Results 1-20 of 100 for gsoc speaker:Enda Kenny

Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: Deputy Adams made the point about newspaper reports that the office of the GSOC was the subject of sophisticated surveillance. A report claiming that the GSOC had been the subject of unlawful surveillance of a sophisticated nature was published in a Sunday newspaper on 9 February 2014. The Minister received a briefing on this yesterday by the chairman of the GSOC. The chairman said...

Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: ...Whip this morning that, after the Order of Business concludes, the Minister for Justice and Equality will make a statement to the House, with opportunities for Members to respond to that. I note GSOC will attend in public session at the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions tomorrow. It is important that there be clarity - clarity leading to confidence - about the...

Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: A Cheann Comhairle, you have been very clear on this. Deputy Martin has raised an important question about the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. This is an essential and fundamental entity of our democratic system and it is very important the people have absolute confidence and faith in the integrity and the credibility of GSOC, no more than it is an important and...

Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: The GSOC is to attend the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service, Oversight and Petitions tomorrow in public session. Deputy Martin is asking me today to have a public inquiry into this. Does he not think it appropriate that the GSOC should come before the committee and answer questions and provide clarification for Members of the House? Perhaps he does not want that. He is asking...

Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: I respect absolutely GSOC and I think it is important that GSOC would have every opportunity to state for the record in public session and that the chairman and the members of the board of the commission are absolutely satisfied with the independence and integrity of the way that they are entitled to do their business. Now, I cannot direct them to do that. It is important that the...

Leaders' Questions (7 May 2014)

Enda Kenny: When I say that GSOC did not co-operate with the senior counsel, I mean that GSOC expressed difficulties in respect of furnishing documentation to him. Clearly, Deputy Shatter, as Minister for Justice and Equality, pointed out on many occasions the inadequacies, as he saw them, of both the then confidential recipient structure and the structure of GSOC itself. If a properly functioning GSOC...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission Issues (17 Jun 2014)

Enda Kenny: The report of Judge John D. Cooke on his Inquiry into Reports of Unlawful Surveillance of the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) was received in my Department on 4 June 2014. I was in the United States on a jobs-focussed mission in Silicon Valley at that time and received the report following my return on 8 June 2014. I brought the Report to the attention of the Government at...

Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: The Government considered the matter this morning. The Minister briefed the Cabinet on the events that have occurred in the GSOC controversy following from the committee's hearing last Wednesday. He also briefed the Cabinet in regard to further information and documentation received from GSOC since then and further technical information he has received regarding the alleged surveillance of...

Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: I am of the view, which is shared by everybody else, that we require clarity in respect of the GSOC and the integrity of that office which has responsibility for oversight of An Garda Síochána. I am also well aware of the importance of citizens having confidence in the integrity of An Garda Síochána. This issue was at the forefront of much discussion last weekend arising...

Leaders' Questions (26 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: I am not sure where the Deputy has been for the past while because GSOC is an independent entity set up for the specific purpose of dealing with complaints from members of the public against serving members of the gardaí. The Deputy is now telling me that GSOC does not have the powers to investigate the complaints that were made. That is what I understand her to be saying. That is...

Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: I thank the Deputy. He quoted section 80(5) yesterday. There is a clear provision in the law for GSOC to report major issues to the Minister for Justice and Equality. The commission had knowledge that it should have availed of this provision and reported the matter to the Minister. GSOC discussed that and decided not to do so. The commission regretted that decision and said so to the...

Leaders' Questions (26 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: Deputy Collins cannot have it both ways. For the last number of weeks, she was complaining that the Minister for Justice and Equality was impacting on GSOC, which is completely independent. Now, she is telling me that GSOC is not able to do its job. I cannot second-guess what an independent investigative authority will do in regard to any case that comes before it. It is not for the...

Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: I apologised to the House for the reference to section 80(5); I had misquoted the section of the Act. However, the point is that in regard to the responsibility of GSOC which is to oversee the Garda Síochána, when GSOC initiates a public investigation into a matter of public interest, it can only be about the Garda. In that sense, section 103 states that the commission shall...

Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: That is the statement from GSOC. The section that I referred to and that the Deputy quoted from means that GSOC is entitled of its own initiative to report-----

Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: I thank the Deputy. I reject his assertion that I intended in any way to undermine the independence of GSOC. On the contrary, I was very clear about maintaining its independence, integrity and its oversight responsibility of the Garda. The provision is in the law that GSOC may report to the Minister for Justice and Equality-----

Leaders' Questions (12 Oct 2016)

Enda Kenny: ...Visitors Gallery today. I have read the file Deputy Adams gave me as well as the other extensive files on this case. I am aware that there is a civil action being taken against the State and that GSOC has been carrying out an investigation. I would like to meet Mrs. O'Farrell and hear her story myself. I will do so from a humanitarian point of view. There are processes that are...

Leaders' Questions (5 Oct 2016)

Enda Kenny: In respect of GSOC, obviously I have absolute confidence in the Chair, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring. She has said that GSOC needs extra powers and the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality is considering her request. In respect of the documents received under the Protected Disclosures Act by the Tánaiste, I have already said that she has a duty to examine that and to...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committee Meetings (19 Oct 2016)

Enda Kenny: I have dealt with that. In respect of GSOC, I noted the view expressed by its very fine chairperson, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring, that some powers were lacking in the ombudsman commission. I have spoken to the Minister for Justice and Equality about this and see no reason we cannot act in this regard. If the chairperson of the commission, who is an eminent member of the Judiciary, says it...

Leaders' Questions (19 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: ...of technology and communications. That will be published in the report of a High Court judge and debated in the House. We are trying to ensure the putting in place of more effective systems for GSOC. That will allow those who wish to make complaints to GSOC do so in the knowledge that their complaints will be heard and, if appropriate, acted upon. It should be an effective system and...

Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2014)

Enda Kenny: GSOC is appearing before the committee this afternoon, and I am quite sure the issues which require clarification will be dealt with by the commissioners when they attend. The Deputy made a point about bugging devices. GSOC made it clear there was no specific concern which led to the security sweep. The commission concluded there was no definitive evidence of unauthorised technical or...