Results 61-80 of 4,842 for garda speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: Section 4 would insert a new section 9A in the 1956 Act and it is of some significance. It tidies up the circumstances through which a member of An Garda Síochána or superintendent can issue a permit for gaming. I say the following in the presence of the Minister of State and I hope my remarks are passed not merely to the Minister but to the Commissioner of An Garda...

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...heads of the Department under whose aegis gaming and lotteries are controlled in Irish law. In both the cities of Cork and Dublin, the laws are being flagrantly broken. If it is the case that the Garda Commissioner no longer enforces the law, it is a matter for the Minister of State and Minister. If it is the case that he has been told by the Attorney General that he cannot enforce the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...basis for opening and maintaining these places. They are exploiting the weak-minded, in my view, in an unconscionable way but, most important, they are breaking the law of the land. Members of An Garda Síochána have the right to visit premises and seize gaming machines, which are being operated illegally. That should happen right across Dublin. The Garda authorities in Dublin...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...certain activities in Dublin city amusement arcades where these machines are located.One need only walk up O'Connell Street or down the quays or drive to the airport to see massive casinos in operation. The Garda has collapsed in its determination to uphold the law. I am sorry to say that some District Court judges around the country have had the wool pulled over their eyes. Revenue...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...fall aside if amendment No. 7 is agreed to. Amendment No. 9 proposes, in respect of the original text, to add to paragraph (b) of the definition of a "lay person" the exclusion of members of An Garda Síochána, in other words that a person cannot be or have been an Attorney General, a DPP, a Chief State Solicitor, a law officer or a member of An Garda Síochána. I would...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...one could live one's life completely oblivious to what happens in courts yet be a very eminent practitioner. I am just making the point that it is proposed on the one hand to allow officers of An Garda Síochána who themselves act as prosecutors, without the aid of lawyers, to be regarded as lay persons after they retire and, on the other, to deem unsuitable people who have spent...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----or France or anywhere else from ever serving on this body. It has not been discussed before. It is not really the same as, for instance, the question of whether a member of An Garda Síochána is a lay person or not. I do not see how they are connected at all.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ..., has advanced a view, with which I agree, that there must be a multi-agency approach to the Border situation and to what is and what is not happening there. The Revenue Commissioners, Army intelligence, Garda intelligence, the Garda and every force that is available North and South should be involved. Every security force and technique that available must be deployed. The third point...

Seanad: Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...example. It is one thing to enact a law; it is another to prosecute for a breach of that law. I hope that the Department, which has an overarching role in this matter, will bring to the attention of An Garda Síochána in particular that this is a serious offence and that resources must be made available when instances become apparent for its proper investigation and prosecution....

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: .... This activity is flagrant and takes place right before the eyes of the public. Even under the existing law, all of the machines in question are liable to be seized and removed by members of An Garda Síochána in my view. Huge money must be made from them. In England there has been debate about fixed-odds betting terminals and setting maximum stakes for them, which has been...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Stepaside Garda station.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction) Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: He said that section 2 is a technical assault. If I push a garda or even put my hand on a garda and tell him to push away, that is an assault even if no harm is done.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Extraterritorial Jurisdiction) Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (30 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...by reference to that? It seems to me that there should be a presumption if a person is charged as a person "ordinarily resident in the State" that he or she is such a person rather than that the Garda would have to work out his or her principal residence, whether it was in the State, whether the person had a house in Crossmaglen or Torremolinos, an apartment in Dublin, or whatever. If...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Garda Reserve (24 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: In any event, what I am dealing with here is a matter of the greatest seriousness. This Government, on foot of a statutory provision that I put into the Garda Síochána Act 2005, committed itself to expanding the Garda Reserve to 2,000 men and women who would voluntarily assist An Garda Síochána in the discharge of its duties, be available as backup and support, and be...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Garda Reserve (24 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...the Minister of State for his response but he knows the problem runs much deeper than the text of his reply suggests. There is a cultural problem, as he admitted. There is a resistance to the Garda Reserve. If there is to be a review of the reserve, I want to know the following. Who will be on the review? Who will conduct the review? Within what timeframe will they bring back their...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...or both". I want to make this clear. That is a useless proposal. When I was Attorney General, there was a good deal of upset, particularly on the part of my predecessor, Mr. David Byrne, when a Garda file purporting to identify people who had unlawful abortions in Ireland was revealed to a newspaper. The result was that when the Garda file was given to the newspaper, reporters from...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: The result was that the then Attorney General, David Byrne, asked the Garda Commissioner to use all of his powers to identify the source of the leak and prevent this kind of thing from happening. The Garda Commissioner at the time was Mr. Patrick Byrne. He attempted to comply with the Attorney General's request and found himself being effectively stonewalled, with people refusing to make...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...case of minor offences. If it is a minor offence, I have no problem with it being dealt with summarily but the consequence of saying that is the only way in which it can be dealt with is that if gardaí arrive at someone's door to investigate an alleged leak, that person can simply say he or she is busy this evening, has dinner inside and does not propose to make any statement in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I presume both the journalist and the garda kept their positions and the women who were confronted on their doorsteps and asked to confirm whether they had been the subject of a backstreet abortion had no remedy for this massive intrusion on their privacy, regardless of whether they had been involved in such a matter. I want to make it very clear that it is simply not the case that I am...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...the consequences for those involved. If they are in any way intelligent - most of the people involved in this whole process will be intelligent - they will realise that they are free to tell the Garda to get lost because they have nothing to say and do not propose to be interviewed on foot of the Garda's suspicions on the matter. This will mean that the door is slammed in the face of any...