Results 1-20 of 166 for garda speaker:Michael McNamara

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Michael McNamara: ...were 4,200 people and no prosecutions. I asked in a parliamentary question why that was the case and the Minister stated that prosecutions are entirely independent; they are a matter for the An Garda Síochána and the DPP. I then raised the matter in the Dáil with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who happened to be there on the day. He was a bit taken aback by the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (25 Jan 2024)

Michael McNamara: ...affordable housing schemes in Clare is €55,000, yet there is a large group of people in between the €35,000 and €55,000 who have little hope of getting a home. For example, the first point on the Garda incremental pay scale is €35,322, primary teachers start at €40,625, secondary teachers start at almost €2,000 more, nurses’ entry level is...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (18 Jan 2024)

Michael McNamara: ...obligation. My question is why are people who are in breach of a strict liability offence not being prosecuted in the State? Who is giving the order not to do so? Is it coming from senior Garda management, the Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, or the Government? The law is not being applied. This brings the law into disrepute at some point. The question is not why people are...

Confidence in the Minister for Justice: Motion (5 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...politician. There must, though, be political accountability in this House in this democracy. This must be the case for health services and security services. Unfortunately, there are fewer gardaí in the State now. The total is a little under 14,000 now, while there was a little under 18,000 at the start of this Dáil term. Of those gardaí, they are spending more time...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (5 Dec 2023)

Michael McNamara: 406. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide an update on the progress outlined on 29 March 2022 that the Garda Commissioner had instructed that a fresh investigation be undertaken into the matters which a judge (details supplied) determined required further investigation in their report on the statutory inquiry under section 42 of the Garda...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Nov 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...behaviour, perhaps linked to people being moved out of other areas and into Ennis. Very recently, a market building, which was built at huge cost to the Exchequer, has been closed because the Garda, for whatever reason - perhaps it does not have the resources - cannot prevent antisocial behaviour occurring there. I refer in particular to congregation for the purpose of drug-taking. What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Policing Matters: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Nov 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...there is no use for it, the building has become a place drug addicts seem to hang out and to use and the council has had to shut it down and lock it because there is no policing of it. Perhaps because the Garda does not have adequate resources, it has been unable to secure the building to the satisfaction of Clare County Council so it has been shut down. It has to be a worry when any...

Policing, Protests and Public Order: Statements (28 Nov 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...Covid-19 committee, I was getting communications from people in the south inner city who were saying that, once ordinary people were off the streets, these young thugs took control of the streets. The Garda has not taken back control of those streets to date. That is a problem for which this Government needs to find a solution. It has needed to find a solution to it for three years but...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (28 Nov 2023)

Michael McNamara: 406. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of members of An Garda Síochána who have been redeployed or retired from the Clare Garda division during the first nine months of 2023; the number of members of An Garda Síochána that have been assigned to the Clare Garda division for duty during both years; and if she will make a statement on...

Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (13 Jul 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...'s peace and privacy or cause alarm, distress or harm to the other.” This is already covered but for the idea of seeking to change somebody's mind. Before moving on to that, it is important to point out what the Garda Commissioner was reported as stating in 2019. The Irish Timesstated: Garda commissioner Drew Harris has said existing laws are adequate to deal with protests...

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

Michael McNamara: ...of this House from 2011 to 2016. During that time, the European Committee of Social Rights considered a complaint from the European Confederation of Police, EuroCOP, to which the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, is affiliated. It was held that the prohibition on the right to strike of members of An Garda Síochána in Ireland was unlawful and contrary to the...

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

Michael McNamara: I move Amendment No. 19: In page 55, to delete lines 4 to 14. The Minister will essentially merge An Garda Síochána with what up to now has been considered to be the civilian members of An Garda Síochána and I have no problem with that whatsoever. I have no problem with the majority of the proposals in the Bill but I have a problem with is that it can be done...

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

Michael McNamara: ...in Britain. We have seen ministerial careers end for something like this. I do not think they should end, and I do not think it is anybody's business, but they do end. Is this information the Garda Commissioner should pass on? I am not suggesting that any Cabinet Minister or anybody's spouse or partner is being unfaithful. I am saying this is the kind of information that could be...

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

Michael McNamara: ...tell me what prevents this from happening, other than that we should trust the people who are exactly the same characters. It is the same Minister for Justice, namely, Deputy McEntee. It is the same Garda Commissioner, namely, Drew Harris. Should we trust them now when we could not trust them before?

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

Michael McNamara: I move amendment No. 18: In page 44, to delete lines 31 and 32. This relates to the requirement on the Garda Commissioner to provide information to the Minister. I respectfully suggest that it tightens up the information that is to be provided to the Minister by the Commissioner. It needs to be tightened up because it is open to abuse, and I say that because it has been abused in the...

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

Michael McNamara: ...final too. Mr. Shatter was able to say that Mr. Wallace had committed, I believe, a road traffic offence at the Five Lamps and was pulled over. This was information he had gleaned from the then Garda Commissioner. Equally worrying, or even more worrying in some respects, the House may recall that, in the lifetime of this Dáil and during Deputy McEntee’s tenure as Minister...

Agriculture and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 May 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...mo thacaíocht a thabhairt don leasú tábhachtach seo ó na Teachtaí Kerrane agus Martin Browne. To respond to the previous comments made, Deputy Ó Snodaigh said nobody had any problem with An Garda Síochána or Córas Iompair Éireann over the years. I presume he meant just the title.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (9 May 2023)

Michael McNamara: I move amendment No. 35: In page 44, to delete lines 26 and 27. The Garda Commissioner has, as one might expect, a broad range of duties to keep the Minister informed of certain matters. However, section 36(1)(d) is problematic in that it refers to "any other matters that, in the Commissioner’s opinion, should be brought to the Minister’s attention". The Covid-19 pandemic...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (9 May 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...either. In any event, it was an allegation that former Deputy Wallace took umbrage at being raised on "Prime Time", as well as the fact that the Minister for Justice had been informed of it by the Garda Commissioner. I am not saying there is political policing very often in this State but the Bill allows for it. The current Garda Commissioner will not be in place for much longer - which...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: Committee Stage (9 May 2023)

Michael McNamara: ...media age in which we live, it would be clearly detrimental to the stability of the Government, etc. In Britain, this is a big thing where one has all of this nonsense. Is that something where a Garda Commissioner might just say that he or she has a bit of information? This section is so broad that it could mean anything. That is quite damaging. I apologise to the Minister because I...