Results 61-80 of 685 for garda speaker:Mattie McGrath

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Apr 2023)

Mattie McGrath: We also have concerns about the same issue. Yesterday, the Tánaiste said he supported it. This is a step too far. We are supporting bodycams for An Garda Síochána, but we have concerns and issues about facial recognition and it needs to be debated and not by way of sticking it in as an amendment at this stage in the legislation, so we are opposing it.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (29 Mar 2023)

Mattie McGrath: I raise the issue of the new Garda station for Clonmel. This issue has been going on for more than 50 years. I have been raising it for 16 years since I was elected to the Dáil. We now have a site, planning and design for a splendid new Garda station, but for some strange reason - I believe there is a window of opportunity now - it has been bundled with another Garda station, which we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2023)

Mattie McGrath: ...inside the Department of Transport. Our guests will refer to it but they might give me some idea of what they really think about it. Should it not be outside the Department as is the case for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, and other agencies? We have spoken about the 22 commitments to the EU. Why are we not meeting those? An EU directive from 2009 was to be...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Mattie McGrath: The complaints body of An Garda Síochána, GSOC, will be renamed the office of the policing ombudsman, with redesigned processes and greater financial independence. The body itself will be restructured and the current three-person commission will be replaced with an ombudsman and a deputy ombudsman. Glossy Bills are not going to fix the serious problem we have in this country. Ar...

National Archives Act 1986 (Section 1(2)(d)) Order 2023: Motion (23 Feb 2023)

Mattie McGrath: ...were Gaelic speakers and men and women of culture and heritage, who loved their language. I think it was P.H. Pearse who said, níl aon náisiún gan teanga, or a nation is not a nation without its language. It was possible for An Garda to collect that sort of information at that time. How come those records cannot be digitised now? How come we do not have the space? We...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (22 Feb 2023)

Mattie McGrath: The Taoiseach has visited Clonmel Garda station in the past. It is a Dickensian station. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, opened the lovely new plaza, which involved considerable investment, on Monday. There is a site there for the Garda station. Planning permission has been granted and the plans have been approved. For some strange reason, and...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 Feb 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Morale is on the floor in An Garda Síochána. The issue is not compulsory retirement but people are flocking away from the job. I salute Garda Pat Kelly who recently finished his term in Carrick-on-Suir. The number of gardaí in Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Cahir and Cashel is appallingly and frighteningly low. How far will the Government leave this go before it gives proper...

Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (2 Feb 2023)

Mattie McGrath: Okay, but it is happening under our eyes. It is happening in the Chair's county too, and mine. It was gardaí in the Chair's county who tried to get me locked up. Anyway, I know some Members here might like to see me locked up. Thanks be to God, everybody here has a good name. This legislation is worrying as well as everything else. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL,...

Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (2 Feb 2023)

Mattie McGrath: .... Emphasising the role of the technology in enhancing law enforcement practices, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, stated in May that employing controversial facial recognition technology could revolutionise An Garda to manage child exploitation, which is very serious, as well as missing person and murder cases. The technology would also help to exonerate innocent parties by revealing their...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (15 Dec 2022)

Mattie McGrath: Earlier, the Tánaiste spoke about the Garda Síochána and the great job they do. I support that and we must all support the Garda. However, the Dickensian condition of Clonmel Garda station has been raised in this House for the last 40 years, if not more. It is not fit for purpose. The Department of Justice has been playing games. It was bundled as a group with two other...

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Second Stage (6 Dec 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ...a meal. We have to be able to deal with it. We have to have an organisation that has the power and staff that will work outside hours, break down the barriers and borders and do this. They must have the support of An Garda Síochána and indeed of the community at large. We cannot allow big gambling houses to circumvent this legislation. As I said at the start of my...

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

Mattie McGrath: ...Will the Minister ask the Taoiseach to meet them before he leaves office. Do we have to wait for another generation for the State to acknowledge the damage being done by the State, by Tusla, the Garda Síochána and other agencies? Will the Taoiseach meet the alliance?

Drugs Policy: Motion [Private Members] (30 Nov 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ..., including alcohol, and their overuse. Many of us, myself included, can overindulge, so we must look at ourselves and our own practices and what we are giving to people as well. As regards the Garda and seizures, €34 million worth of drugs were seized in the first nine months of this year. That is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is coming through. This murky...

Toll Charge Increases: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (29 Nov 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ...a warpath. When it rains, the drainage is obviously wrong, the camber is wrong and there is something wrong with the surface. I am not an expert but I know a bit about roadmaking. That is what people tell me who are experts. Members of the Garda are called out to accidents and are afraid for their lives. People have lost their lives and been maimed on it. There is accident after...

Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ...2 years or both. I am very concerned about that because there are so many areas in the Minister's Department, one or two of which I raised yesterday. We had so much pressure for years with the lack of gardaí and everything else that we brought in an electronic tagging system for prisoners on release. In reply to a parliamentary question from me, the Minister told me that the...

Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ...it? The Minister heard Deputy Tóibín tell her that in some areas of her constituency this year there has been no detection of crime at all. Either it is a very safe place or there are no gardaí to do the job. The latter, I presume, is the case. Gardaí are in a bad situation, and it is awfully worrying to see only 20 duine in the college in Templemore. We had...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Nov 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ...for Justice, Deputy McEntee, is present. The Powerstown-Lisronagh community alert group from Tipperary are coming up to meet her today. It is fighting to save its community. There is a lack of Garda numbers. The local gardaí are doing their best. Save our Local Community in Tipperary came up to Dublin previously after a heinous robbery in Killenaule when a business family was...

Creeslough, County Donegal: Statements (8 Nov 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ...trying to come to terms with what happened in Creeslough on that fateful evening. We have to salute each and every person in the vicinity of the shop, passers-by, neighbours, first responders, An Garda Síochána, ambulance crews, the fire brigade, council workers, hospital staff from the North and South and everybody else who tried to help. There was a real sense of the...

Coercion of a Minor (Misuse of Drugs Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (20 Oct 2022)

Mattie McGrath: ...Australia and came back after a year and was then intimidated to such a degree that he took his own life. That has happened more than once in my own town of Clonmel. We are not doing enough. The Garda resources are just not sufficient. There is a new Garda policy. We saw it in Tipperary on Monday morning. We had a chief superintendent, Derek Smart. He was a good guy to deal with...