Results 17,161-17,180 of 18,734 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: This is an occasion on which I will disloyally agree with Senator Cummins and disagree with Senator Jim Walsh. Should a garda be allowed to canvass door to door at election time, seek contributions among the business community or shake a box outside a church on national collection day?

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Senator Jim Walsh has the happy idea that gardaí would come to swell the ranks at cumann meetings, listen to the minutes, the secretary's report and the correspondence, but I think they have more sense. I would be much more worried about the list of activities I have outlined. Members of the Garda have many responsible privileges over the rest of us, including the power of arrest. While...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am against the idea of an independent police authority in Ireland. It is a proposal to which the Labour Party is deeply attached. On Second Stage on 11 March this year, I set out in general terms the reasons for my objection. There would not be much point in rehearsing everything I said on that occasion. Unlike the PSNI, the Garda Síochána is not a regional constabulary established within...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: We do not have a situation where people stand up in the Dáil and say, "I urge my followers not to obey the police in future." We have the exact opposite.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: We do not have a political system or a demographic make-up in which support for the police service is politicised. I doubt whether it would be a good idea to go down the political road.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: These are technical amendments that arise from the fact that the appointment of persons to the rank of Deputy Garda Commissioner and Assistant Garda Commissioner is a matter that is covered by existing regulations and it is considered necessary to make that clear in the section.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I have proceeded on the basis that there is international service and service in Northern Ireland and members of the PSNI will be taken in but the possibility of taking in officers from other forces has not been considered. A number of issues need to be considered if we go down that road. Will members of other forces be taken in on different terms from members of the PSNI? Could this be...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Senator is unduly modest. Surely, he has better ideas.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I sympathise with the underlying sentiment in the amendment, which is that if the Garda Síochána, in the words of its first Commissioner, Michael Staines, is to govern effectively with the consent of the people based on the people's respect, it must be seen to be a force which is drawn from the people and representative of the people as a whole. There cannot be an underclass in society who...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: On a point of information, I did not describe anybody as "yellow pack gardaí". I stated we all wanted to avoid the notion of yellow pack.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am not in favour of the amendment. Effectively, it is a blanket provision applying to all orders and regulations made by the Minister. Quite a number of such instruments are provided for in various sections of the Bill. I am advised it is not necessary in every case to lay such instruments before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The approach taken in the Bill is that in each case where the...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: There are matters which are appropriate to lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas and in other areas there are not. For example, it is not customary in respect of every minute detail to do with management of Garda members that everything should be put before the Houses of the Oireachtas. I will cite an example. Section 106(1)(h) deals with matters relating to: the payment of pensions,...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Human rights are not confined to civil and political liberties as they are sometimes understood to be. Their definition in the Human Rights Commission Act shows that they extend far beyond that. It is not the function of the Garda Síochána to be an enforcement mechanism for the broad category of human rights. The functions of the Garda Síochána are primarily policing functions. There are...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: That matter can be addressed and I will consider it at a later stage. The Bill, as drafted, encapsulates the notion of human rights. Each member of the Garda Síochána will be required to make before a peace commissioner a declaration under section 15, which includes the paragraph: "I will faithfully discharge the duties of a member of the Garda Síochána with fairness, integrity, regard...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The amendments were obviously inspired to some extent by the observations of the Human Rights Commission. The real question, a fairly narrow one, is whether protection of human rights should be one of the statutory functions of the Garda Síochána. To make it such a function would require one to define the human rights one is talking about. One cannot, for example, require the Garda to...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is a drafting point and the Parliamentary Counsel prefers his own wording. I prefer to stick with what is already drafted. However, I will look at it again and if I am persuaded that the Senator's proposed language is better, I might revisit the matter on Report Stage.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The first paragraph of the solemn declaration which members of the Garda Síochána are obliged to take under section 15 of the Bill reads: "I will faithfully discharge the duties of a member of the Garda Síochána with fairness, integrity, regard for human rights, diligence and impartiality, upholding the Constitution and the laws and according equal respect to all people." That provision...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The purpose of subsection (6) is to protect the Garda Síochána from civil actions with regard to it having failed in carrying out its functions. When I was a student at University College, Dublin, at the time of Bloody Sunday, I saw a mob burn down the British Embassy. One could argue that the gardaí, who had a cordon around the embassy, carried out their function to the best of their...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I agree with the points made by Senators Maurice Hayes and Walsh. The removal of subsection (6) would mean that a court could suggest it was deliberately removed by the Houses of the Oireachtas and that the protection afforded by it was expressly removed from the Garda Síochána. It would not simply be a drafting error. A court could suggest that the Minister on introducing the Bill proposed...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The provision reflects the current position in this area. The Garda Síochána as a matter of practice no longer institutes proceedings in its own name as common informers. Though that is the current position it used not to be so. The prosecutions commenced by it are generally founded on a direction or authorisation of the Director of Public Prosecutions. It is important to note that section...