Results 181-200 of 391 for garda speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (2 Oct 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...criteria used, some of which may be flawed. Senator Quinn also referred to the issues of cigarette smuggling and diesel laundering in north Louth and south Armagh and spoke of the tragic death of Garda Adrian Donohoe as being a catalyst for change. I agree with him on that. Next Tuesday the Minister for Justice and Equality will be in the House for the Second Stage debate on the Criminal...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...write to the Tánaiste and ask him to ensure it is renewed this autumn. Senator Naughton referred to the very welcome apology given yesterday by the Minister for Justice and Equality and the acting Garda Commissioner to the Roma families whose children were removed, and to the offer of compensation made by the Government. Like Senator Naughton, I commend the Ombudsman for Children,...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...be cross-party support in the House, as was the case at meetings of the justice committee. The required reforms became very clear to us in the hearings we had with representatives of GSOC, the Garda Inspectorate and other bodies. It is very important that better oversight be provided for. Senator Denis O'Donovan also referred to the education Bill that we are to consider this evening. I...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...the new President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and called for warm relations between Luxembourg and Ireland. He also called for warm relations between the PSNI and the Garda. Senator Gilroy provided a vigorous response to Senator Daly on the spirit of true republicanism and I echo his words. Senator Gilroy also sought a debate on electroconvulsive therapy and section...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motion (19 Jun 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...horrific incidents about which people have spoken. It was part of a package of measures introduced in 2006 and again in 2009 but it is worthy of note that the DPP has not operated the section. An Garda Síochána and the acting Garda Commissioner have asked the Minister to keep the provisions in operation for the next 12 months. I very much welcome the fact that we will be able...

Seanad: Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998: Motion (19 Jun 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...time and it is important that we would move to normality. All of us very much welcome the peace process and the continued steps towards normality but it is difficult to oppose the request by the Garda to maintain these provisions in force. I should acknowledge my own interest as having appeared in the Special Criminal Court representing people in connection with this legislation on...

Seanad: Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Bill 2014: Second Stage (18 Jun 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...in section 35 - I realise we will deal with this in more detail on Committee Stage - and I believe it is of particular significance now, in the wake of the report Judge John Cooke produced on the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, bugging allegations. Judge Cooke devoted a significant part of his recommendations to the public interest inquiry power of GSOC. He said that...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jun 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...Government’s sexual offence Bill which is currently being drafted. Yesterday was a good day for the Seanad. Will the Leader organise a debate in due course into the Mr. Justice Cooke’s report into the GSOC, Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, bugging allegations? It is important we all have a chance to read and digest the report. It certainly contradicts what...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (5 Jun 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...of policing here. I hope we will have a debate on the issue, not just on the legislation on GSOC, but also on the broader and more comprehensive review the joint committee is undertaking of Garda oversight mechanisms. I welcome the comments and the news yesterday that the personal insolvency arrangements were being fast tracked. Under the Personal Insolvency Act 2012, we are seeing an...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: The Fennelly commission of inquiry is charged with investigating a practice that apparently went on for some three decades in Garda stations in this State, the recording of telephone conversations.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...certainly true that the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality sought, and it was agreed, that the terms of reference would also include the events surrounding the departure of the former Garda Commissioner.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...powers of compellability and fact-finding and I hope full answers on those matters will be given there. The committee also had a two and a half hour hearing with the acting Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and with Baroness Nuala O’Loan, the former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, at which we heard very important recommendations for reform of policing oversight....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight: Discussion (Resumed) (28 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: At our meeting with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission two weeks ago, I asked members of GSOC whether the three-person structure in place here has any disadvantages when compared to the model for the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. Should we consider having a one-person Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in the context of the overall reform of GSOC? As the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight: Discussion (Resumed) (28 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: Deputy Anne Ferris asked me to put a question to the acting Garda Commissioner. I direct it also at Mr. Brady and Baroness O'Loan. The Minister has given a commitment to appoint a new Garda Commissioner through an open competition. This decision has been welcomed by everyone. Should this appointment be deferred until the establishment of the independent policing authority given that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight: Discussion (Resumed) (28 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: I apologise for arriving late. We greatly value the insights we have gained from the witnesses. I wish to address a question to the acting Garda Commissioner and to Baroness O'Loan, and I have a general question. At the last set of hearings I asked about the Garda whistleblowers charter. Before the departure of Commissioner Callinan, I had written to him requesting a copy. The AGSI,...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Second Stage (27 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...safeguards in terms of the language used, particularly where persons may be subject to the drawing of negative inferences at a subsequent trial when samples have been taken from them while in Garda custody. We can deal with all of these issues in much more detail on Committee Stage. I again welcome that we are at the stage of having this Bill before us. The forensic science laboratory is...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Second Stage (27 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...the legislation tackles. Trying to get an overview of it from a practitioner point of view, it is important to say that Parts 2 and 4 will be of huge practical significance to members of An Garda Síochána and criminal justice practitioners. Part 2 relates to the taking of samples from a person in custody in Garda stations, which refers to anyone who goes into custody from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight: Discussion (14 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: To follow up on that with Mr. Olson, an extraordinary point that is made in his fuller submission to the committee is that although the 2005 Act provided for the establishment of both GSOC and the Garda Inspectorate, there is no statutory basis for collaboration between the two organisations. There is no information sharing provision, for example. It relies very much on informal processes....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight: Discussion (14 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: I have a final question on something Dr. O'Flaherty said about whistleblowers, not just confined to members of An Garda Síochána in Garda stations but to others, like himself, who would have had professional access and would have perhaps observed abuses happening. Is he or anybody, including the AGSI, aware of an internal whistleblowers charter? I wrote to the former Garda...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Oversight: Discussion (14 May 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...and others may have views about this as well. If GSOC is given the strength and powers it seeks, and if we establish as intended an independent policing authority, is there any longer a role for a Garda Inspectorate? Should the functions of the inspectorate be assigned to a body that would effectively be an amalgamation of the two? It is interesting that today the inspectorate is...