I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. All of us in recent times have seen far too many incidents like the one referred to by the Deputy. This is why my Department undertook a review of familicide. This report was published in May 2023. It was commissioned by my Department to effectively respond to a very challenging but also complex area and one that I feel we have seen far too much of in this country. As part of the review there was extensive engagement with non-governmental organisations, with…

If it were that simple it would be done already but unfortunately it is not that simple. It is the case that for somebody else to become a guardian they will have had to shown that they were for the previous 12 months a part of that child's life and a part of the day-to-day of that child's life. If both parents had been in that scenario and one is since deceased and the other is potentially up for murder or has been convicted then obviously there is nobody who can fill that space. That is one area that has to be de…

I wish to clarify that there is no delay in any report. Any report that I have been given I am acting on. With the familicide report actions are already being taken. This specific one-----

No. What I said was at the end of the year there were recommendations specifically on this. The familicide report does not set how one does this. The Deputy is suggesting that there would be an automatic removal of guardianship. To do that would impact on the cases that I am speaking about. We need to have an understanding of the individual cases. For that we need to change the structure itself and that is what I am looking at. The family justice strategy speaks of the need to have the voice of the child inserted i…

No, this is not a report that is being undertaken as part of this. It is not mine. This is separate. At the end of the year there will be proposals as to how we enact this specific recommendation from the familicide report. They are two different things. We are not talking about that.

I thank the Deputy for his interest in this very important issue. As he has mentioned, one of the overarching goals of the Zero Tolerance strategy is to ensure that everyone across the country who needs a refuge space will have access to one. Our commitment to double what we currently have represents the fastest ever expansion of refuge accommodation in this country. Earlier this month, I was delighted to be joined by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, to launch a new 12-unit refuge in Wexford. Thi…

The ambition is to double the number in the lifetime of the strategy, which is only two years into its progress. We have not achieved that yet but I am confident that we will achieve it over the lifetime of the strategy. We are also developing safe houses. This is not just about providing wraparound support within the refuge itself. It is also about making sure that there are step-down facilities for women and children to go to, which will account for the vast majority of cases, and facilities for women who feel th…

I thank the Deputies. I have said this many times and I will say it again; I believe we are dealing with an epidemic. It is in every town, village and corner of our society. More women are coming forward. It is mainly women although men are, of course, also victims. It is a very positive thing. We need to be able to respond with resources and supports. It is not just about providing refuge and accommodation. It is also about outreach services and supports. In the last four years alone, funding has gone from €20 mil…

As the Deputy rightly said, a great deal of work is being done but we can always improve the service overall and the timelines for people. We are responding and trying to make these changes while at the same time seeing an increase in the number of applications overall. In 2023, we had over 166,000 visa applications submitted and approximately 140,000 of those were granted. These figures are likely to be surpassed in 2024. For the first seven months of this year alone, there were 123,000 visa applications, which is…

To the latter question, as the Deputy rightly said, last May I jointly announced with my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Peter Burke, that a project to adopt the single permit to work and live in Ireland would be developed. There is a two-stream process now. The outcome of this initiative will streamline this process for applicants coming to Ireland to work by combining three separate applications into one single procedure. This is a complex project that will take several years …

Depending on the country, there are differences in the numbers of applications and ways in which embassies in the original countries are operating. While I do not have the exact times, I can tell the Deputy that the top ten nationalities in terms of the short-stay visa grants are India, China, Turkey, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, the Philippines, Egypt, Colombia and Saudi Arabia. This ranges from 25,000 applications to 850 applications. Depending on where people are coming from, but also the structure…

One of the important ways we will do this is through investment in technology.

We have already seen the investment in the normal visa structures but also in the international protection system and how this has allowed us to process many more applications.

I agree that the impact organised crime and those involved in organised crime can have on our communities is devastating. They intimidate and inflict violence and misery on all parts of our community. It is a top priority for me, my Government and this Department to take swift action supported by and supporting the Garda Commissioner and his team. This includes increasing the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from ten years to life. This takes into account those who direct gangland crime but do not tend to …

This is not an issue that we can deal with alone and that is why An Garda Síochána has significant engagement and very strong links with Interpol and Europol. We have worked very closely with the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre - Narcotics, based in Lisbon. We have deployed Garda liaison officers to specific countries which we know are problematic where drugs are coming from or which are used as shipping bases for drugs that are then distributed to other areas. Within An Garda Síochána, every division has an…

We need to come at this from a number of different angles. There is not one single solution to resolve what is a problem not just in Ireland but right across the world. We need to continue to invest in and support An Garda Síochána to work with its partners across the globe to try to tackle at source the organised crime groups and those who are responsible for producing this. We need to work in communities. To Deputy Ó Murchú's point, what we have done in Drogheda has been hugely successful, supporting the Garda wh…

In recent years, I have increased investment at every level of the international protection system, including in the International Protection Office, to deal effectively with the increase in applications. As a consequence, there are now more than 500 staff based at the Mount Street premises, involved in all stages of the international protection process, from initial registration, through to interview and issuing of determinations. The location of the office, which has been in use for this purpose for more than 20 …

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan. It is for the reason he has outlined and I have outlined, which is a significant increase in the number of international protection applicants, that a second centre has been opened. Almost 50% of applicants who would have been going to Mount Street are now going to Citywest. I believe it is a more appropriate location, particularly when women and children are being processed. The increase in staff means there are now 541 staff members, an increase of 155% in the past two years alone. Thi…

As the previous Deputy just mentioned, we have joined the EU migration pact and, obviously, there is a significant amount of planning under way to make sure we are ready to fully join the pact within the two-year timeframe when it becomes operational. As part of that, we are exploring, as we have been doing and investing in recent years, new and innovative ways in which we can expand our interview and our registration capacity. We are piloting remote interviews as well, which has already started. We are also lookin…

It has always been my view that members of An Garda Síochána should have access to and be wearing body-worn cameras for two very clear reasons. First, I believe it helps in keeping them safe. As the Deputy rightly said, it is important they have that ability to capture an incident as it occurs and have a real picture as to what happened as opposed to an edited or potentially changed version of it. It is also important for gathering evidence and making sure gardaí have the ability to capture evidence and then have a…