Results 15,741-15,760 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: Does the Commissioner see my point?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: That is fine.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: Can I come back later?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: One cannot make different judgments. With regard to the penalty points, it seems this is a dangerous area because, as Mr. Callinan stated, it is a matter of discretion. It all is a matter of judgment. Some persons will get off, some will have the points quashed and some will be prosecuted. It will all be a matter of judgment by individual gardaí and then there will be a judgment made...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: "Proper use" is the key phrase the Commissioner used. Obviously, discretion is open to abuse. I will leave it there. I would have thought that was more a matter for the Judiciary than for the Garda. An offence is an offence and I would have thought the Judiciary would be the body that should exercise that discretion. The Commissioner is here today answering questions, which is helpful....

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: Will be?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: That is a political promise, and we will leave that for the moment.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: There is the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, with which the Garda is at war at present. I had a bit of a problem, which slightly alarmed me. I sent to the Commissioner's office a request for an explanation of how much it costs to run his office, which we told him we were sending him. That was in an e-mail dated 21 February. I have yet to receive an acknowledgement,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: So that is the case and they find that particular episode was not properly handled. According to the report, the informant was run "off book". Can Mr. Callinan tell me what that means?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: Can the Garda Commissioner generalise it? Does the Garda Síochána run informants off book?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: So that could not be possible in this case then. Would that be right?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: So it could not be possible in this case then.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: I do not want to endanger life but I do want to see if the Garda Síochána is breaching its own regulations.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: How can we find out, in that case, if there are no go areas for us? How can we find out whether the Garda Síochána is adhering to its guidelines?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: No, but I am referring to a situation - maybe I have got this wrong - whereby the Garda Commissioner can go back and say, sorry, we cannot go there, even though it is admitted. I am asking the Garda Commissioner if the Garda Síochána is breaching its own guidelines and he says he cannot go there. That is a fairly dangerous situation; it means that the Garda Commissioner is not...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: We have to disagree. Okay, that is fine. GSOC is not happy with the Garda Commissioner; let us be honest about that. It is not happy campers with the Garda Commissioner. The Garda Commissioner may be fully accountable to it but it does not seem to think that he has accounted in time or that he has adhered to the guidelines.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: Correct.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: Obviously, the Commissioner is not going to say any more. Would the Commissioner consider asking GSOC to hold an inquiry into the penalty points? Would it not be better if that body, which is independent, or an outside body, came in, in view of the fact that an independent body has been so critical of the Garda Commissioner and his carry on recently in a very sensitive area, instead of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 26: Collection of Motor Taxation
Vote 20: An Garda Síochána (16 May 2013)

Shane Ross: I do not doubt anything the Commissioner has said. The problem is that the endorsement is coming from the Garda Commissioner. That is the problem. The Commissioner said that, as far as he is concerned, assistant Commissioner O'Mahony is a man of fantastic integrity, he is this and that and has got a tremendous record, etc. You are the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána. It is in...