I disagree with a lot of what the Deputy has just said. Morale is not on the floor. I speak to gardaí every day. I know they need additional members to support them in the work they do. It is simply not correct to say that nobody wants to join. Some 11,000 people applied to join An Garda Síochána last year and there were 5,000 in a competition that happened less than a year after that.

We want people to apply and to join. We will work through the process. However, we are now in a situation of full employment and the numbers applying to An Garda Síochána are not reflected across the rest of the public service. The Deputy says that gardaí are leaving in their droves. Less than 1% of gardaí left last year. That does not compare to the numbers leaving private sector employments. In fact, it is much lower. We are doing exit interviews to see if there is more we can do for those who are leaving. It is …

I can advise the Deputy that I hope to bring my proposals to Government for the drafting of a Bill to establish the Irish Prison Service on a statutory basis with new and enhanced governance and accountability structures shortly. In fact, I hope to bring it to Cabinet in approximately two weeks. This follows Government approval in June 2022 to prepare the general scheme of such a Bill. A safe, secure and progressive prison system is a cornerstone of any well-functioning democracy. The legislative proposals that I w…

As I said, I hope to publish the Bill in two weeks' time. That will give Deputies time over the summer, if they wish, to read into this and look into the detail of it. A huge amount of work has been set out, but of course this will have to go to the justice committee. There will be pre-legislative scrutiny and of course, as is the case with any Bill, I will be taking on board all recommendations and engagements as it goes through the Houses. It is a crucial part of the criminal justice system. It has a substantial …

The proposal being worked on at the moment is to expand the number of spaces we have within the existing prison capacity. The proposal is for between 620 and 650 new spaces to be delivered over the next five to six years. Some projects are shovel-ready and have plans already developed that can be moved on quickly to cater for the fact that we have a growing population. At the same time we need to make sure we have a very clear plan to look at penal policy reform and ways we can prevent reoffending. We need to make …

No, it will not.

As the Deputy is aware, I am committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has the resources, the equipment and the technology necessary to do its job in protecting people from harm and saving lives. As part of this commitment, I am working to ensure gardaí have body-worn cameras and to extend the powers governing An Garda Síochána's use of CCTV and automatic number plate recognition, ANPR. Such technology will enhance front-line policing capability and help to prevent crime and prosecute those involved in criminal activ…

This is about getting a balance, making sure we give An Garda Síochána the tools to be able to deal with the really serious cases I have mentioned, and protecting people's rights and their privacy. It is about striking that balance, making sure we have a level of oversight and also making sure we are in step with our colleagues at European level. This Bill will be progressed very much in line with a code of conduct that has been developed by the European Data Protection Board. All of the data protection agencies ac…

As this is a new amendment, it is important to lay out what we are doing here. In essence, these amendments will provide a mechanism for Ireland's co-operation with the European Public Prosecutor's Office, EPPO, an independent EU body established in 2017 as an enhanced co-operation measure. It has responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes against the financial interests of the EU and participating member states. It commenced its operations in 2021. The development of a supranational body with responsi…

Where EPPO undertakes the investigations, it is specific to member states that are signed up. We have not signed up officially but we are putting in place a mechanism to allow for that exchange of information. The UK has engaged with and is working to ensure that there is no loss of ability to exchange information now it is outside the EU. Depending on where the incident happens or the case is taken, that is where the case will be heard. For example, there are a number of cases at the moment, one of which is in Ita…

I thank the Senator for her contribution and what she is trying to address here. I have met with Safeguarding Ireland and I understand that there are a lot of vulnerable people who need further protection in two ways - looking at it from a criminal justice side and making sure all the right rules, regulation and oversight are in place where you have vulnerable people. It is not just in certain settings. It can also extend to the home where you might have a parent-child relationship or vulnerable people interacting …

When a person is convicted of stalking or harassment offences, essentially, the court will have the power to make a no-contact order prohibiting any type of communication or that person going within a certain distance of the other person's residence, education or employment, and if that person is in breach of such an order, it is a very serious offence. What these amendments do is complement that provision and ensure such orders are properly notified. It means that when this order is made, it is notified in writing…

This amendment provides for restrictions on the publication of the identity of alleged victims of harassment and stalking offences under section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. It provides that it is an offence to publish or broadcast information, photographs, depictions or representations of physical likeness that are likely to lead to the identification of the alleged victim. Harassment and stalking offences tend to involve a serious invasion of a victim's privacy. There is a high risk t…

This is a transitional provision to ensure certificates signed prior to the changes made to section 25 of the 1997 Act when coming into effect will remain valid and will not be affected.

These amendments provide for the making of civil restraining orders under section 20 on an urgent basis. As Senators pointed out on Committee Stage, an immediate risk may exist to a person from stalking behaviour and delays may arise placing a person on notice. The amendments provide for an application for an order to be made ex parte and for the grant of an ex parte application where there are reasonable grounds to believe there was an immediate risk to the safety and welfare of the applicant. An order made ex par…

These amendments are technical. They provide for consequential changes to a number of other enactments arising from the new section 3A, covering non-fatal strangulation or non-fatal suffocation offences, and section 4A, which covers non-fatal strangulation or non-fatal suffocation causing serious harm offences. The effect of these is essentially to extend existing provisions, which are currently applicable to the existing section 3, that is, assault causing harm offences, and section 4, that is, assault causing ser…

The Mental Health Review Board is a quasi-judicial body responsible for the review of the detention of patients in the Central Mental Hospital. Currently, Schedule 1(1) of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 outlines the requirements of the membership of the board. There must be a chairperson and such number of ordinary members as determined by the Minister in consultation with the Minister for Health. As it stands, the chairperson must have ten years’ experience as a practising barrister or solicitor or be a judg…

This is the final group of amendments. They are amendments to the Communication (Retention of Data) Act 2011 to correct drafting and cross-referencing issues in the amending Act that was passed last year. Under the 2022 Act, applications for data must be approved by a judge. They are made on an ex parte basis with the relevant agency present, for example, An Garda Síochána. They must be also heard otherwise than in public - essentially, in private. This prevents a risk of any persons disposing of evidence or otherw…

I thank the Senator. As he rightly outlined, section 13 provides for the selection and recommendation of lay members of the commission by the Public Appointments Service, PAS, for appointment by the Minister. It stipulates categories of knowledge and experience that the service shall have regard to in selecting lay members. Subsection (7) provides that the Minister may designate that a person or persons to be the first lay member or members who have been recommended by PAS prior to the established day. Subsection (…

We always have to think ahead, but statute never knows who or what Minister will be in place when legislation is being passed through. However, we do have to try to plan for potential eventualities if for no reason other than a date is set with every intention that the names were to go before the Houses. That is an option available to me, as Minister, or to any other Minister who operates this. If something were to happen such that it was not possible for those names to go before the Houses of the Oireachtas prior …