Results 1-20 of 255 for garda speaker:Martin Kenny

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority (24 Apr 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...the biggest impact on offending and on people breaking the rules of the road, etc, is mentioned in the RSA's report. That is one of the key issues all of us have been talking about. The level of Garda enforcement is also one of the key issues. While I understand the GoSafe vans have a role to play, we have become too dependent on them as the main factor in detecting speeding, in...

Road Safety: Statements (17 Apr 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...acknowledged. One of the difficulties in this regard is that the roads policing units have not been at or near the full complement. The Minister of State has acknowledged this fact as well. The Garda Commissioner has announced that gardaí will have to spend half an hour in each shift doing roads policing. When I speak to gardaí most of them tell me that they do that anyway...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Anti-Social Behaviour on Public Transport: Discussion (17 Apr 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...in that context as well. The justice committee had long debates on having a public transport police service and I have campaigned on that proposal for a number of years. It needs to be a division of An Garda Síochána to have the correct powers to be able to arrest and detain people and to imbue it with the same sense of respect for the security services. In other...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (21 Mar 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...Yet, these are the two areas where we do not seem to be getting action from the Government. One of the things I noticed over the weekend, which I heard about on the news this morning, was that the Garda introduced an enforcement campaign over St. Patrick's weekend, which referenced the number of people found speeding. One person was travelling at 142 km/h in a 60 km/h zone while another...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Road Safety (21 Mar 2024)

Martin Kenny: I am glad the Minister acknowledged that but the problem is the resources are not being put in place for An Garda Síochána. We do not see enforcement happening on the roads. I saw a GoSafe van on the N4 this morning, which is a road with a 100 km/h speed limit. That road was absolutely open with practically no traffic on it but that was where the van was sitting. That is the...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Traffic Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...a lot of these collisions happen is because people are driving within the existing speed limit and that this speed limit is not low enough. When I talk to people, whether it is members of An Garda Síochána, people who work in accident and emergency, or wherever else, they tell me that the reason most of these accents occur is because people are driving well in excess of the...

Recent Arson Attacks: Statements (27 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...generates more and more hatred. That creates an atmosphere whereby a tiny number of delinquent people will then go off and burn buildings, attack people or whatever. We can state that the Garda is doing this, that or the other and the Government is opposed to what is happening and all of that, but the Government also has a responsibility to ensure that it does not create fertile...

Road Traffic Bill 2024: Second Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...again by almost 15%. If there is not the level of enforcement of the laws, then producing more laws is not going to change that. I recently had a lengthy conversation with a retired member of An Garda Síochána who worked in the roads policing unit for many years. He made the point that they would often catch somebody travelling at maybe 30% or 40% above the speed limit. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bus Services (1 Feb 2024)

Martin Kenny: ...about where people are, and people will be at bus stops, on trains and using public transport more and more. That is why we have a longstanding proposal to see a transport policing division of An Garda Síochána. That needs to be considered in the context of expanding and growing our public transport infrastructure across the country. Another issue comes to mind in respect...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Weather Events (13 Dec 2023)

Martin Kenny: ...go, who is going to co-ordinate in that regard and how we do ensure that this can be delivered in a quick and efficient manner to ensure people can be looked after? I acknowledge the work of An Garda Síochána in respect of this matter. Gardaí were on the scene. They looked after people and ensured everything was dealt with very well. That is the one thing you get from...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Road Safety (30 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: ...other aspect of this issue has to do with enforcement. The biggest problem is that we do not have the levels of enforcement we need. This particularly applies to the road policing sections of An Garda Síochána. These have been cut in almost every county. This issue also needs to be examined. I have raised the issue of the roads themselves several times. I note in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Transport (30 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister. While some efforts have been made, such as operation twin track, which was the most recent iteration of what An Garda Síochána has been doing to deal with anti-social behaviour on public transport, we cannot have a piecemeal solution. Criminal and anti-social behaviour on public transport is widespread and we need to recognise that. The figures released to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Transport (30 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: We do not differ on that. I am not talking about an alternative to An Garda Síochána. I am talking about a division of An Garda Síochána, which would act as a public transport policing service. If that were in place, not only would it be in place on the transport systems as they move, but it would also be at the pinch points, which are often at the stops, junctions, as...

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

Martin Kenny: ...injured. At that stage I thought to myself, if it turns out to be a person from abroad who has carried out this attack, the far right will go on the rampage. If I could see that, how did senior Garda management not foresee it? The reality is that a relatively small number of gardaí were put in danger last Thursday by being ill-equipped and understaffed in a dangerous and volatile...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (7 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: ...Minister is talking about increasing penalty points and looking at issues related to speeding but one thing that is consistent in all of this is the fact that we do not have an adequate number of gardaí policing our roads, monitoring and making sure people are safe. We have lost almost one third of our roads policing units in the last decade. The Government really needs to take...

Road Safety: Statements (26 Oct 2023)

Martin Kenny: ...the idea of having mandatory drug testing at the scenes of accidents. Indeed, drug testing is something we need to see rolled out more across the country in general when it comes to checks that gardaí are doing at checkpoints. We need to recognise that there are many roads on which the current speed limit of 80 km/h is far too high. That is the reality for many quite country...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Safety: Discussion (25 Oct 2023)

Martin Kenny: .... Three main issues, namely, penalty points, speed limits and the intoxication test, are being addressed . There is no argument with regard to the intoxication test. The committee heard from An Garda on this. It showed us the tests and explained that the test for drugs is a more expensive and elaborate test and will be used less regularly than the alcohol test. We understand that. It...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (27 Jun 2023)

Martin Kenny: .... We have to have 21st century legislation to deal with that and firm legislation to protect communities and people, including jurors and witnesses and everyone involved in the system including gardaí. We want to see that put in place. We want to build consensus with the Minister and everyone else in the House to do so. That is why we accept what is in the report from the experts...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Transport (4 May 2023)

Martin Kenny: ...measures, but the problem is that private security companies do not have the power to deal with these incidents. The only people who have the power to deal with these incidents are members of An Garda Síochána. While they may get on public transport, including buses, trains and trams, on an ad hocbasis, they are not there permanently and that needs to change.