Results 21-40 of 4,842 for garda speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I want to raise two matters on the Order of Business. The first relates to the Garda Reserve. It seems to me that despite raising this issue on a number of occasions in this House, we have not had a debate on it and we have had no sign of any interest in staging such a debate. The Garda Reserve has dwindled down to practically nothing due to deliberate neglect. Likewise, we discovered the...

Seanad: Civil Defence Bill 2023: Second Stage (18 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...to 3,500 as per the website and to almost 2,500 volunteers now, there is a problem. By the way, it is not just a problem with Civil Defence; it is a problem right across the board in this country. The Garda Reserve was established with some difficulty and political difficulty. It aimed to have 1,200 members and it had that many or thereabouts. However, it has been allowed to almost...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...matters I want to deal with regarding the Order of Business. I wish to remind the Leader, before I start, that I have in recent times obtained generalised agreement to the proposition that the Garda Reserve would be the subject of a ministerial discussion and debate in this House and that the issue of prison overcrowding would also be discussed as matter of urgency. I reiterate those...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...fantastically improved prison for the greater Dublin area. I am not in favour of sending people to prison lightly. Most District Court judges who send young men to jail for small things like spitting at a garda or something like that should think twice about it. They can ruin those people's careers forever for something minor. However, there are 5.1 million people in this country now...

Seanad: Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage (27 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...then. We have very serious crimes being committed. I am the first to say of any District Court judge who thinks it is remotely just to say to some young fellow who resists arrest or spits at a garda that he should go to prison that it is a stupid decision and that he or she is ruining that kid's life. I wanted every District Court judge who committed anybody to a short term of...

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

Michael McDowell: I raise the possibility of having a debate in this House with the Minister for Justice on the subject of the Garda Reserve. There is, on paper, a strategy for the revitalisation of the reserve over five years from 2021 to 2025. We are already in 2023 and no recruitment has taken place in recent years to the reserve. The result is that the membership of the reserve has fallen from around...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Mar 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...This has not had any effect whatsoever on sales, but we were told by the zealots that it had to be done. We should debate the alcohol legislation and whether it was effective. We need a debate on the Garda Reserve. Nothing has happened. It is atrophying and its numbers are declining. A five-year strategy was published two years ago, none of which has been implemented. The Deputy...

Seanad: Protection of Private Residences (Against Targeted Picketing) Bill 2021: Second Stage (26 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...engage in offensive conduct— (a) between the hours of 12 o'clock midnight and 7 o'clock in the morning next following, or (b) at any other time, after having been requested by a member of the Garda Síochána to desist. (2) A person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500. (3) In this section...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...I refer to a certain type of case that has arisen in the past. I remember a case involving a Sinn Féin supporter called McIntyre who got substantial damages after being prosecuted for assaulting gardaí when he proved to a jury that he had been the victim of the assault. There has to be a fair approach to all of this. Sending people to jail on a kind of American basis where...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: There is just one point I would like to make. We had a discussion about civilian employees of An Garda Síochána and I do not know what happened with regard to that.

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: The time will come when somebody throws a petrol bomb into a Garda station and a young Garda and two typists get injured. The Garda will get compensation but the two typists will get nothing. That is not right.

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...Forces and are then designated reservists that is one thing, but there is a role for voluntary reservists and the Government should spend some time considering what roles they can carry out. The experience of An Garda Síochána with its reserve has been very unsatisfactory. We can be complacent, and Senator Clonan can say that in 20 years' time we may not have Óglaigh na...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Operation of the Coroner Service: Discussion (31 May 2022)

Michael McDowell: ..., if I may use that phrase, to give that person only seven challenges as against 150 would be very unfair. We have to think this through more carefully. Clearly, it is not satisfactory that a member of An Garda Síochána just goes down to the local main street and selects people he or she finds available and puts them in to act as a jury. I believe seven is enough. We do not...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021: Second Stage (22 Mar 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...a Minister and as Attorney General, it struck me that the previous legislation was well past its sell-by date and had many defects in it. It is good to have one simple method whereby members of An Garda Síochána who are entitled to compensation have a clear path to compensation which is not strewn with obstacles or unnecessary expense. Second, it seems to me the legislation is...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021: Second Stage (22 Mar 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...I ask him to deal with one question. Is it the case that for the first time there will be an appeal from the High Court decision? There was not, until now. In other words, the State or An Garda Síochána could appeal.

Seanad: Citizens' Assemblies: Motion (23 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...another part of the city and I cross the Liffey every day. One thing that struck me in recent weeks is that on O'Donovan Rossa Bridge, there is open drug dealing going on every day just 100 yd from the Bridewell Garda station. What really horrifies me are the young men with missing legs in wheelchairs because they are the visible signs of drug abuse. As Senator Ruane has pointed out, it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...general point was made that the structure envisaged by this Bill is a little clumsy in terms of who is accountable to whom and precisely where the authority lies. As somebody who devised the previous Garda Síochána Bill, which is still in law, I am a bit uneasy with the use of the term "authority" for the new body to be established. It appears to be a super inspectorate rather...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Jan 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...they are no longer fit for purpose. The Reserve Defence Forces, formerly Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil, FCÁ, has effectively been contracted to nothing. It is a shadow of its former self, just as the Garda Reserve was simply binned because it was inconvenient. The Defence Forces are now reduced to between 8,000 and 9,000 personnel across three services. We have ships out of...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Functions and Operational Areas) Bill 2021: Second Stage (27 Jan 2022)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. I fully support this legislation. The need for An Garda Síochána to modernise its structures is beyond contradiction. I recall that when I occupied the current Minister's office I introduced the Garda Síochána Act 2005 as part of the reorganisation of An Garda Síochána. However, we knew at that time it was very definitely only the...