Results 1-20 of 738 for garda speaker:Brendan Howlin

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: The Future of Local Democracy: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Brendan Howlin: ...make-up of our local electorate areas also needs review. The State has no single system of administrative geography, no unified boundaries. Consequently, education and training boards, ETBs, community healthcare organisations, CHOs, Garda divisions and so on are created without reference to common boundaries and largely without effective local oversight. At regional level, we have...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Naval Service (10 Oct 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...for Defence following the successful operation of the Joint Task Force in interdicting a huge drugs consignment off the Irish coast, and acknowledging the importance of having members of An Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners on secondment to the Maritime Operations Centre in Lisbon, if it is intended that an Irish naval officer would also be seconded there; and if he...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: That is very helpful for my understanding of this. What we are trying to make clear is that vesting the Garda with a function does not mean that the powers of, say, surveillance or interception conferred in other enactments automatically become available to the member of An Garda Síochána in the performance of this particular function. For crystal clarity, there is security...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...will act "independently, impartially and in accordance with law" is obviously a clearly understood principle, but it should be a stated principle. Even if it is part of the attestation made by gardaí when they graduate from Garda college, that is not a legal requirement, I presume. To break it is not a legal matter. This would be a matter of law, so anybody reading it would...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...liable on summary conviction to a class C fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both.”. This pertains to inquiries under section 31(3)(a), which, in essence, relates to the removal of a Garda Commissioner. It is an inquiry that would be chaired by a High Court judge. The amendment we table here is to provide for a procedure where a person refuses to...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: I move amendment No. 9: In page 22, after line 38, to insert the following: “(5) Nothing in this section— (a) confers on a member of garda personnel a power that he or she does not otherwise have by virtue of another enactment or at common law, (b) authorises a member of garda personnel to exercise a power conferred by law for a purpose that is not so...

Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...and have the outreach to which I refer for people. It would allow people the opportunity to understand the implications of legislation like this. As with any new law in the criminal justice area, the Garda Síochána, requires a period between the enactment of the legislation and the Minister's formal order to commence the legislation in order that gardaí can become...

Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...is the notion that, and my colleague from Sinn Féin, Deputy Pa Daly, has much more experience of the courts than me, as a practitioner, I hasten to add, the seriousness would be underscored to An Garda Síochána by going to the Circuit Court. Would the Minister be open to that?

Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (12 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: Nobody in the House would not be very concerned by the increase in violence aimed at members of An Garda Síochána that we can see on social media all the time. I am referring in particular to what new, young gardaí have to face. It is not always physical abuse. Some of the verbal abuse and harassment they endure is very worrying. I do not want to suggest a knee-jerk...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (11 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: This question was tabled by my colleague, Deputy Ó Ríordáin. It is asking when a particular Garda station will be built, which is an issue he has raised on numerous occasions.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (11 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Minister for her reply. However, the point of the question was to obtain a timeline for the project. Much of the Garda estate across the country needs refurbishment or replacement to ensure we are able to attract new gardaí and ensure the falling numbers in the Garda Síochána have decent accommodation and decent places to work. We waited a long time for a decent...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: An Garda Síochána (11 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...five or six major stations being developed at the same time. There are economies arising from that. Is it possible to set out a timeline, even in general terms, for the expected completion of Garda stations? If the Minister has €50 million in capital spending a year and is looking for more, can she set out even an outline of ambition for which Garda stations are a priority...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Garda Síochána (11 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: Garda numbers are continuing to decline. They have declined every month for the past 12 months. As she set out, the Minister's plan to deal with this decline was to recruit five different intake classes of 200. That has been a failure. The February intake was 135. The May intake was 154. Many of those being offered places at the Garda College are not taking them up. This is a serious...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Garda Síochána (11 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: We had a debate on housing just before these questions. The simple message is that if the strategy is not working, as it patently is not in terms of Garda recruitment, one has to do something different. The Minister’s ambition was to have 1,000 additional gardaí trained this year. We are halfway through the year and she tells us we have 370 in training. Her target is not going...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Garda Síochána (11 Jul 2023)

Brendan Howlin: In light of the very worrying trend of a continuing decline month on month in garda numbers, I ask the Minister to set out what the current operational strength is and what her projections are and to give that in detail in terms of new recruits, retirements, resignations and what the net figures will be or are likely to be over the next 18 months.

EU Regulation on Collection and Transfer of Advance Passenger Information: Motion (25 Apr 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...a new statutory instrument and laying it before the Houses, should some other agency of the State require it, such as the Criminal Assets Bureau or other agency? In terms of the role of our own Garda National Immigration Bureau, clearly it must remain a matter for ourselves who can come into this State and who cannot. I have one concern about this advance presentation of data. It often...

Report of the Independent Review Group on Dignity and Equality Issues in the Defence Forces: Statements (30 Mar 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...from the Tánaiste on that. Another requirement is immediate legislative change to provide Defence Forces personnel with access to an independent external complaints service and ready access to An Garda Síochána for criminal activity. We must have external oversight of the Defence Forces. I welcome what the Tánaiste said. I remember the debate on the external...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defence Forces (2 Feb 2023)

Brendan Howlin: We have done it for An Garda Síochána.

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Defence Forces (2 Feb 2023)

Brendan Howlin: ...the progress to date in the implementation of the Working Time Directive in the Defence Forces; if he intends to apply the Directive to the Defence Forces in the same way as it is applied to An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service and other public sector organisations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5154/23]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (18 Jan 2023)

Brendan Howlin: 1098. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will set out the establishment number and the current number in the Garda Reserve force; if the Garda Commissioner plans to recruit additional members during the course of 2023; if a review has taken place of the role and function of the Garda Reserve; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1017/23]