Results 41-60 of 99 for garda speaker:Gerry Horkan

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ..., within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the operation of section 136 of the Finance Act 2001 and the feasibility of including members of An Garda Síochána in the definition of "officer" in order to better enable them to tackle illegal smuggling of goods.". This recommendation is concerned with smuggling and the ability of...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I thank the Minister of State for his response. The recommendation does not seek to take powers from Revenue but, rather, to facilitate its officers in working with An Garda Síochána. Retailers have argued that gardaí are being hampered in their work in circumstances where a Revenue officer is not immediately available. The requirement that Revenue must lead a search may be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...Civil Service. I had two parents and two grandparents who worked in the public service. One grandparent worked there until she got married and had to give up work. I had a grandfather who was a garda, a grandmother who was a teacher and two parents who worked in UCD. This is not coming from an anti-public service stance at all. The witnesses mentioned the ability to reward people who...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Matters relating to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Discussion (3 Dec 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...responsible not only for the Civil Service but for the wider public service. His Department deals with public expenditure and reform in local authorities, the teaching profession, universities, An Garda and the HSE. The role of the Department is to cover public expenditure. Everything that the State spends should come under the remit of his Department. Setting up a separate Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: No Consent, No Sale Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...analysis which could take until Christmas. If anything, Deputy Michael McGrath's amendment about independent analysis speeds up the process rather than us kicking it to touch, bringing in the Garda deputy commissioner now, and not doing anything until September at the earliest. That would mean we would not even be considering this going to Committee Stage until Christmas.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Fraud: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I have a couple of points. We have touched on how the level of fraud is low in terms of what is referred to the Garda. What percentage of the total number of cases with which the Garda deals or investigates on a yearly basis relates to insurance fraud?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Fraud: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Can the Garda representatives explain that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Fraud: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: An Garda Síochána is relying on the insurance companies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Fraud: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...is aware of information, however, he or she will often not want other people to be aware that a complaint has been made. The insurance companies have told us about examples, and I am sure An Garda Síochána also has examples, of one family being incredibly accident prone, to put it mildly. That could also apply to certain parts of a city or the country being much more involved...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Fraud: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I will just tease this out a little more. If an insurance company is aware of these things and does not bring that information to An Garda Síochána, is that company guilty of an offence? I am referring to the company not bringing the information to An Garda Síochána and allowing it to make a judgment concerning how far to go with a complaint. If an insurance company has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Fraud: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...closed-circuit television, CCTV, footage to prove to someone that he or she has no case and he or she has gone away. Mr. Twomey recommends that these companies should bring that information to An Garda Síochána and state they want the person involved to be prosecuted or at least investigated.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...discuss what the companies might do about the 19 cases or whatever number it was in the past six months. I would like the process to be much more systematic in that any claim the insurance companies reject is sent to the Garda. I would like the witnesses to tell me why they do not do that because it is clear they do not. I know it is difficult to prove, but they should allow the Garda...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: No. The Chairman is right. The point I am trying to tease out is if 20%, which is 10,000 or 12,000, of the famous figure of 65,000, of claims were fraudulent, why so few were sent to the Garda. Ms Muldoon has rejected the claim. She said FBD is not paying out. It has reason to do that. It must have some evidence because people who make a claim will not just walk away when an insurance...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Gerry Horkan: Are those links ever reported to the Garda?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...to jail and end up with a sanction but people who make a false insurance claim, by and large, end up with no sanction if they get caught. They can come back next week to try again. We are bringing in the Garda Commissioner, which is helpful, as well as insurance company representatives. It is morally and socially unacceptable to make exaggerated claims and stage accidents. There is a...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Jun 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...south Dublin. He was also fatally injured. Other Senators have spoken about crime generally and gangland crime. In the past two years, there has been an increase of 66% in seizures of knives by gardaí. We certainly need to know what they Garda will do in terms of prevention.There is no real scrutiny of the level of criminal activity that involves knives. It is imperative the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)

Gerry Horkan: I thank Ms Murray and Mr. Boland for their contributions and I thank their association for all it is doing. The three big asks I am taking from the discussion is to get the Garda fraud unit set up as quickly as possible. Where are they with the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, or the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy? Are they playing pass the parcel with each other? Is one saying it is not a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...caught, one will possibly go to jail and have a criminal record. What happens to a person who is found to be making a fraudulent claim? What does FBD do with such claims? Does it send all of the details to the Garda fraud squad? Are people who make fraudulent claims essentially told that they have been unlucky and asked to come back again the following week?

Seanad: Public Authorities and Utility Undertakings (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2019: Second Stage (3 Apr 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...by that main contractor. I know some of these people, and they are very good business people who were very good at the work they did. These people thought they were doing work for the State, whether for the Garda or the courts system, but they were caught out because the main contractor and subcontractor fell out, leaving the subcontractor in a very difficult position. The main...

Seanad: Civil Liability (Capping of General Damages Bill) 2019: Second Stage (28 Mar 2019)

Gerry Horkan: ...claiming for money to which one is not entitled. Saying that one's claim is far in excess of what it should be is fraud in my book and I think it is fraud by any definition of fraud. We need a Garda unit to investigate such cases. We need prosecutions. If one gets caught trying to rob a bank, hopefully one will be convicted and will get some kind of sentence. If one is proven to have...