Tag Archives: Minister Helen McEntee

TRESPASSING on farm land across the county is generating concern, now that the season has opened for hunting.  The ICMSA is seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for Justice on what it has described as “the growing countrywide problem of gangs trespassing farmland on the pretext of hunting and the levels of intimidation and threat associated with this activity”. In Clare, ICMSA County Chair Martin McMahon said the problem has increased since open season begin on November 1.  “Having people with packs of dogs coming onto farm land is a very big problem,” he said. “Dogs are driving cattle mad and they’ll break through every fence to get away from them. Often, the farmer doesn’t know the cattle are out until they get a call and they could be out on the road at that stage. Farmers have to have public liability insurance in that case because there’s such a risk.” ICMSA headquarters described themselves as “deluged with complaints” …

CLARE’S Fine Gael TD has insisted that more must be done to shorten the delay in sentencing people convicted of criminal offences.  Deputy Joe Carey said the practice that has arisen in recent years can lead to the “distancing between the horrific nature of a violent crime and the sentence received”. The Clarecastle-based TD made his comments during a second stage debate on Thursday last, on the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. The Bill proposes to change the current ten-year maximum sentence for the crime of conspiracy to murder, to a possible life sentence. It also makes provision for a doubling of the maximum sentence for serious assaults and the introduction of  new criminal offences of stalking and non-fatal strangulation. On the practice of delaying the sentencing of convicted persons, Deputy Carey said he understood the argument “for the need for victim impact statements and assessment of the perpetrator’s past history”. He added that the sentencing gap “allows for a …

A FORMER Minister for Justice has sidestepped questions about the appropriateness of a cold case Garda review into the death of a 23 year-old banqueting manager in 1984. Former Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald appointed retired District Court judge Patrick Clyne to lead an inquiry into the Garda investigation and disciplinary inquiries that took place following the death of Patrick Nugent (23) Feenagh, Sixmilebridge at the end of a 40th wedding anniversary party in the early hours of February 11, 1984. His death was one of the 320 cases examined by the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) set up by Minister Fitzgerald, following a complaint made by the family relating to alleged Garda misconduct in June 2014. Rural and Community Development Minister Heather Humphreys visited the Lisdoonvarna Fáilte centre, which is accommodating Ukrainian refugees on Thursday. She previously took on the role of Justice Minister while the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee was out on maternity leave. Minister Humphreys was asked …

A DEBATE on hate speech legislation has prompted a furious reaction from the Clare-based chairperson of The Irish Freedom Party.  Speaking in the Dáil, where the Justice Minister sought support for a measure to extend EU crimes to include hate crime and hate speech, Deputy Cathal Crowe was sharply critical of the party. “It practises hate messaging and it is how it operates,” he said. “Its members message on topics of gender, transgender and immigration. They are the issues on which they campaign. It can be argued it is a political party with a right to represent and speak, but it does not have any elected mandate in this country. “If its members believe they have a right to speech, they will have less of a right to make their statements when we sign up to this because any form of rallying people or inciting hatred in that regard will be illegal.” In a statement following the debate, Michael Leahy …

CLARE’S Independent TD has called on government to stop penalising women who have just had children, by offering the a lower payment than they would receive under the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme. Addressing the Tánaiste at Leader’s Questions last week, Deputy Michael McNamara said it was an opportune moment to raise the matter given the historic fact that a cabinet member had just had a baby. Congratulating Justice Minister Helen McEntee and her husband, Deputy McNamara said “there is nothing more hopeful than the birth of a baby”. “We should recall that thousands of mothers across this State, when they went on maternity leave to give birth and bring a life into the world, had their rate of pay reduced from the PUP rate to the maternity benefit rate, which is €245,” the Independent TD continued. “Notwithstanding all the laws we rightly have in the private sector to prevent women from being discriminated against because they, uniquely, give birth, …