Results 1-20 of 881 for speaker:Peter Power

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (27 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: For 2011, the Government has provided an overall allocation for Official Development Assistance (ODA) of €669 million. Of this total, €534 million will be administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and a further estimated €135 million will come from other Government Departments, including Ireland's share of the EU Development Cooperation budget. The 2011 allocation ensures our...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: While I understand the motivation behind the amendment, section 6 provides that where a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of chief superintendent - this is a significant point - makes a disclosure request to a service provider, the request must be made in writing. However, in cases of exceptional urgency a request may be dealt with orally and where such a request is made, it...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: As I am not aware that this would be a criminal offence, the issue does not arise. Section 6 enables the Garda Síochána to request service providers to disclose retained data. The amendment seeks to include a new subsection to provide that a service provider which inadvertently disclosed data that purported to be in accordance with the new regulation but which was not, or which provided...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I cannot accept the amendment. The request for the disclosure of data retained can be made only in limited circumstances relating to serious crime by a chief superintendent. They include the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of serious offences, the safeguarding of the security of the State and the saving of human life, as well as the prevention, detection and...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: The purpose of this amendment is to delete section 7 and replace it with a new section which, in essence, seeks to limit the responsibility of service providers to co-operate with the disclosure request. Before the introduction of a statutory scheme, the then service providers made data available to the Garda on request when required for criminal investigations and safeguarding the security...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I understand the intention behind this proposed amendment but I refer the Senator to Article 10 of the EU directive whereby member states are required to submit statistics to the European Commission concerning the operation of the directive and this is provided for in section 9. In essence, this section requires the compilation of certain statistics for submission to the European Commission...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: This goes to the heart of the legislation, the successful and efficient prosecution of serious offences, including terrorist offences, which increasingly in recent examples, including the Omagh bomb, point to the fact that the ability to use data and information on telephone communications and, increasingly in terms of white collar crime, Internet data efficiently can go to the heart of a...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: In this matter the designated judge has a broad role with wide-ranging powers and, with this in mind, the Minister feels it would be an imposition or potential interference with the judge's role to specify at this level what issue he should consider or what actions he might take. The designated judge must keep the operation of this Act under review, ascertain if the State bodies are...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: It is very important the Senator made that point. The provision confers significant powers on State organisations. We know from our history that unless those powers are monitored and regulated correctly, they can only lead to abuse. Cases involving previous Members of this House spring to mind in that respect. With regard to discipline, the Minister would prefer if the individual...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: In that spirit, I am delighted to accept what the Senator is saying. I have no wish to read out what is in front of me at present. If the amendment is withdrawn, I will be most grateful.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I may be Minister of State for nothing by the end of the day.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I thank all the Senators for their contributions. We have had a very positive and interesting discussion. I have said on the few occasions on which I have had the privilege of addressing this House that if the media spent more time listening to and reporting on debates such as this, the true value of an upper Chamber would become more apparent. Data retention is a tried, tested and valuable...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: It is only me.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I am sorry to disappoint the Senators.

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I thank Senators for their submissions. I propose to discuss these two amendments together because they refer to the periods for which data are retained. Section 3 of the Bill provides for the retention of telephony data for a period of two years and of Internet data for 12 months. In essence, the purpose of the amendments is to reduce the existing retention periods to half of the times...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I thank Members for their contributions. This is a matter of judgment and balance. I could easily foresee relevant investigations, particularly of white collar crime, which is perpetrated through the Internet and use of e-mails or other digital technologies. I envisage that prosecutions in this area would be compromised if the period for data retention was as short as proposed in the...

Seanad: Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I understand the purpose of the proposed amendment, namely, to ensure data are not deleted immediately at the end of the retention period. The objective of the amendment is catered for in the Bill in a slightly different but equally valid manner. Under section 4(1)(d), data retained for the purposes of the Bill must be destroyed by the service providers at the end of the specified retention...

Written Answers — Natural Disasters: Natural Disasters (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: Last week's dramatically heavy rains in south-eastern Brazil have resulted in that country's worst natural disaster for several decades. The deadly floods and mudslides caused by the severe weather conditions are estimated to have killed at least 600 people and to have left 13,500 people homeless and without shelter. Many of those affected were living in densely populated and hilly areas...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed by world leaders at the United Nations in 2000 as the framework for international development policy up to 2015. Last September, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I represented Ireland at the Review Summit in New York, which assessed progress against each of the Goals and the measures required for their achievement 2015. At the Summit,...

Written Answers — Natural Disasters: Natural Disasters (20 Jan 2011)

Peter Power: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 27, 31, 48, 49, 169 and 170 together. The earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010 was the greatest disaster to hit the country in more than 200 years, killing more than 230,000 people and reducing the capital, Port au Prince, to rubble. Among the survivors, more than 1.3 million people were made homeless and forced to take refuge in makeshift camps. While...