Results 61-80 of 4,808 for speaker:Alan Shatter in 'Dáil debates'

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Funding (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy knows, my Department is engaged in an ongoing building programme designed to modernise and enhance the training, operational and accommodation facilities available to members of the Defence Forces. Under the building programme there has been considerable capital investment at the Curragh Camp in recent years. Between 2008 and 2013 my Department spent more than €11.7...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Funding (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I agree that there is a need for continuing investment. This is a very important matter in the context of the Defence Forces. It will not have escaped the Deputy's notice that the State has been in great financial difficulties for the past three years and we have been obliged to substantially reduce our expenditure, both current and capital. There has been a decreasing envelope of capital...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Funding (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I dealt only with a small number of issues when replying to the Deputy's original question. The largest investment my Department is making at present is in the two new naval vessels that are to be commissioned. As the Deputy may be aware, one of those vessels, LE Samuel Beckett, was delivered to Haulbowline on Wednesday last. I visited the facility there on Friday and was shown around the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Properties (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I thank the Deputy for her question. As she stated, my Department recently undertook an assessment of vacant former married quarter properties in the Curragh Camp with a view as to their potential for future military use as single living-in accommodation. The properties in question comprise a terrace of 16 houses and are typical of the type of former married quarters accommodation vacant in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: There the Deputy goes again. The individual to whom he refers was appointed following the holding of a competition which I had no hand or part in influencing. He was recommended following the outcome of that competition and so appointed. That is the end of it. As I said, the individual in question was formerly a military tribunal judge, yet the Deputy is suggesting that he is not an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Military Aircraft Landings (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: An Garda Síochána has the primary responsibility for law and order, including the protection of the internal security of the State. Among the roles assigned to the Defence Forces is the provision of aid to the civil power, ATCP, which in practice means to assist An Garda Síochána when requested to do so. There is ongoing and close liaison between An Garda...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Military Aircraft Landings (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy might have been a fan of Osama bin Laden but I am not sure what relevance he has to this matter. I have given her the information that is available to me. There is no further information I can add in response to the question she raised. In the context of this particular flight, my information is simply that An Garda Síochána requested the assistance of the Defence...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Military Aircraft Landings (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: It is a matter of particular concern to members of the European Union that Russian troops have been exercising close to the Ukrainian border. I do not know whether that is the type of military aggression the Deputy has in mind. She also made reference to Syria. I do not understand what relevance this particular flight landing in Shannon Airport has to the dreadful tragedy being played out...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Reorganisation (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I am not aware of the problems the Deputy has said have emerged. If there are particular problems he wishes to bring to my attention, I will ensure they are addressed. As he knows, a three brigade Army structure was adopted in the 1990s when the strength of the Permanent Defence Force was set at approximately 11,500 personnel. This structure was retained when the White Paper on Defence in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Reorganisation (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: What the Deputy is suggesting is that we have in place an architecture, but that we do not have the numbers that would allow it to make sense. The architecture the Deputy's colleagues had in place while in government was based on a strength of 11,500 for a three brigade structure. When I entered government and assumed the position of Minister for Defence, there was a strength of 9,500....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy will be aware, the programme for Government made a clear commitment to the introduction of whistleblower protection legislation. In this regard, my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, published the Protected Disclosures Bill in July 2013. It is anticipated that the legislation will be enacted during this Dáil term. The Bill has as its main...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I am satisfied that is the case and find it regrettable that the Deputy should raise any issue concerning the current Ombudsman for the Defence Forces. The person concerned was a judge in the military court, adjudicated on issues and there was never any question that he did so other than independently and objectively and with fairness. As the Deputy is aware, the issue he has raised has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Defence Forces Reorganisation (7 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Department of Defence has civil and military elements, with Defence Forces headquarters being the military element. The Chief of Staff who is head of Defence Forces headquarters is my principal military adviser, while the Secretary General of the Department of Defence is my principal defence policy adviser. Military command is vested directly in the general officers commanding Army...

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Report Stage (1 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 23:In page 183, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:"Amendment of Misuse of Drugs Act 1984 170. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1984 is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 10:"10. In any proceedings for an offence under the Principal Act or section 5 of this Act, notwithstanding section 169* of the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence...

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Fifth Stage (1 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: The completion of this Bill is a landmark moment in the area of criminal justice. It is of the utmost importance that An Garda Síochána has available to it all of the most up-to-date technical resources in the investigation of crime. This legislation is in the public interest, the interest of the victims of crime and the interests of the Garda force. The Bill will now progress to...

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Report Stage (1 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 7:In page 73, line 36, after “person” to insert “taken before the commencement of this section”.

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Report Stage (1 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 8:In page 73, after line 41, to insert the following:“(12) A sample taken before the commencement of this section from a person who is a relative by blood of a missing person that is in the possession or control of the Garda Síochána or the Director of FSI arising from the investigation of the disappearance of the missing person (whether or not taken by a...

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Report Stage (1 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 9:In page 75, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:“(7) A sample taken before the commencement of this section from the body of an unknown deceased person that is in the possession of the Garda Síochána, the Director of FSI or the State Pathologist, or the person acting as such, in the State Pathologist’s Office of the Department of...

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Report Stage (1 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 10:In page 75, line 34, after “taken” to insert “, or regarded as having been taken,”.

Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Bill 2013: Report Stage (1 May 2014)

Alan Shatter: I move amendment No. 11:In page 82, lines 29 and 30, to delete all words from and including “and” in line 29 down to and including line 30 and substitute the following:“(c) generated from samples taken from persons referred to in section 7(3), and (d) received and entered in that index under Chapter 7 of Part 12.”.