Results 1-20 of 31 for garda speaker:Tom Clonan

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Mar 2024)

Tom Clonan: The guests are all very welcome here this morning. I will raise a couple of issues this morning. First of all, my dad was a carpenter before he joined the Garda. As a consequence, when I was the age of our guests, I spent every weekend and every summer working with my dad. I learned a great deal about carpentry, joinery and all sorts of other stuff, so I am pretty handy. Today, I went-----

Seanad: Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (14 Feb 2024)

Tom Clonan: Before I address the Bill, I congratulate the Minister and her Department on the increase in number of people applying for An Garda Síochána. Some people made light of the fact there were older candidates. I believe they bring life experience to the role. It is a good news story and the Minister deserves recognition for that. That initiative was swiftly acted on and pushed...

Seanad: Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry: Motion (30 Jan 2024)

Tom Clonan: ...how it looks than if a woman gets raped and if you do [complain] the court sits in hell and Satan is the judge. I would categorically state that if any woman in the Army is harassed, assaulted or raped, inform An Garda Síochána, not the military police. Otherwise you will not get justice. Those interviews are from August, 1999, 25 years ago. Those interviews are on the public...

Seanad: Recent Violence in Dublin City Centre: Motion (29 Nov 2023)

Tom Clonan: .... What we need now is solidarity and a bit of unity in this House, but in order to do that, we have to face the facts of life. I was downstairs in committee room 4, where the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána was being questioned by the Joint Committee on Justice, and Senator Ruane asked a very important question. She asked what the primary driver is for the latent, inchoate...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...city descend into anarchy as it did. I wrote an article inTheJournal.ie on 21 October in which I predicted precisely this set of circumstances. I think a Rubicon has been passed in that members of An Garda Síochána were targeted. That is a new phenomenon. Rioting has happened in our city centre but the deliberate targeting of An Garda Síochána is a new phenomenon,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Rights-Based Care for People with Disabilities: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Nov 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...recruit the staff. There are 700 people not recruited to those teams, and that seems to be echoed across the board. We are short 700 primary school teachers, I think. We have problems within An Garda Síochána and elsewhere, in other parts of the public service. My view on that is that it is probably an echo of austerity measures that were implemented during the financial...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Issues Facing the Early Childhood Sector: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...the kind of alacrity and attention this issue deserves from her colleagues in other Departments and Revenue because it is an essential service that I would put with the ambulance service, health or An Garda Síochána. I know Dr. Brooks knows that but I am concerned by the distress I read in the correspondence. I thank her for her very comprehensive responses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Ensuring Inclusive Local and EU Elections: Discussion (25 Oct 2023)

Tom Clonan: .... I am just saying that, in terms of redrawing the constituency. My son, Eoghan, was born on 7 February 2002. He turned 18 on 7 February 2020, on the eve of the general election. We got him up to Blackrock Garda station, and the gardaí were brilliant. They made a big fuss of him. They brought him in and formally identified him. This speaks again to what Mr. Dolan was saying...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...speech but on freedom of thought, whereby you could possess a diary in which you might have written something and, on the basis of a search warrant, it could be seized. As currently written, the Bill would empower An Garda Síochána to go on a fishing exercise and seize all of a person’s mobile and digital devices and those of everybody resident and trawl through them. It...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Protected Disclosures (20 Jun 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...is the perception that this was not an independent report. The HSE and other State agencies have unfortunately been recidivist in not publishing the material. I had to write to the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, who is currently investigating another State agency for the withholding of information regarding vulnerable citizens. I intend to pursue the matter, and I will...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (31 May 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...day 24 years ago. I was there that year as a staff officer bringing journalists out. I am always mindful of the sacrifice our men and women have made overseas. I am also mindful of the precedent set by the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, who, since his appointment a number of years ago, has been very proactive in recognising valour and courage displayed by deceased members of An Garda...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Disability Inclusive Social Protection: Discussion (Resumed) (18 May 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...me to step in. Unfortunately, I have to leave at 10.40 a.m. and I just want to ask a couple of questions before then. I thank the witnesses for coming in. They will know the saying “When gardaí start to look young”, but when assistant secretaries general start to look young, I come to the depressing conclusion that I am just getting older. In regard to agriculture,...

Seanad: Report of the Independent Review Group on Dignity and Equality Issues in the Defence Forces: Statements (25 Apr 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...agree with absolutely every word that my good friends and colleagues, Senators Ward and Kyne, expressed here today. I really welcome the full statutory inquiry and I also welcome the fact that An Garda Síochána will now investigate allegations of sexual assault, including those that were made over the weekend among troops forming up for service overseas, which, frankly, is...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Possible Enhancement of Child Protection Powers of Tusla: Discussion (25 Apr 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...know if the witnesses want to comment on that because it might cast some of their predecessors in a particular light. Other organisations were mentioned in which Tusla is collaborating with an Garda Síochána because there is a suggestion, and based on the threshold on which it seems to operate, that seems to me to be a serious risk. Are those organisations identified in the...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Possible Enhancement of Child Protection Powers of Tusla: Discussion (25 Apr 2023)

Tom Clonan: I commend Ms Duggan on that. I wrote to the Garda Commissioner in the past week asking for a Garda investigation into the residential setting for persons with intellectual disability and, unfortunately, in writing to the Commissioner, I had to point out that some of the statutory agencies involved are actually the ones placing obstacles in the way of such full disclosure, with the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Apr 2023)

Tom Clonan: For the record, I will mention a social media message that was posted last night by Senator Keogan. It refers to certain office holders in the State, including the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. On my behalf and that of Senators McDowell, Boyhan, Craughwell and Norris, I wish to publicly repudiate the tone, content and message contained in that post. It will raise feelings of alienation...

Seanad: Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (8 Mar 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...the advice that senior female officers gave to me and their subordinates: if a female soldier, sailor or aircrew is sexually assaulted, do not go to the military police; do not go through the chain of command; go to An Garda Síochána and report it. At least then it will be investigated and charges will possibly be brought through the DPP’s office. However, if we rely on...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Disability Services (14 Feb 2023)

Tom Clonan: ...model offered by such groups as Home Care Direct is actually working. I know because we had no problem recruiting my son's carers. It is very flexible. The carers are very happy. They are all Garda vetted and qualified. That is provided through the Higher Education Authority but the HSE will not deal with them because there is no service level agreement. All that is required is for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Decongregation of Mental Health Settings: Mental Health Commission (8 Dec 2022)

Tom Clonan: ...and mental health issues. They are sleeping in doorways and on streets. When they are taken out of congregated settings, they move in with elderly parents, experience a crisis and then end up in Garda stations, accident and emergency departments or on the streets. Given that we are in the middle of a crisis and that people with disabilities and mental health issues are...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Dec 2022)

Tom Clonan: ...by a miracle, there have been no fatalities. These communities are being intimidated by these gangs. This is narco-terrorism and these are groups that have links to the Lyra McKee shootings and the shooting of gardaí up around Dundalk. There is an intimate link between organised crime, drug trafficking, people trafficking and these type of shootings and we should not allow them to...