Results 1,941-1,960 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Status (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy may be aware, if the members of the family concerned have made an application for asylum or subsidiary protection, the position is that it is not the practice to comment on such applications for so long as they are in the protection process. The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) of my Department is responsible for the accommodation of protection applicants in accordance...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy will be aware that, under the Constitution, judges are appointed by the President on the advice of the Government. The current process for the appointment of judges in Ireland is set out in sections 12 to 17 of the Courts and Courts Officers Act 1995 which established the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board. Under the existing system of judicial appointments, the Board submits...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prisoner Rehabilitation Programmes (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy will be aware from my replies to previous Parliamentary Questions that the Irish Prison Service provides a wide range of rehabilitative programmes that include education, vocational training, healthcare, psychiatric, psychological, counselling, welfare and spiritual services. These programmes are available in all prisons and all prisoners are eligible to use the services. On...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Proposed Legislation (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I published a report in June, 2012 on the criminal justice aspects of the cash for gold trade. The Report prepared by my Department is available on www.justice.ie. I requested the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence to consider the content of the report, to ensure that it obtains the views of all relevant interested parties and that it makes such report and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigrant Investor Programme (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: To date there have been 22 applications for the Immigrant Investor Programme. 15 of those applications have been approved and the remaining 7 applications are under consideration. 35 applications have been received for the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme. 20 of those applications have been approved, 10 applications have been refused, 2 applications have been withdrawn and 3 applications...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Judicial Council Legislation (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy will appreciate, judges are independent in the matter of sentencing, as in other matters concerning the exercise of judicial functions, subject only to the Constitution and the law. The approach of the Oireachtas has generally been to specify in law a maximum penalty for an offence, so that a court, having considered all the circumstances of a case, may impose an appropriate...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Equipment (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda authorities are continually looking to employ new technologies to achieve their goals and to contribute to the services they provide. This is a policy which is designed to ensure that the Garda Síochána will be in a position to take advantage of proven technological developments to tackle crime and to meet the needs of an effective police...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Aid Service Reform (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy may be aware the provision of legal aid falls within two separate categories, i.e criminal legal aid and civil legal aid. The provision of civil legal aid in the State is the responsibility of the Legal Aid Board. Criminal legal aid is provided by the Courts, through the Judiciary. Details in respect of each category are as follows: Civil Legal Aid Demand for legal services...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Criminal Prosecutions Data (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 128 and 129 together. I can inform the Deputy that the number of prisoners remanded on bail for 2009, 2010 and 2011 are set out in the following table. Year Number of prisoners 2009 648 2010 831 2011 703 Since 2012, with the introduction of a new operating system, the Irish Prison Service no longer record figures in the format requested. However, I...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Stations Refurbishment (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The programme of refurbishment of Garda stations is based on accommodation priorities which are established by An Garda Síochána. The programme is advanced in close co-operation with the Office of Public Works, which has responsibility for the provision and maintenance of Garda accommodation. Funding for such works is met from the Vote of the Office of Public Works. This programme...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Recruitment (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I was very pleased to announce the commencement of a Garda recruitment campaign on 12 December 2013, the first such recruitment since 2009. The closing date for applications was 9 January 2014, and some 25,000 applications were received by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) through their website . The competition itself involves a number of stages of assessment and evaluation including...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Criminal Assets Bureau (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Criminal Assets Bureau has been at the forefront of fighting organised crime since its inception in 1996. The Bureau is being actively utilised to identify and target funds accumulated by those involved in criminal activity, in order to seize such assets and to deprive those involved of the profits of their criminal activity. Furthermore, 196 asset profilers trained by the Bureau are...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Organised Crime (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the distribution of all resources, including personnel, among the Garda Regions, Divisions, and Districts, the various Garda national units and of course Garda Headquarters. Garda management keep this distribution under continuing review in the context of crime trends and policing priorities so as to ensure that the best...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prisoner Rehabilitation Programmes (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy will be aware from my replies to previous Parliamentary Questions that the Irish Prison Service provides a wide range of rehabilitative programmes that include education, vocational training, healthcare, psychiatric, psychological, counselling, welfare and spiritual services. These programmes are available in all prisons and all prisoners are eligible to use the services. On...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Security (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I can inform the Deputy that since 1996 the number of prisoners recorded as having absconded or escaped from the custody of the Irish Prison Service, and who have not been returned to custody is 64. Of these 64, 60 prisoners have absconded from the Open Centres, two have escaped from a closed prison and two have escaped from the custody of prison officers outside the confines of a prison,...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Courts Service (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy will be aware, the Courts Service is responsible for the management and administration of the Courts. The scheduling of court cases and the allocation of court business is a matter for the Presidents of the courts and the presiding judge who are under the Constitution independent in the exercise of their judicial functions. The Presidents monitor waiting times across all courts...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Crime Levels (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 and 139 together. I am advised that all crime trends are monitored on an ongoing basis by the Garda authorities and relevant policing strategies are designed and implemented as required. In this regard local Garda management in Kildare, as in all Garda Divisions, closely monitors the allocation of resources in the context of crime trends, policing needs...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Services Regulation (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As I have previously stated, consultations in relation to the Legal Services Regulation Bill have been ongoing since its publication, both directly and by submission. Moreover, the Bill and key responses to it have previously been considered at Second Stage and in detail by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. Committee Stage of the Bill, which commenced last July, is now...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Programme (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 145 together. It is my intention that the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 will be enacted and come into operation at the earliest possible date. The Bill has passed Committee Stage in the Dáil, having passed all stages in the Seanad. However, before the Bill could be taken at Report Stage, a 2013 UK Court of Appeal judgment...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Court Procedures (5 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy may be aware, in 2013 the Law Reform Commission published a report on jury service which includes an examination of the selection of individuals for jury service, including persons with hearing disabilities. The Report contains 56 recommendations covering a broad range of issues which are currently being considered in my Department. While the Law Reform Commission report...