had to say on two counts. We must get on with the business and cannot keep postponing it — I do not say that to take an unfair advantage. Now is the time to get on with it because we will have...

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Cuffe's interruption makes the point that should be made about the quality of some of the contributions, that when confronted with the fact that gardaí must commute to work, and that, like many other people in society, they live in a different world, the contributors proposed that I should require them to live in specific places. We are not in the Victorian world. I cannot tell...

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: —— that members of An Garda Síochána should be capable of being directed as to where they live, unlike other members of the community.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Cuffe should remember that he chose to be elected in a constituency in which he did not live. Therefore, he is not in a position to tell gardaí they must live in the area they patrol. That is a flippant remark, but I am making a deeper point. In a much more mobile society, with all the difficulties faced by younger people in getting to work etc. — the Green Party has strong views on...

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: It depends on the members of the constabulary to whom one speaks.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The Minister will have the power to give directives to the Garda Commissioner.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: If I did, I apologise.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: Sorry.

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: I move amendmentNo. 4: In page 10, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following: "'Committee of Public Accounts' means the committee of Dáil Éireann established under the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann to examine and report to Dáil Éireann on the appropriation accounts and reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General;". This is a technical drafting amendment by Parliamentary...

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: The public is watching this debate and if the Opposition is going to play games——

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage. (22 Jun 2005)

Michael McDowell: ——and interrupt the proceedings with calls for a quorum, it will draw its own conclusions about what is happening.