Results 21-40 of 197 for garda speaker:Bríd Smith

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Bodies (26 Apr 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...,000 debt write-off facilitated by SOLAS to a charity (details supplied); if such was discussed by SOLAS with his Department; if any concerns were raised on the matter; if he believes there should be a Garda investigation both into the collection of the funds by a charity in Waterford from two educational training boards and the spending of moneys by the charity; and if he will make a...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (30 Mar 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...-increasing cost of bin charges. To be honest, CCTV is all over my estate, for example, but nobody looks at it because staffing levels in the local authority have been cut back. The staffing levels in the Garda station are otherwise affected. Nobody watches the CCTV coverage. I do not know about rural Clare or east Galway, but that is certainly the case in big cities such as Dublin and...

Appointment of Member and Chair of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Motion (15 Dec 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...of GSOC. The first complainant to GSOC - I cannot remember the year - was Deputy Gino Kenny. He was not a Deputy then. We had RTÉ footage of him being thrown off a bridge in Bellanaboy by six gardaí, illegally and violently, at a Shell to Sea protest. I queued up with him that morning and his complaint was thrown out, investigated by gardaí themselves. The Minister said...

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...not give them the testing and tracing that they need. This heavy-handed approach, combined with the failure to heed the science has only served to increase anxiety and hesitancy. The powers given to the Garda in this legislation are also disproportionately applied and worrying. In May, we got figures for fines for fixed-payment notices issued by the Garda. At that time, of the 6,066...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Garda Síochána (8 Jul 2021)

Bríd Smith: ..., however, that the inquest into the death of this 27-year-old man with mental health problems recently opened and evidence was given by the coroner that he was shot five times in the back by armed gardaí. Key witnesses were not questioned by GSOC for up to eight days after that event. The Minister keeps repeating that GSOC is robust and independent and has full oversight, but there...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Garda Síochána (8 Jul 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...just does not cut the mustard. Even the chairperson of GSOC has said it is understaffed and needs reform. According to a report, 42% of all cases initiated by GSOC have been referred back to Garda inspectors. The work it is refusing to do increased hugely during 2020. There has also been a substantial increase in the very serious cases being investigated by GSOC. My point is there...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Garda Síochána (8 Jul 2021)

Bríd Smith: 85. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will commission a review into the workings of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC and its limitations compared to a full commission of investigations in view of recent cases (details supplied) involving GSOC investigations and questions regarding the speed and outcome of these; and if she will make a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Garda Síochána (8 Jul 2021)

Bríd Smith: .... I refer to the cases of Mr. Shane O'Farrell and Mr. Terrance Wheelock. Senior officers in GSOC have complained about a lack of staff. A report in The Irish Timesyesterday referred to senior Garda officers refusing to carry out investigations on behalf of GSOC as part of an industrial relations action.

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (8 Jul 2021)

Bríd Smith: 116. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the nature of any investigation taking place into the cancellation of emergency calls by An Garda Síochána by her Department; the person or body that is undertaking the investigation; if such investigations will reveal the location and personnel involved in cancellation; and if she will make a statement on the...

Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (1 Jul 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...done. It needs to be done. We must face up to what is deeply inherent in the State by way of a legislative process that encompasses all the arms of the State, including medicine, the courts, the Garda, local authorities and so on. There is a deeply embedded bias against Travellers and it is in the Department of Education as well. That early intent of the Irish Free State to remove...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Housing Provision (1 Jul 2021)

Bríd Smith: ..., no matter where they are in the country, have no independent body to which they can go to make complaints. It is a bit like somebody who feels they have suffered a grave injustice going to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, and having gardaí investigate gardaí. Local authorities do not investigate their own complaints properly. Oliver Bond House,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Strategies (15 Jun 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...for pulling together various strands of all the Departments during the Covid-19 pandemic. I am sure the process has been very challenging. Where in the name of God did the general scheme of the Garda Síochána powers Bill, published on Monday by the Minister for Justice, Deputy Heather Humphreys, come from? It was described by one legal academic as a land grab by the Department...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (2 Jun 2021)

Bríd Smith: Sixteen years ago today a young man called Terence Wheelock walked into Store Street Garda station but he never walked out. Three months later he died, having been in a coma due to the injuries he received while in custody. GSOC investigated this killing and concluded that no problems were found. GSOC is currently investigating the killing of George Nkencho and I can predict what its...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (2 Jun 2021)

Bríd Smith: No. I think that when there is a death in the custody of the Garda there should be an investigation that is entirely independent.

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (26 May 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...of how we reopen the economy, particularly foreign travel. Obviously we do not disagree with public health emergency measures, but we cannot agree to an unbridled and far-reaching extension of Garda powers. The record speaks for itself, and Deputy Paul Murphy has outlined much of it. However, I will speak briefly about the indiscriminate way the Debenhams pickets were approached not...

Companies (Protection of Employees' Rights in Liquidations) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (12 May 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...audited. There is a different set of rules for those who act as bailiffs, even for the security companies which went in during the wee hours of the morning and broke through the picket lines with the help of extraordinary protection from gardaí. They went in and they pulled women and some men out of those picket lines at a number of stores, and they did that on the basis of the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Ministerial Responsibilities (24 Mar 2021)

Bríd Smith: 1272. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if Deputy Humphreys will receive a Garda driven car and Garda security during her period as temporary Minister for Justice; if she will receive additional advisory staff for the six months in this extra role; if she received briefings from An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces or other security details in...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (10 Nov 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...term support bubble; the details of that which is and is not permissible for those that form a support bubble with another person who is living alone; the action taken if a person is stopped at a Garda checkpoint on their way to visit their nominated support bubble person who lives in another county; the guidelines associated with all aspects of the formation and practice of support...

Health (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (23 Oct 2020)

Bríd Smith: ...again but where are the actual systemic measures that the Government needs to address as a matter of urgency? The Minister might think they are here in this Bill but we utterly disagree. I think An Garda Síochána probably disagrees as well. I listened to an interview with Drew Harris on the "News at One". Paul Reynolds of RTÉ did his best to extract from him how he feels...