Results 101-120 of 4,842 for garda speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Establishment of a Tribunal of Inquiry: Motion (16 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: This morning on the Order of Business, I expressed my views as to the appropriateness, or inappropriateness, of the present Garda Commissioner standing aside while this tribunal of inquiry is prepared, put in place, has its sittings, deals with its evidence and prepares its report. The Commissioner is the head of a force which is a disciplined force and must be one. Uniquely, compared with...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...to deal with them. Will the Leader convey to his colleagues in the Government that there is a gross inconsistency between establishing a public tribunal of inquiry at which senior members of An Garda Síochána will be asked to testify on the subject matter concerning the tribunal-----

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: -----and, in effect, swearing up on their dealings with one another? There is a contradiction between that and the Garda Commissioner remaining in office during this period.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: There is another contradiction in those circumstances in that the person who is under investigation is in charge of making discovery, documentation available and so forth on behalf of An Garda Síochána to a tribunal of inquiry. People have to grasp that nettle now.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...Act 1935 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both. Section 8 states:(1) A member of the Garda Síochána who has reasonable cause to suspect that a person is loitering in a street or public place in order to solicit or importune another person or other...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: .... Where pimping is involved, which is not always the case, the subservient prostitutes will now be in a position to blackmail and steal from customers because those customers, if they go to An Garda Síochána to report the theft of a wallet, for example, will end up in the District Court trying to argue that they did not commit an offence. That is the brave new world, the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments and Threatened Industrial Action by An Garda Síochána: Statements (12 Oct 2016)

Michael McDowell: ...would be pointless to have two alternative views competing in the form of two separate Bills and to delay any action until the Government prepares its own Bill in this respect. Reference has been made to the Garda pay issue. I do not want to put any further political pressure of any kind on the Minister. I understand completely the circumstances in which the Tánaiste finds herself....

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...with the perpetrators. My nightmare scenario, which almost happened recently, is that instead of attending the funerals of one person or another, I will attend the funerals of a number of gardaí because a drug-crazed scion of a drugs gang let fly at a squad car with a machine pistol. If that happened, all the pressure would be on me to explain why I had done nothing when it was so...

Seanad: Commissions of Investigation: Motion (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...away from Mountjoy to Wheatfield Prison. This direction lessens the danger of Mountjoy Prison being overwhelmed by any sudden surge of committals. As with the case of all deaths in custody, the Garda Síochána was called to Mountjoy Prison and initiated a criminal investigation into the death of Gary Douch. A file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and, as a result, an...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...perfect account of what happened. Words count hugely and there can be confusion as to what precisely they mean. I know of one case where an accused was convicted on the basis of his response to a garda's assertion that "We know you did it", which was "I know you know I did it but you will have to prove it". It all depends on how those words were spoken, whether in a dismissive tone or...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...of accountability includes an Oireachtas joint policing committee. Members of the Oireachtas will be able to participate through that committee in a direct, one-to-one relationship with the Garda Síochána. Therefore, there will be an opportunity for Members of the Oireachtas, not simply as members of the Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, but as members of a...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...in gangland crime. It was not my intention to have a radical reform of the entire criminal law in the Bill. Instead, I intended to introduce particular focused measures which would assist the gardaí in their fight against gangland crime. Doubtless what Senator Cummins refers to could, in certain circumstances, be useful in that context also. I sympathise with the purport of the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...process, but a statutory basis is not needed. Currently, ministerial regulations do not need to be made as it is a matter for judges to decide. Guidelines can be handed down within the Garda Síochána as part of a manual for the determination of these issues and those guidelines can be changed from time to time without Oireachtas involvement. These are the arguments I advanced in the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Following the Dáil debate, I asked my Department to examine the issue. It will consult the Garda on the practicalities of the proposal. I cannot give a firm deadline, but it is a necessary reform that should be introduced.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...and the clerk who drew up the warrant wrote it out for St. Andrew's House, not recognising St. Audoen's because the handwriting was a little sketchy. The warrant was issued by the clerk to the gardaí. There was an office block on St. Andrew's Street called St. Andrew's House. When this came to light, the search and seizure of the property in St. Audoen's House was declared invalid...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: If gardaí search a house on foot of a warrant and discover evidence relevant to another case, they are entitled to seize it and act on foot of it. While I am not an expert on American law, I can say that the exclusionary rules there are very strict. While I do not know if it is still the case, it seemed to be upheld at federal and Supreme Court level that the use of a scanner from a road...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...to put that material in place. To give an example, if somebody was up for shoplifting and their case was dealt with in the District Court, we would have to have somebody in the District Court — a garda or a court official — who would take a careful note of what was said on behalf of the accused as to the reason the man or woman in question should not be sentenced to jail for...

Written Answers — Sexual Offences: Sexual Offences (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...Offenders Act, 2001 sets out the obligations on persons convicted of a range of sexual offences. A convicted sex offender must notify his/her name(s), date of birth and current home address to the Garda Síochána within seven days of the conviction for the sexual offence concerned or, where the offender is sentenced to imprisonment, from the date of full release from prison. Thereafter,...

Written Answers — Closed Circuit Television Systems: Closed Circuit Television Systems (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: CCTV Systems have become an important and effective tool which is used as a support to policing and public safety and they can also act as a useful deterrent to crime and public disorder. Garda CCTV schemes are planned and implemented on the basis of identified operational need. These schemes are usually located within the commercial and recreational areas of our towns and cities. I have...

Written Answers — Child Abduction: Child Abduction (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...to another contracting state. As Mongolia is not a party to this Convention, the Central Authority has no function in the matter. However, the persons involved might seek the assistance of An Garda Síochána if they have not already done so or the Department of Foreign Affairs, who may be able to offer some consular assistance in this regard.