Results 41-60 of 60 for gsoc speaker:Niall Collins

Matters relating to An Garda Síochána: Statements (26 Mar 2014)

Niall Collins: On the penalty points issue, the whistleblowers were at fault, while in the bugging of GSOC, the chairman, Mr. Simon O'Brien, was at fault.

Matters relating to An Garda Síochána: Statements (26 Mar 2014)

Niall Collins: The Garda Commissioner is gone and the whistleblowers and GSOC have been blamed. It always seems to be somebody else rather than the Minister.

Matters relating to An Garda Síochána: Statements (26 Mar 2014)

Niall Collins: Why are we not having a commission of investigation to investigate the bugging of GSOC or the dossier produced by the whistleblowers? People died because of related issues, but we will not have a commission of investigation to examine that dossier. The public finds it difficult to reconcile all of this. The Minister did not indicate why he was circumventing GSOC with regard to the policy...

Matters relating to An Garda Síochána: Statements (26 Mar 2014)

Niall Collins: ...that vein but for the fact that the independent constitutional office of the Comptroller and Auditor General did its work and reported coherently. We then had the issue on the alleged bugging of GSOC. The Minister immediately moved to turn the potential victim of a scandal into a villain. He put GSOC chairman Simon O'Brien into the dock. He brought in an outside company to...

Matters relating to An Garda Síochána: Statements (26 Mar 2014)

Niall Collins: ...leaders were receiving the briefing yesterday, the facts of the Waterford case were in the public domain for weeks, months and years. The Waterford case was one of the first high-profile prosecutions taken by GSOC following an investigation of a complaint in which serving members of the Garda Síochána were convicted and imprisoned. It is not credible that the Minister did not...

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

Niall Collins: ...? Why did he engage Rits? He was trying to undermine Verrimus and to create more confusion, more diversions and a smoke screen and to cast doubt of the veracity of the Verrimus report, which GSOC was in possession of. Why does the Minister not answer the questions which I have detailed and put the answers on the record of the House? Why did he engage Rits? What were its terms of...

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

Niall Collins: The issue that flows from the GSOC bugging controversy is disconcerting. What resources will be made available to Mr. Justice Cooke? What is the exact timeline for him to report? Will he have the imprimatur of the Minister or the Government to interview all relevant parties, including Rits, the outside agency introduced by the Minister late in the process to conduct a peer review?

Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill 2014: First Stage (19 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: ...opportunity. We all appreciate that the Bill is timely given the controversy which has been raging in recent days and the quite apparent divergences between the Garda Síochána and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, in recent months. There is something very disturbing about the fact that while we discussed GSOC and the independent inquiry again this...

Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Motion [Private Members] (18 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: ...tunnel so we could move on. Behind everything going on there is a fundamental concern for all of us as the two major pillars of the justice system, An Garda Síochána and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, have been under a sustained spotlight by all of us for the wrong reasons. We all want a strong Garda Síochána and ombudsman, and we want to...

Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Motion [Private Members] (18 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: .... This is against the backdrop of the disastrous handling of the penalty points fiasco by the Minister. Let us call a spade a spade. The Minister finally referred the penalty points issue to GSOC and the matter was referred to on Question Time when we had our last session. He did not tell us what had changed in his mind when he referred it to GSOC when it could have been referred in...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission Issues (18 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: 539. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he has taken in view of reports that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, was spied on; the nature of the espionage; if GSOC investigations were compromised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7499/14]

Leaders' Questions (13 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: The Government has been undermining GSOC all week. The Tánaiste should not now be trying to turn it around.

Leaders' Questions (13 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: ...has engaged in a co-ordinated strategy that has served to undermine the Office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. On Monday, the Taoiseach took to the media and demanded that the GSOC level with the Minister for Justice and Equality. He further chose to repeatedly misquote section 80 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 and misinform members of the public in...

Leaders' Questions (13 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: ...to express regret by way of an apology? Would he expect this to occur in the case of the Director of Public Prosecutions or any other independent office? Should the independence of the office of the GSOC not be respected? Yesterday, I asked the chairman of the GSOC, Mr. O'Connor, if he had specifically informed the Minister for Justice and Equality that the commission had opened an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: ...unfortunate that An Garda Síochána has found itself during the last 48 hours the subject of what appears to be completely baseless innuendo. He added that no information has been furnished to him by GSOC suggesting that An Garda Síochána was involved in any way in what gave rise to concerns in GSOC about its security. Is it fair for us to assume that when Mr. O'Brien...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (12 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: ...is saying today. Mr. O'Brien has told us that when he briefed the Minister on Monday he informed him that he opened a section 102(4) investigation into An Garda Síochána. Is it the case that GSOC is now conducting an internal investigation to ascertain the source of the leak? In other words, is GSOC investigating itself? Is it GSOC's intention to continue that investigation...

Reports of Unlawful Surveillance of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Statements (11 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: ...of the comments made by the confidential recipient to the whistleblower. It is simply not good enough. What we have seen in the Minister's statement is a play on words in respect of what the GSOC statement said in respect of whether there was an alleged bugging offence. The Taoiseach quoted the GSOC report and said that no sophisticated evidence of technical surveillance was found....

Reports of Unlawful Surveillance of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission: Statements (11 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: There is no doubt the last 48 hours have been a defining period in what is an exceptionally dysfunctional relationship between An Garda Síochána and the GSOC, which is all happening under the Minister's watch. It is a very regrettable situation. To recap, we had the penalty points controversy which dominated the headlines and has served to damage the morale of the force. We also...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Penalty Points System (5 Feb 2014)

Niall Collins: The Minister outlined why he has now decided to refer it to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. The Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality was united in its view that the matter should have been referred much sooner. Be that as it may, we have had a number of public utterances from current and former members of GSOC about some of the constraints and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (13 Jun 2013)

Niall Collins: The Minister made a statement on 9 May that he would convene a meeting between GSOC and the Commissioner. It is almost two months later and he has not said-----