I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 23 and 173 together. I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. It is obviously very close to both Deputies, who have worked extremely hard in their communities and with local resources and authorities to try to address this. As the Deputies are aware, on Friday 21 August 2020, I appointed the former director of the Probation Service, Vivian Geiran, to carry out a scoping exercise to assess the impact that criminal activity in Drogheda is having on the community and make recomm…

I again thank both Deputies for their commitment to this. The implementation of these recommendations will only work, if all agencies, including the various Departments, whether Justice and Equality, Health, Education and Skills or Employment Affairs and Social Protection, come together. This mirrors the work we intend to do through the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, in respect of which we are bringing together all the various agencies. It was alluded to, that in many cases,…

Deputy O'Dowd raised the issue of the timeline. I asked Mr. Geiran whether ten weeks would be enough and he absolutely assured me it would be. The sooner we can get the recommendations, the sooner we can start to act on them. In the meantime, there are still concerns about criminal activity in Drogheda and the surroundings area in counties Louth and Meath. Regarding the changes over the past year or two, there are currently 152 gardaí assigned to the Drogheda district. This represents an increase of 46% compared wi…

As the Deputy will be aware, section 26 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 provides that the Commissioner is responsible for the direction and control of An Garda Síochána. The Garda Commissioner is also responsible for the day-to-day management of An Garda Síochána, which includes investigations of alleged crimes and other relevant matters. As Minister, I have no role in these matters and, therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on an investigation carried out by An Garda Síochána, in particular in resp…

I do not want to give the Deputy a short answer, and it is not that I do not want to answer him, but, given the very serious nature of what we are talking about and the situation in general surrounding this case, it is important I do not say anything that could impact a case currently before the courts. As I have outlined, however, there is a very clear process where there is no storage or capacity available within An Garda Síochána's facilities. The Garda has to go through a very rigorous process to ensure that an…

I agree we need to ensure that any kind of evidence being kept or stored is kept safely. That is why there is a security review under way as to what happened here specifically. I do not know of any other such incidents nor do I have figures of incidents like this. I do not know if that information is available but I reassure the Deputy that this is being looked at and a review is under way. We do not want to see this happening at any stage with any kind of evidence and it is important that all the correct procedure…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know it is a long-standing interest of the Deputy and I agree that the perpetrators of this crime should be brought to justice. This was an appalling bomb attack that took place in Belturbet in 1972 which sadly cost two innocent young people their lives and injured many others. I extend my sincere sympathy to those bereaved and injured in that terrible attack. Many people are understandably still suffering the effects of it. I appreciate that the Deputy continues to seek…

I have not seen the document the Deputy referred to but I would be happy to receive it, as I am sure the Garda and the PSNI would be. They are committed and where there is new evidence or an ability to reach a conclusion and bring the perpetrators to justice, they want to do that. However, it is difficult without new evidence, given the period of time lapsed. This case will remain open. They are committed to that. The families in question have recently sought access to files under the Freedom of Information Act and…

I agree with the Deputy. The use of violence in any instance is reprehensible and should never be a course of action for anybody, particularly when such innocent young lives are lost. I cannot begin to imagine the pain and suffering that has been faced by the families of these two victims over the years, as well as by the many victims of violence on this island in recent years. Violence should never be the answer and we need to do everything possible to support and work with An Garda Síochána and the communities in…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Deputy will be glad to know that female genital mutilation has been an offence in Ireland since 2012. It is barbaric and should never happen. The Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act was enacted in 2012. It was sponsored by the then Minister for Health and the Act created the offence of female genital mutilation and related offences. Addressing this serious issue in Ireland falls primarily under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Ste…

The Deputy has asked a number of questions there. He is right in saying that first and foremost, we need to stop this practice and a lot of that is done through education of parents and within communities. We will progress this through the second domestic, sexual and gender-based violence strategy, which includes a number of measures. A review is under way and we are looking to develop a third new strategy. Specific to that, an audit will be under way within weeks which will look at all of the various different Dep…

I support the Deputy and I agree that we need to eradicate this process. We have made good strides in recent years with the introduction of legislation as a priority as part of the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence strategy. I mention the fact that we have had one conviction. While the number might seem low, there was a significant problem in Ireland whereby this is often only brought to light when there is a medical need following such a procedure and where there is a willingness or ability for an individ…

While I have not stayed in Dublin in the last few nights, I have friends who live here and they have highlighted this issue to me a number of weeks ago, which was surprising and concerning given how far out we are from Hallowe'en. The importation of fireworks is controlled under law in the interests of safety and security. Government policy restricts the availability of all hazardous fireworks to the public. Licences under the Explosives Act 1875 are issued by my Department but only for the importation of fireworks…

An Garda Síochána is already undertaking a great deal of work. As we both said, this situation is happening much sooner than Hallowe'en and Operation Tombola has commenced and been in effect since 4 September. Perhaps that operation needs to start even sooner, but it is very early. This plan has many aspects directed against the sale of fireworks, including, to name just a few, combating the importation, sale and distribution of illegal fireworks. This is done through intelligence-led operations, visits to local ca…

The challenge here concerns situations, such as those we have seen recently, where there have been large gatherings of people into which fireworks have been thrown. When the police arrived and spoke to people, however, there did not seem to be an ability to identify who had thrown the fireworks. This seems to be a major problem where younger people are not willing to say who threw a firework. Some people living in communities, who also know who is responsible, are not willing to say who did it. If it is not possibl…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 191,193 and 194 together. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As the Deputy is aware, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of all crime statistics. The CSO produces these statistics using data recorded on An Garda Síochána’s PULSE system and makes regular releases, under reservation, concerning various crime statistics, including recorded and detected crime. The CSO also continues to wor…

The work of An Garda Síochána is directed by the Garda Commissioner and his team, but I can say that where a particular increase has been identified in these types of crimes it has been possible for An Garda Síochána to place particular emphasis and a focus on trying to improve the response to and support for those individuals affected by crime. Regarding the area of domestic abuse, for example, where there was a great increase in crimes in the last six months, An Garda Síochána has made a great effort to engage wi…

I do not have the figures now, but I can respond to the Deputy later. I have exact figures for Kildare, the Deputy's county, but I appear to have mislaid them in my documents. I will pass those figures on to the Deputy once these Questions are finished.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to present this important Bill. I welcome the broad support it received in the Dáil last week. The purpose of the Bill is very clear from its Title. It is about new enforcement powers for the Garda Síochána for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically the Bill relates to commercial premises where alcohol is sold or supplied for consumption on the premises under a licence or in a registered club. Let me be clear from the outset that the enforcement powers in this …

I thank all Senators for their comments and especially for their broad support for the legislation. I did not say it at the outset but, to be clear, I am very grateful to all Senators for their support and for allowing the Bill to go through and bypass the pre-legislative scrutiny. I understand and fully appreciate that this is not the way we should be passing legislation. Unfortunately, this is the second time I have brought legislation in a short space of time in this manner. I do not want to be doing it this way…