Results 41-60 of 145 for gsoc speaker:Alan Shatter

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Confidential Recipient (27 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ..., be amended, which it will be on Committee Stage. It will require some modifications to what is already in the Bill to ensure that members of An Garda Síochána can bring complaints directly to GSOC. Of course, it will take some weeks for that Bill to be enacted. It has been passed by the Seanad but it must go through Committee Stage in this House and any amendments made by...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission Reports (27 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ...the Deputy contains a series of recommendations related to informant handling procedures within An Garda Síochána, oversight of those procedures and intelligence handling and information exchange between GSOC and An Garda Síochána. At the time, I sought the observations of the Garda Commissioner on the report and its recommendations. The Garda Commissioner in his...

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

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 177 together. An IT security consultancy was retained on 14 February 2014 to provide an expert IT security opinion on the reports that GSOC had received from the security company it contracted. The report was received by the Department on 18 February 2014. I gave the Cabinet my assessment of the potential damage to both the Garda Ombudsman...

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

Alan Shatter: ...íochána Ombudsman Commission and the Garda Síochána, and more widely to public confidence in the enforcement of law, from the ongoing controversy relating to reports of unlawful surveillance of GSOC. The manner in which this controversy had continued, and the new information I had received, led me to the view that it was in the public interest that measures be taken to...

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

Alan Shatter: ...if my answers do not suit Deputy Daly, but this is a very complicated issue. If 13,000 members of An Garda Síochána were engaged in the unauthorised taping of conversations, we would be asking GSOC to investigate the entire force.

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

Alan Shatter: ...considered it warranted doing so. The fact that this could happen would also act as a form of what might be termed "quality control" in regard to any Garda investigation. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, was informed in June 2010 of the progress of the assistant commissioner's investigation and, shortly afterwards, of the decision by the DPP. While GSOC dealt...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Consultancy Contracts (25 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: An IT security consultancy were retained on 14 February 2014 to provide an expert IT security opinion on the reports that GSOC had received from the security company it contracted. Their report was received on 18 February, 2014. The cost of this work was €5,623 . I am not in a position to provide the Deputy with the number of hours the work entailed as to do so would divulge their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: GSOC told me that it did not want to publish the Verrimus report. We are going to give it to the High Court judge and I cannot add to that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ...system in this country whereby people are innocent until proven guilty. I found that particular response genuinely confusing. I specifically raised the issue in the correspondence that I had with GSOC after the hearing before this committee. It replied and came back to tell me that there was no evidence of Garda misconduct. I do not know why that was phrased that way. The Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ..., and I think it helped to add to the narrative that has been continuous for the last week suggesting that the Garda was indeed engaged in some sort of surveillance even though the conclusion of GSOC - in its brief, its statement and press release - was that there was no evidence of Garda misconduct. It was an unfortunate manner of responding to the question asked.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ...explained it when he was asked. Of course, and unfortunately, I have said - I have been criticised for saying it - that some confusion was created as a consequence of the appearance of members of GSOC before this committee. I think the Senator and other Deputies before the committee have clearly demonstrated that was the case by virtue of the very legitimate questions that they put to me...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I shall answer each question as the Deputy raises them. No, I do not know the name. All I know was - I think this was said last week - that when GSOC wanted to do the sweep it tried to find the company but found that it had gone out of business. I do not know the name of that company and I have not asked.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ...Clare Daly is probably fond of asking someone when he stopped beating his wife. We are going around in ever decreasing circles. I cannot add further to what I have said or to what members of GSOC have said on these matters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I think that is a reasonable question. I have been asked questions at this meeting and have honestly and truthfully done my best to respond to them. It is important, whether we are talking about GSOC, An Garda Síochána or any other body, that if there are issues of concern, they be dealt with and addressed. I have said these are all matters at which the High Court judge will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ...who get into trouble with the law. There are a lot of reasons the public should have very substantial confidence in An Garda Síochána. That is not taking away in any way from the importance of ensuring we have a watchdog like GSOC operating with full public support, confidence and full integrity. The people can be assured that, if there are allegations of Garda misconduct,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: In the context of what the Deputy said about exoneration, that was an unusual comment by Mr. FitzGerald. Of course I am going to be accused now of criticising a member of GSOC but the Deputy has asked me the question. Kieran FitzGerald very clearly set out the conclusions of the commission on this matter on "Prime Time". It seemed to me that the statement referred to was at variance with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I may be wrong in this because I am probably getting a little tired. It has been a very long afternoon. I think I am right in recalling that when the GSOC representatives were here, they said that for security reasons, they would not release the Verrimus report. If not for the extraordinary circumstances that have arisen here, as I said in the Dáil, I would not have gone into even the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ...the reference to each of the vulnerabilities and anomalies throughout this meeting, except in one respect which I will mention, comes from the briefing I distributed to members that I received from GSOC. I have not gone into all the technical information in the Verrimus report. The only thing I have added in the context of that report and which I think is reflected in section 103 of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: At this point, GSOC certainly does not want the full security report released. It has told the committee that. There is information contained in the report produced by Rits which is directly derived from the Verrimus report, which would put some of the Verrimus information into the public domain. I cannot solve the committee's issue with this because I will be giving all of these reports...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: ...the initial things my Department will be doing is providing a complete pack of all the documents we have that are relevant to this matter. I presume that any additional documentation required from GSOC, Verrimus and Rits or anything else that is of relevance will be provided.