Results 61-80 of 94 for drugs speaker:Ivana Bacik

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...the budget since 2008, as well as large staffing reductions, about which the Senator spoke. The reforms we have seen have saved the taxpayer over €500 million including, for example, savings relating to the use of generic drugs. We have tackled waiting lists and the issue of patients waiting on trolleys, the number of whom has been reduced by one third in the past two years. For...

Seanad: Community Courts: Motion (25 Feb 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...of Dublin, as mentioned by Senator Conway, but also the Irish Penal Reform Trust, the Dublin City Business Association, the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development, the CityWide drugs crisis campaign, the Probation Service and a range of other stakeholders. Many of the points raised by these groups have been touched on already by speakers today but I will try to make a...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...'s point that sometimes we come to these things with preconceived notions and it is useful to have a fuller debate on issues like fracking and wind energy. Senator Quinn also spoke about generic drugs and the difficulty with the seeming delay in the implementation of that new legislation in pharmacies. Senator Mullins spoke about wind energy and banking and welcomed the retrofitting of...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Feb 2014)

Ivana Bacik: ...on pylons in this House recently with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, but I will seek the debate on energy, as I have said. Senator Burke raised the issue of the cost of drugs and the seeming delay in any impact from the important legislation passed some months ago which provided for the prescription of generic medicines. I agree entirely that it seems...

Seanad: Order of Business (18 Dec 2013)

Ivana Bacik: .... Senator Clune also raised the issues highlighted in "Prime Time" last night on what appear to be abuses and inappropriate practices by a charity that provides residential places for recovering drug addicts. I saw the programme and I know many others will have seen it. It raised some very serious issues relating to the need for the regulation of charities and the charitable sector, for...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Jun 2013)

Ivana Bacik: ...who called for a debate on a related matter concerning the Law Reform Commission report on mandatory sentencing which was published yesterday. It recommends reversal of mandatory sentences for drugs offences, which it pointed out have only been applied to couriers rather than to those organising the trafficking. We could incorporate a debate on this into a general debate on prison and...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 Oct 2012)

Ivana Bacik: ...vetting procedures. This issue might be raised by way of a matter on the Adjournment. Senator Wilson welcomed the JobBridge report, about which we have spoken, and raised the issue of the sale of drugs over the Internet. We may have a debate on that issue. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy White, was in the House last week and I am sure he would be willing to...

Seanad: Juvenile Offenders (6 Oct 2011)

Ivana Bacik: .... There are uniformed officers and Victorian prison architecture. A large proportion of these children are held in protection due to fears for their safety. The widespread availability of drugs within the establishment and the high levels of bullying and inter-prisoner violence have been cited as reasons for not detaining children in the institution. In the course of my criminal justice...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2011: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Jul 2011)

Ivana Bacik: ...involving section 4 theft offences, or those covered in sections 17 and 18. That may be particularly true if there is a range of different offences covered. We all want to ensure, to use drug analogies, that the mules or couriers will not be prosecuted while people at the top levels escape. That is a key issue. We spoke yesterday about the need for enforcement, the strengthening of the...

Seanad: Biological Weapons Bill 2010: Second Stage (8 Jun 2011)

Ivana Bacik: ...capacity, as in the 2001 Anthrax attacks in New York, for example. Because biological weapons are relatively simple to produce and have this capacity for mutation, like synthetically produced drugs they can be difficult to legislate against. The terms of the prohibition, therefore, must be carefully framed to be sufficiently broad to capture mutations but sufficiently specific to ensure...

Seanad: Fourth Report of the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection: Statements (7 Jun 2011)

Ivana Bacik: ...system, as any practitioner knows, are generally children who have had huge issues in their lives in terms of poverty, which Senator Aideen Hayden mentioned as a theme that runs through the report, drug addiction, truancy from school, difficulties in the home, abuse, neglect and so forth. Troubled young people and young offenders cannot be separated as two separate categories, yet our law...

Seanad: Programme for Government: Motion (23 Mar 2011)

Ivana Bacik: ...Government. I am also glad to see that mandatory sentencing laws will be reviewed because there is limited evidence as to their effectiveness. We should look at alternative means of developing a drugs policy. I welcome the commitment to switch from prison sentences and towards less costly non-custodial options for non-violent and less serious offenders. This is a very worthwhile aim in...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2010)

Ivana Bacik: .... There is a serious legal matter to be decided in that regard. I call for a debate on the report issued today on the heroin problem in Ireland. The report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction is very worrying. It indicates that Ireland has the worst rate of heroin addiction in Europe and the longest waiting times for treatment. We need a debate on the matter...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Bill 2010: Second Stage (23 Jun 2010)

Ivana Bacik: ...is a pity we cannot use a more precise or less flippant term. The Minister noted that 102 head shops were trading when the order was issued in May to bring certain substances within the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. The order did not ensure the closure of all of these head shops because, as he acknowledged, 48 head shops were still trading on 10 June. The remarkable increase in the number of...

Seanad: Fines Bill 2009: Committee Stage. (28 Apr 2010)

Ivana Bacik: ...relating to its outcome. I am aware that a number of pilot projects were conducted. Unfortunately, there have been many such projects in the field of criminal justice, for example, the drug treatment courts, etc., but we never tend to see these being rolled out. Placing the initiative of the Courts Service and the Judiciary on a statutory basis or providing a timeline in order that we...

Seanad: Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security: Motion (21 Jan 2010)

Ivana Bacik: ...effective co-operation to protect citizens, in particular given the types of criminal justice issues that have a transnational dimension. Senator O'Donovan referred to a number of these, including drug and human trafficking and so on. I note the remit of this committee is broad. Senator de Búrca mentioned that the definition of internal security covers matters beyond those clearcut...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: ...crime offences under Part 7 of the 2006 Act. It is evidence of creeping changes in the criminal justice system. When the seven-day detention power was first introduced in the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996, it was described as being an exception to the general rule and necessary for particular purposes relating to detention of persons suspected of drug trafficking and so on...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: I move amendment No. 19: In page 25, subsection (1), lines 25 and 26, to delete paragraph (a). This refers to the detention powers in the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996, which we have already discussed. This amendment is to retain the requirement that a chief superintendent be involved in the detention rather than reducing the requirement, as the Minister's provision does, to...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: ..., the two further 24-hour extensions must go to a District Court judge. This is to what section 22 refers. In section 23, the detention provisions are those comprehended by the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996. The Minister pointed out that the maximum detention period is seven days although the maximum period is rarely used. The third set of detention provisions, referred...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages (2 Jul 2009)

Ivana Bacik: ...to issue search warrants in respect of all arrestable offences. There was a good deal of outcry about extending that general power, not only in the context of specific offences such as drug trafficking or offences against the State, but, as this Bill would do, to all arrestable offences. Regarding section 5, I checked extensively through the Dáil debates and, as far as I can see, this...