O'Callaghan, Jim

Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Referral to Select Committee [Private Members]

I move:

  That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice and Equality pursuant to Standing Orders 84A(3)(a) and 141.

Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members]

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am sharing time with Deputy Lahart.

The last number of years have been very difficult for An Garda Síochána. Part of the reason they have been so difficult is that the force has been exposed to a series of events that have had the...

I wish to acknowledge that when it comes to doing its primary job of fighting crime and protecting the Irish people An Garda Síochana does the job excellently. Recent events in respect of An Gar...

It is also important to acknowledge that politicians cannot simply state repeatedly that the responsibility to reform the force and to rebuild public confidence rests with An Garda Síochána alone...

However, responsibility does not rest with the Government alone. All Members of this House have a responsibility, including the main Opposition party. We must recognise that the great power pol...

The series of issues that have given rise to a loss of public confidence in An Garda Síochána relate to matters pertaining to whistleblowing and the establishment of tribunals of inquiry. Howeve...

That was an astonishing statement by An Garda Síochána. It was not acceptable or permissible for those members to make that statement and just leave it hanging. At the time my party stated that...

Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (Continued)

Subsequently, there was the investigation and inquiry conducted by Assistant Commissioner Michael O'Sullivan who reported in September 2017. He reported that rather than there having been 950,00...

Last week, the Policing Authority published the report by Crowe Horwarth which it had commissioned into the matter. The report stated that the figure for false breath tests on the garda PULSE sy...

This House must take steps to deal with this issue. I introduced the Bill we have before us some months ago following the initial announcement by An Garda Síochána in March 2017 that there had b...

I will identity the particular sections in the legislation before the House. The first significant proposal is in section 2 of the Bill which provides for an amendment to section 41(a) of the pr...

In section 3, we seek to give power to the Policing Authority to be able to dismiss a member of An Garda Síochána if in the extraordinary circumstances of the case, the member's conduct or his or...

The final substantive section is in section 5 where we seek to give powers to the garda inspectorate to be able, if necessary, to enter, inspect and review any garda station or premises without p...

I thank all Deputies who contributed to the debate. It is important that we continue to debate issues concerning An Garda Síochána in the House.

Sometimes there is a tendency in Ireland for issues to boil up and then go off the boil, and we move from talking about the Garda to talking about the health services and on to some other topic. I...

I will not get into the debate between the Minister and Deputy Ó Laoghaire as to the situation in respect of An Garda Síochána, but I will simply state, and I think everyone in the House can agre...

I listened closely to the contribution made by every Member here. In particular, I listened to the Minister. He indicated there are three grounds upon which he is opposing the Bill. The first ...

The first point the Minister mentioned was that we should await the outcome of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. Like the Minister and like most Members in this House, I welco...

We cannot abandon our responsibility to make laws in respect of An Garda Síochána simply by awaiting the outcome of the report from the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. We do not...

The second point raised by the Minister was that, under section 62O of the Garda Síochána Act, as amended by the 2015 Act, the Policing Authority will prepare a report on its own effectiveness. ...

The third point made by the Minister was that he had consulted the Policing Authority and it had some concerns in respect of the legislation. I must say I was relatively optimistic when I heard ...

The Minister also mentioned that I had previously indicated that if this Bill had been in place, none of the difficulties in respect of An Garda Síochána would have occurred. I do not know if I ...

The Minister then went through each of the sections and made some comments, and I will briefly reply to that. He said that section 2 probably is unnecessary because there is already legislation ...

The Minister also referred to section 3, which would give the authority the power to dismiss a member of An Garda Síochána. It is important to point out that, at present under the legal system, ...

The third point that the Minister mentioned was in respect of section 4. He said that this in a way would put the Policing Authority in a position whereby it would be managing the Garda Commissi...

The final issue was in respect of the Garda Inspectorate. As Deputy Clare Daly mentioned, that is a recommendation that was made previously and it would be one that would assist the inspectorate.

I thank Members for their contributions to the debate. It is important that we do not merely decide to put ourselves into cold storage until September 2018 when we get the report from the Commis...

Road Safety

Asked the Minister for Justice and Equality: the number of speed cameras operating on average in each county to date in 2017 in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.