Results 19,281-19,300 of 35,889 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: They did end up in court. Summons were issued.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The witnesses are not clear about this. Some of the 14,700 individuals who were convicted before the courts were afforded the opportunity to pay the fixed charge and did so. Is that correct? The earlier response to this question seems not to be accurate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The press release states that the examinations between 1 January 2006 and 27 May 2016 identified 146,865 summonses for people who had committed offences and were brought before the courts incorrectly. This means they were issued with summonses without having been given the opportunity to pay the fixed charge. That statement is not accurate because some of those included people who were...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Garda put out incorrect information in its press release last week. Some people were given the opportunity to pay the fixed charge and did so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Are there any cases further to the 14,700 who paid fixed charge notices and were summonsed to court and convicted?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The suggestion in the public domain is that the 14,700 referred to were not given the opportunity to pay the fixed charge notice but we now know that this is not the case for all 14,700. The commissioner said that in each and every case an offence had been committed but we have now established that in a lot of cases the offence was rectified. They had broken the law by speeding or some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Commissioner said that an incorrect procedure was employed but for a sizeable number of these individuals, it was not a case of procedure. They had broken the law but had rectified the position according to the law by paying the fixed charge notice and gardaí falsely continued to prosecute them. There was no offence for which these people should have been prosecuted.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: On 6 February 2016, An Garda Síochána was first informed of this and it issued instructions to cease creating summonses for the offence of not having a valid NCT certificate. Can Mr. Finn confirm that no such summons was issued after that date and that no convictions arose?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Garda information centre became aware of this and instructed staff to cease creating summonses for the offence of not having a valid NCT certificate. Can Mr. Finn confirm that no such summons was issued after that date and that no convictions arose? It became clear on this date that it was illegal to prosecute people for this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Were summonses issued? I appreciate that there are different sections within the force but the public see that the Garda knew about this on the date in question. They want to know if the Garda continued to prosecute people falsely. Did it continue to take people to court and were there convictions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Does Mr. Twomey have the answer or does he not have the answer?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Were summonses issued after the date when the Garda became aware that it was illegal and should be stopped? I am sure it was unlawful to summons citizens to appear before the courts for something for which they were not responsible under law.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Can Mr. Twomey answer the question? Is he aware of summonses being issued after 6 February or of convictions secured on the back of those summonses after that date?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Why did it take three months? The Garda had become aware of this on 6 February. Why did it take until 16 May to issue an instruction that all summonses would be withdrawn? Why did the Garda leave it that long? The reason I ask these questions is that I want to try to understand the disjointed nature of An Garda Síochána. There is management which has responsibility for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Garda carried out a review to find out, I presume, how many people were being wrongly prosecuted. It would then have had to tell them that they should not have been prosecuted and to make right the errors. However, it carried out a review starting on 1 January 2014. What was the sense in that, given that the fixed charge notices had been introduced many years before in 2006? The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: What does Mr. Twomey mean that the review involved a different issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister has recorded that she received a letter from the Department on 14 March 2017 which indicated that the total number of individual cases involved was 1,781 in which persons had been convicted in situations where they had been incorrectly summonsed to court, either without having been issued with a fixed charge notice or having been issued with one and paid the fine. She said the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: To finish, I direct a question to the Garda Commissioner. Unfortunately, I do not have an opportunity to go into the issue of the falsification of data. I presume it is a criminal offence for any garda to falsify the data of An Garda Síochána. Perhaps the Commissioner might confirm that it is. She has given the committee a very clear impression, or I take it from her comments,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Recent Controversies Concerning An Garda Síochána (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I thank Senator Conway. Deputies are being called to the Dáil for an imminent vote. As I have been saying for a number of years, the amount of controlled drugs that An Garda Síochána is holding is bizarre. I know the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, has asked the Commissioner for a report on this. The most recent figures I have are...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Consumer Protection (30 Mar 2017)

Pearse Doherty: 129. To ask the Minister for Finance the way a consumer complaint against An Post for a breach of the consumer protection code with regard to financial products is treated by the Financial Services Ombudsman and Central Bank; if An Post is regulated in the same way as other financial service providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15799/17]