Results 41-60 of 62 for gsoc speaker:Micheál Martin

Ceisteanna - Questions: Commissions of Investigation (22 Feb 2017)

Micheál Martin: ...of the vision of any organisation involves providing timely, professional responses to issues that arise. Consider, for example, the volume of issues that go to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. It is extraordinary. GSOC has almost become paralysed on foot of the volume of work it has on hand and its lack of resources and capacity. One is obliged to wonder, in...

Order of Business (4 Oct 2016)

Micheál Martin: .... There have been calls to the effect that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission needs greater powers and legislative change. There is an amendment to the Garda Síochána Act with respect to GSOC to deal with some of the issues that Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring raised regarding complaints regarding Garda whistleblowers and the investigation of them. Can the Taoiseach...

Commission of Investigation (Certain Matters Relative to the Cavan-Monaghan Division of An Garda Síochána) Report: Statements (25 May 2016)

Micheál Martin: ...interviewed Sergeant McCabe in Mullingar in 2008 and she has “requested the Minister for Justice pursuant to her powers within the Garda Síochána Act to refer those aspects to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) for the purpose of investigating it in the public interest”. I welcome that too and the Minister's decision to ask the Attorney General for...

Leaders' Questions (17 May 2016)

Micheál Martin: ...felt he was the person on trial throughout the process. While I accept that the report itself is very meticulous, in relation to chapter 11 and, indeed, to an earlier issue pertaining to a GSOC inquiry relating to the Mary Lynch case, Sergeant McCabe was again wrongly accused before being vindicated because, luckily, he had a tape recording. He was wronged completely in terms of Fr....

Order of Business (20 Jan 2016)

Micheál Martin: ...Stage until we have the full the implications of this move by the Minister and the Government in regard to this appointment. With regard to the Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act 2014 and the GSOC issue, yesterday the Taoiseach was very quick to dismiss the comments that were attributed to him in yesterday's newspapers in respect of GSOC. I indicated that Deputy Niall Collins...

Order of Business (19 Jan 2016)

Micheál Martin: It is a very important issue. GSOC was rubbished this morning by spokespeople on the Taoiseach's behalf. Someone briefed the journalists. They did not make it up themselves.

Order of Business (19 Jan 2016)

Micheál Martin: ...been very interesting. He spoke about the importance of press freedom and he is reported in today's Irish Independent as rebuking the watchdog for spying on journalists. He was described as slapping down GSOC for snooping on the phone records of journalists. One could be forgiven for thinking he was commentating on somebody else's legislation but, in fact, this was the Government's...

Topical Issue Debate: Garda Investigations (27 Jan 2015)

Micheál Martin: ...sense that this was a domestic violence issue, when it never was. Apparently, that was one of the initial flaws in the response of authorities to this case. I note the Minister's comments about GSOC being asked to examine a specific issue, and perhaps it could consider the entire case. A victim goes through trauma with a sexual assault and it is adequate reason for timelines not to be a...

Leaders' Questions (8 May 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...was so steadfast in its support for the then Minister, Deputy Shatter, given his approach to many controversial issues, from the bugging of the offices of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, to the whistleblowing incident, and so forth. Can the Minister explain to me when the Tánaiste was first told about the resignation of the former Minister, Deputy Shatter?...

Confidence in the Minister for Justice and Equality; and Defence: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (2 Apr 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...to dismiss them, including making attacks on them which he now, under pressure and with the minimum grace possible, admits were false. When the possible bugging of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, was revealed, most Ministers would have responded by committing immediately to investigate the situation. In contrast, the response of the Minister, Deputy Shatter, was...

Order of Business (25 Mar 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...very starkly with the O'Mahoney report on the penalty points issue. The bugging inquiry was established to consider occurrences at the office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. There have been attempts by the Minister for Justice and Equality to undermine GSOC and its chairman. He almost had them under the spotlight because of his general adversarial response to...

Leaders' Questions (12 Mar 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...'s report found about 67,000 cancellations, in contrast to about 600 in the O'Mahony report. It is not as if there was no evidence. The Road Safety Authority recommended that it would go to GSOC in the first instance but the Minister refused that recommendation; he had to be dragged screaming to get the report to GSOC eventually. The bottom line is that there is no difference of...

Government's Priorities for the Year Ahead: Statements (4 Mar 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...the Minister, that he has used confidential information received from the Garda Commissioner to cast a slur on an opponent and that he has shown no interest in how another Deputy was targeted through leaks or how GSOC investigations have been ignored and hindered, the Taoiseach has decided that party loyalty is more important. This does not auger well for how the Government will handle...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission Issues (27 Feb 2014)

Micheál Martin: 218. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the resources that will be made available to Mr. Justice Cooke in his review of the potential bugging of GSOC incident; if witnesses will be compelled to attend hearings and all documents legally obliged to be submitted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10294/14]

Allegations in relation to An Garda Síochána: Statements (26 Feb 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...a ridiculous defence, particularly as the Minister, during his three years as Minister for Justice and Equality, has been indifferent to the treatment of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, and its reports. The manner in which the Government and the Minister have established a review into the possible bugging of GSOC again suggests that the Minister has prejudged the...

Allegations in relation to An Garda Síochána: Statements (26 Feb 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...evidence available to us, however, is that efforts have been made at various levels to dampen if not squash allegations that were made about some past activities within the Garda.Other matters concerning the possible bugging of GSOC and the dismissal of the Garda confidential recipient are absolutely linked to the whistleblower allegations, because they form a central element of how the...

Order of Business (18 Feb 2014)

Micheál Martin: In respect of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, I believe the Taoiseach indicated earlier there would be a referral of issues to the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality.

Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...used or that the likelihood that the threats were benign was remote or close to zero. He should man up and apologise to the House for his behaviour on this issue and the manner in which he treated GSOC. The issue is wider than this. I raised it with the Taoiseach last week and it is not going away because I will be raising it again this week. There is something fundamentally wrong at...

Leaders' Questions (18 Feb 2014)

Micheál Martin: Ever since the reports appeared in The Sunday Times on the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, being placed under surveillance, the Government, in particular the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, has sought until now to undermine public confidence in GSOC and essentially rubbish the allegations about the alleged surveillance. The Taoiseach told an...

Order of Business (12 Feb 2014)

Micheál Martin: ...gravity or other exceptional circumstances, be the subject of a special report to the Minister." The Taoiseach is on the record as saying that section 80(5) of the Garda Síochána Act "requires" that GSOC would report unusual matters or matters of exceptional importance to the Minister for Justice and Equality and that this was the fundamental issue which GSOC needed to explain...