Results 21-40 of 12,346 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Police Co-Operation) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (9 Apr 2003)

Willie O'Dea: That is correct. Question put and agreed to. Title agreed to.

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Police Co-Operation) Bill 2003: Committee and Remaining Stages. (9 Apr 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I thank Senators who have contributed constructively to this very important legislation. I thank those who put down amendments. I apologise that I could not accept any of them and that two were ruled out of order, but it generated debate, throwing light on various aspects of the Bill. It was a most constructive discussion and I will be bringing away some ideas from it. I appreciate the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: In accordance with Article 11 of the framework decision, a joint team can be set up by mutual agreement of the competent authorities of two or more member states setting up the team. The team will be set up in one or more of the member states in which the investigations are expected to be carried out. Members of the joint investigation team for member states other than the member state in...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I understand the Senator's concerns and will consider the matter further to see if the wording of the provision can be improved.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Senator for tabling these amendments. The difficulty is that some states will accept communications and requests from the Garda Commissioner while others will not. Section 2 provides that the Commissioner will be the competent authority in Ireland for the purposes of the Bill but that where the competent authority of another member state requires that requests in relation to the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: As drafted, section 5 provides that a joint investigation team shall be established for a specific purpose and a limited period. Where necessary, that period may be extended for an additional period or periods as agreed by the competent authorities concerned. All countries involved in a joint investigation will have to agree to the extension. The amendment proposed seeks to allow the period...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: The deployment of gardaí and the assigning of tasks to them are matters for the Garda Commissioner. As the Senator rightly points out, while we are in about third place in Europe in the ratio of gardaí to the population, there is a perception that there is a scarcity of officers. The Government believes we can use more gardaí. I take the Senator's point in that regard. Gardaí constitute a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: Investigating and detecting crime costs money. In this situation, the competent authority, namely the Garda Commissioner, provides the initiative to set up the joint investigation team. We cannot introduce something into domestic law which compels competent authorities in other countries to calculate costs in advance. The Garda Commissioner will calculate costs and ensure taxpayers' money is...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I do not disagree with some of the Senator's sentiments. The question of increasing the number of gardaí is a separate one. I agree that we would benefit from having more gardaí. The Government has certain commitments in that regard, which have been the subject of recent controversy. The commitment in the election manifesto and the programme for Government, as I recall it, was to provide...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: This is a tricky area. Section 5(4) allows the State to join a joint investigation team which has already been established on such terms and conditions as the Irish competent authority may agree with the competent authorities of the member states involved in the original establishment of the team. In other words, under this section the team has already been set up. The effect of the proposed...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I take the Senator's point. There seem to be no criteria to guide the competent authority of the State in deciding whether to join a joint investigation team which has already been set up. I will ask the chief parliamentary counsel to reconsider this between now and Report Stage. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Section 5 agreed to. SECTION 6.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: This amendment would provide for an additional category of person to be appointed as a member of a joint investigation team, namely, a non-Garda CAB officer. However, having examined the amendment, I am a little lost about the purpose behind it. Section 6(2), as drafted, allows the Minister to appoint to a joint investigation team officers of customs and excise, the Revenue Commissioners, any...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I understand what the Senator is saying. Section 6 deals with membership of a joint team and provides that members of the Garda Síochána, officers of the Customs and Excise, officers of the Revenue Commissioners and officers of any other Minister may be assigned or appointed to a joint team. In addition, section 6(2)(c) allows the Minister to appoint any other person who, in his or her...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: The public service, excellent though it may be, is not the sole repository of wisdom, experience and expertise. In complex fraud investigations, we may need to bring in representatives of some of the top accountancy firms. In cases of trafficking of children for sexual or other reasons, we may have to bring in representatives of the authorities in other countries, such as Albania, where such...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: Section 10 amends the Garda Síochána Act 1989 by adding joint investigation teams to the list of overseas organisations or units with which a member of the Garda Síochána may serve. The proposed amendment seeks to further amend that Act by providing that it should explicitly state that the Garda disciplinary regulations apply to gardaí referred to in section 3 of the Garda Síochána Act...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I take the point of the analogy the Senator seeks to make between the Bill and the Garda Síochána (Police Co-Operation) Bill. However, the fundamental difference between the two is that under the Garda Síochána (Police Co-Operation) Bill, members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland seconded here will, to all intents and purposes, become members of the Garda Síochána. They will be...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Joint Investigation Teams) Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (20 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: There will be a grievance because seconded members will be subject to disciplinary procedures. In the debate on the previous amendment it was seen that geography is no limitation to the Commissioner's authority where discipline of members of the Garda Síochána is concerned. The same applies to other police forces, especially the other 24 with which we will be co-operating.

Seanad: Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (28 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: This Bill amends the Maternity Protection Act 1994 by making a number of improvements to its provisions which protect employees who are pregnant, or who have recently given birth. The Bill implements the recommendations made by the working group on the review and improvement of the maternity protection legislation. The working group, which reported in January 2001, was set up in accordance...

Seanad: Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (28 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: I thank everyone who contributed to the debate and welcome their contributions. Senator Terry raised a question about section 5 regarding additional maternity leave being terminated in the event of illness. My advice is that the provision to allow an employee to transfer, with the consent of the employer, from additional maternity leave to sick leave in the event of the woman's illness does...

Seanad: Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage. (28 May 2003)

Willie O'Dea: In theory, yes. We are having some input in that we are passing the legislation which enables us to make regulations to provide for this. I do not want to add another 30 or 40 pages to primary legislation with matters more appropriate to regulations. I will inquire whether the regulations can be debated in the House and communicate with the Senator.