Results 301-320 of 12,802 for speaker:Alan Shatter in 'Written Answers'

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Data Protection (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: Directive 96/45/EC has been transposed into national law in the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003. While article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union allows the European Commission to commence proceedings before the Court of Justice where a Member State has failed to fulfil an obligation under the Treaties, I am not aware of any concerns on the part of the European...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Assisted Human Reproduction Issues (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: My proposals, contained in the General Scheme of a Children and Family Relationships Bill, are that donation of gametes does not confer parentage on the donor. The draft legislation sets out clear rules for the assignment of parentage where children are born through assisted reproduction methods using donor gametes. The broader bioethical questions concerning gamete donation are a matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Assisted Human Reproduction Issues (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: My recently published General Scheme of a Children and Family Relationships Bill makes express provision for the assignment of parentage in cases of surrogacy. The draft legislation will allow commissioning parents to apply for court orders assigning parentage to them, in cases of altruistic surrogacy. A surrogacy arrangement is not enforceable and the consent of the birth mother to the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Residency Permits (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I am informed by officials in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that the person referred to by the Deputy was requested, by letter dated 27 March 2014, to supply additional evidence of residence (utility bills) in the State for a continuous period of 5 years in support of an application for a permanent residence card which was made to INIS in February 2014. It is noted...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Child Abduction (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy will appreciate, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on individual cases that may be or have been the subject of legal proceedings. The procedures for dealing with cases of international parental child abduction involving countries who are party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction are set out in the Child Abduction and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Policy (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: While I am unaware of the specific views expressed in the correspondence referred to by the Deputy I am happy to set out for the Deputy the broad range of measures in place in the State and the steps I have and am taking to further enhance our immigration controls to combat abuses of the system. Can I say at the outset that the overwhelming majority of migrants in Ireland are here lawfully...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Retirements (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: There was no legal action or threat of legal action in relation to the extension of the term of office of former Commissioner Fachtna Murphy. The previous Government appointed Mr Murphy as Commissioner of An Garda Síochána for a period of two years with effect from 21 November 2007. This term of office was extended in February 2009 to the end of 2010.

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Closed Circuit Television Systems (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from the Garda authorities. I will be in contact with the Deputy when this information is to hand.

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Closed Circuit Television Systems (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 137 together. CCTV systems installed for the purposes of crime prevention and as aids to policing in areas to which the general public routinely have access, such as town centres, fall into two distinct categories: community-based CCTV systems and Garda CCTV systems. Garda CCTV systems are planned and implemented on the basis of the Garda...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Courts Service (9 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I can inform the Deputy that I have recently undertaken to consider the issue of Community Courts in Ireland. I envisage an initial project operating on a pilot basis where stakeholders will engage in partnership, in conjunction with the local business community. It will be important to learn from international experience, and I have asked for preparations to be made for a pilot in the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Human Trafficking (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: The National Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Trafficking of Human Beings in Ireland identified the need to establish links with airlines to develop awareness among staff of the potential vulnerability of children travelling either alone or with adults. In 2012 the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of my Department, in consultation with their counterparts in the United Kingdom, developed a...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Garda Recruitment (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I wish to put on record my appreciation for the contribution that those who volunteer for service as Garda Reserve members make on a daily basis to the work of An Garda Síochána. Together with full time members, they provide vital assistance to communities and neighbourhoods right across the country. The age at which any candidate may apply to join the Garda Síochána as a...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: UN Conventions Ratification (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Government has approved drafting of the General Scheme of an Inspection of Places of Detention Bill. The General Scheme is currently being prepared. In addition to other measures, the Bill will include provisions to enable ratification of the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OP-CAT). In...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: UN Conventions Ratification (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: The International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance requires each State Party to take the necessary measures to ensure that enforced disappearance constitutes an offence under its criminal law. For the purposes of the Convention, "enforced disappearance" is considered to be "the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: UN Conventions Ratification (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I refer the Deputy to my written response of 11 March 2014, and to the response given by my colleague, Minister of State Kathleen Lynch on 27 February 2014, in which she informed the House that the Government intends to proceed to ratification of the Convention as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to ensure all necessary legislative and administrative requirements under the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Legal Costs (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I wish to inform the Deputy that the Legal Aid Board uses solicitors in private practice to complement the service provided by solicitors in its own law centre network. For the most part, private practitioners on the Board's civil law panels are allocated family law cases in the District Court whilst they are also used, to a much lesser extent, for divorce and separation cases in the Circuit...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Motor Tax Exemptions (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 419 and 420 together. I can inform the Deputy that there are two motor vehicles in my Department which are classed as "State owned" vehicles for revenue purposes and are therefore exempt from the payment of motor tax. These two vehicles are also covered by the State for insurance purposes. During the past five years there has been one claim of €258.42,...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Child Abuse Issues (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy will be aware that the Garda Inspectorate Report entitled "Responding to Child Sexual Abuse" was published in February 2012, including an addendum to take account of the findings of the Cloyne Report. The report made a range of recommendations concerning the investigation of child sexual abuse with a view to addressing past failings and better protecting children in the future....

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Accommodation Provision (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I wish to advise the Deputy that for legal reasons, all 17 year old remand prisoners continue to be detained at St Patrick's Institution. In December 2013, all sentenced 17 year olds were transferred from St Patrick's Institution to a dedicated unit in Wheatfield on an interim basis pending the opening of the new facilities in Oberstown. To facilitate this transfer, Wheatfield was...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Commissions of Investigation (8 Apr 2014)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 423, 440 to 443, inclusive, 446 and 448 together. The Government has decided to set up a statutory Commission of Investigation into the recording of telephone calls in certain Garda stations. In this regard the Government has today agreed the terms of reference for the Commission and it will examine extensively matters of public concern relating to the issue...