An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Mark Duffy (FG), Labour Panel

I thank the Cathaoirleach. What I am stating here is all on the public record. I am conscious of this and I will not be naming names. I want to highlight the thinking behind this, for Mayo's sake and for the sake of every county and community. The individual had caused eight separate incidents in prison and was deemed to be a risk to the public. He had thrown boiling water over a prison warden's face. For whatever reason, it was decided he would be relocated to Ballina although he had no connection to the area. This caused consternation among the residents.
There were four social workers there to receive him and this caused concern in the community. Immediately, I was on the phone to housing authorities and community police, who were brilliant in terms of communicating with me. No public representative was communicated with; we found out at second hand through residents on the street. Within five minutes of him being in the house he was arrested because of an assault on one of the poor care workers supporting him. There was a court sitting that evening and, thankfully, he has left the town. Over my dead body will he return to Ballina. He should not have been there in the first place. He was clearly a risk to the public and there should be a step-down facility that protects the public, whether in Ballina, Mayo or any county.
I acknowledge the speed of the Courts Service in hosting a sitting that evening. I was hoping to attend it to make sure I was on top of all of the facts but it was done very quickly. He is no longer a risk to the public. I am using this time to highlight it and to make sure that incidents such as this do not happen in any town, village or county. When we have huge housing lists and people in an area desperately looking for housing, to have someone with no connection to an area causing a risk to the community is totally unacceptable. We need to have dedicated facilities for people who are a risk to the public and who are stepping down from prison. This cannot happen. Ballina deserves better, Parkside deserves better and Lord Edward Street deserves better.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27