Results 621-640 of 1,147,284 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Réada Cronin OR speaker:Simon Coveney OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Denise Mitchell OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Jackie Cahill OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Michael Creed OR speaker:Pádraig O'Sullivan OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Bernard Durkan OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Bernard Durkan9 OR speaker:Catherine Martin OR speaker:Jennifer Murnane O'Connor)

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Mark Ward: That daily interaction with people, when done humanely, trickles back into the community, families and the organisations the people may be engaged with. Community policing, especially at that level, really works.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Mark Ward: Are conversations taking place with members of the force in relation to potential changes in drug policy? For example, if we move from decriminalising the person but not the drug, how would that affect gardaí on a daily basis? What are their thoughts on that?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Mark Ward: I am sorry to cut across Mr. Kelly. He referred to the organisational change the Garda has to make and there could be more organisational change if some of the recommendations are carried into legislation. Does the Garda get support on that? Does it get resources to implement that change or it is doing that out of existing resources?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I welcome the witnesses. I congratulate Mr. Kelly on his new appointment. We might stick with that matter for a moment. I often ask a question about data and not just data but its relevance. As somebody knocking on doors at the moment, I do not disagree that people feel we need another 1,000 officers or so. I imagine we also need ICT resources. It is not just about data, which is a...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Mr. Kelly is describing highly specialised work. I imagine for practical reasons that much of that is centralised. What is the experience of the average garda dealing with it on the street? How does that work? Do they feed into those systems?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Then, there is the more national service. Do I have time for one more question, Chair?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I am trying to get a sense of what that international piece looks like in a practical way. Mr. Kelly spoke about linking up with international counterparts. When I did some reading for today, many of the stories that came up about Irish drug gangs were in The New York Times or on BBC News. We have graduated to a new era. How does that work? How often do they meet? What bodies does the...

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Is it that when something happens, the Garda contacts Interpol and Europol or do they meet quarterly?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: On the ground.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: When EMPACT sets the goals for the year, how many times during that year does it meet as a group?

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: It is completely integrated.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: Effectively, gang activity is the same whether there is decriminalisation or not.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: It is interesting that the slight variations do not act as a barrier to prosecuting or dealing with gangs.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Neasa Hourigan: I thank Mr. Kelly.

Committee on Drugs Use: A Health-Led Approach: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Oct 2024)

Mark Ward: Professor Comiskey mentioned Patricia, who was abused at the age of seven. She was injecting at the age of 15. She was criminalised for her sexuality at the age of 20 and got HIV at the age of 24. Now aged 45, she is still subjected to supervised urine testing. I spoke about this last week, but part of a previous role when I first started was supervising male urine samples. I always...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Defence Vote group comprises of two Votes: Vote 35 - Army pensions and Vote 36 - defence. The 2023 Vote 36 – defence net surplus surrendered to the Exchequer was €18.1 million. This figure includes surplus appropriations-in-aid of €9.1 million, which, as the Deputy will be aware, cannot be used to fund additional expenditure and must be surrendered to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (17 Oct 2024)

Matt Carthy: People will be astounded to see the Department of Defence surrendering any money back to the Exchequer, considering the challenges that the Defence Forces are currently facing in the retention and recruitment crisis and the ambitions that have been set out, particularly in the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. I have raised with the Tánaiste on a number of occasions the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: We have actually expanded expenditure. The bottom line is, in terms of capital expenditure, procurement is an issue in terms of the time it can take to procure, particularly C295s. The bottom line is we are committing to a lot of expenditure, which will come on stream. It does not necessarily fall in any given 12 months. I do not accept the Deputy's characterisation of the budgetary...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (17 Oct 2024)

Matt Carthy: I assure the Tánaiste that I would not suggest to the Government to throw money anywhere because it is quite good at doing that of its own volition, but here is the crux. For the past number of years on budget day or in the budget documents released by the Department, the Tánaiste has said that the budget includes provision for the employment of 400 additional members of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (17 Oct 2024)

Micheál Martin: Every year it is put to good use. That is the point I made in my reply. In 2023, it was put to good use. It was used elsewhere across the Vote. That happens all of the time. We are down now to €9 million out of a budget that is close to €1 billion. We need to a sense of perspective here in all of this. I discussed the appropriations-in-aid, which is receipts that come...