Results 1,781-1,800 of 8,947 for speaker:Jim O'Callaghan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: There is something happening. Deputy Daly is right that the number of knives being carried is increasing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: Just to conclude on that, I do not think they are incompatible. Obviously, we should be spending money on youth work and community projects and trying to ensure that younger men and boys have other outlets to avoid them getting involved in fights and knife crime but we cannot just sidestep the criminal justice side of it. That is my submission to the committee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: A person found guilty of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable on summary of conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months. It is optional for the court as to whether or not it imposes a criminal sanction.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: I do not have those statistics.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: That is a maximum sentence. It is unusual for courts to impose maximum sentences.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: It is open to it to do that. However, it is difficult to assess the gravity of the crime when we are talking in the abstract but, generally, people will not be prosecuted for this. A lot of times this could be combined with a manslaughter charge. Maybe a person is not convicted of manslaughter and are acquitted. The remaining charge against them is a charge under section 9 of the Act. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: If we look at the legislation that goes through the Oireachtas, vast amounts of very detailed legislation goes through. As Deputy Pringle knows, when it comes to the offences, we are limited to fines or maximum terms of imprisonment. We do not have any other penalties set out in our legislation for breaches of the criminal law. It would be an interesting process to see what other types of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: They were convicted. I do not know the circumstances. Many were convicted summarily. If a person is caught in possession of a knife and it is a first offence, I think the court is going to look sympathetically on that. However, the purpose here, and I am sorry to be repetitive, is, as the Taoiseach indicated, to send a stronger message in respect of the possession of knives with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: Some 2,146 knives were seized by An Garda Síochána in 2022. I do not know what its policy is when it seizes a knife. It is to prosecute, I presume.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: I thank the Senator for her contribution. She mentioned the No Knives, Better Lives campaign. There was a campaign that she is probably too young to remember in the 1990s called Bin the Blade. It was quite effective in-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: Yes. It was just trying to get people to give up their knives. It was relatively effective. We got much publicity. I am fully aware that the criminal justice sanction is a pretty blunt tool. However, I do not think anything Senator Ruane said is incompatible with this. In respect of criminal justice legislation we introduce, perhaps we need to look in the future at trying to consider...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: I have no problem with that. At present, the legislation is very much, as I said to Deputy Pringle, a fine and maximum term of imprisonment. That would be very detailed, complicated legislation but when there are offences, it is generally a fine. As Mr. O’Neill suggested in his proposal, you categorise the fines, or a term of imprisonment. Regarding who it is addressed to, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Scrutiny of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons (Amendment) Bill 2021 (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: I thank the Senator for his comments. I am not proprietorial about the Bill. I have no difficulty if the provision I would like to see included in our law is brought through a criminal justice Bill or this Bill, which has been there since 2021. Obviously, there is an advantage. Although I am a Government TD, this is not a Government Bill. However, I would have thought there is an...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Exemptions (28 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: 167. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 244 of 14 May 2024, under the Value-Added Tax (Refund of Tax) (No. 15) Order 1981 (people with disabilities can claim a VAT refund on aids and appliances that help them carry out daily activities at home or at work), if the Government has any plans to review the process by which this tax refund is claimed; and if he...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Personal Injury Claims (23 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: 65. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for an update on the Injuries Resolution Board’s mediation service for public liability personal injury claims; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23057/24]

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Personal Injury Claims (23 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: 79. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the initial response to the introduction of mediation for workplace accident claims; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23058/24]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Inspections (22 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: 163. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 300 of 9 May 2024, the findings of the HIQA inspections carried out at St. James’s Hospital, Tallaght Hospital and St. Vincent’s Hospital on 30 August 2022, 27 October 2022, 14 February 2024 and 29 March 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23135/24]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (21 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: 6. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on migration, integration and Ukraine will meet next. [21561/24]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illicit Trade (21 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: 86. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider increasing fines for tobacco smuggling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22750/24]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Departmental Reviews (21 May 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: 114. To ask the Minister for Finance when the review of the standard fund threshold will be concluded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22749/24]