Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

We are very generous.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 13, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet committee on justice, migration and social affairs oversees the implementation of programme for Government commitments that are in relation to matters under those areas. It covers a range of policy areas, including domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, policing and justice reform, migration and initiatives tackling local-area disadvantage.
Getting more gardaí on our streets to prevent and detect crime is the Government's first priority, and the Government has allocated over €2.74 billion to the Garda Vote this year, the largest allocation ever. The Government welcomes the progress made by An Garda Síochána with respect to recruitment in recent years. It is expected that the number of gardaí will soon exceed the previous record high of 14,758 in March 2020 and the number of gardai will reach 15,000 in the near future. Recruitment into An Garda Síochána is continuing apace. Groups of around 200 new gardai are now regularly entering and attesting from the Garda College approximately every three months. Five hundred and sixty-six probationer gardaí have been assigned to stations around the country already in 2026, with two more attestations due to take place before the end of the year.
The 2025 programme for Government contains a commitment to continue to implement a firmer migration system that, among other things, protects the integrity of our immigration framework. Last November, the Government approved a package of policy and legislative reforms to strengthen Ireland’s migration and asylum system, ensuring it is rules-based, efficient and more closely aligned with those of other EU member states.
The Cabinet committee was established in February 2025 following the appointment of the new Government in January. Its first meeting was on 10 April 2025 and it met most recently on Monday, 14 September. The next meeting will be scheduled in due course. In addition to meetings of the Cabinet committee, I have regular engagements with Ministers at Cabinet and individually to discuss issues relating to their Departments.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16