I have given my position on the matter.

Section 9 deals with the membership of the judicial appointments commission and it provides, in line with the Government programme, that the commission will be chaired by the Chief Justice. It provides for an equal number of lay members - four - and judicial members - four. Judicial membership comprises the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal and two nominees of the Judicial Council. The Attorney General is a non-voting member. Amendment No. 9 proposes that the Attorney General shall not participate…

I thank Senator Flynn. Amendment No. 8 relates to section 9 of the Bill, which deals with the membership of the judicial appointments commission. Amendment No. 8 proposes that one of the lay members of the commission shall be nominated for appointment by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC. In drafting the Bill, the Minister has carefully considered the most equitable approach to take in the appointment of lay members. The Senator will be aware that the draft provision had originally been made for…

I thank the Senators. Amendments Nos. 11, 29, and 30 are being taken together. I will deal with amendment No. 29 first. Section 63 provides for the amendment of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961, including the insertion of a new section 45A, to provide for the qualification of certain legal academics for judicial office as an additional basis for qualification. The new section 45A provides that a person who is a legal academic or is the head of a faculty in an educational establishment and has practised…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. My Department and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment work closely together to ensure the arrangements in place to facilitate legal migration to Ireland for employment purposes are efficient, fair and responsive to the needs of our economy and society. The atypical working scheme is one element of these arrangements and was developed by agreement between the two Departments. It facilitates specialised, highly-skilled employment of a short-term nat…

I thank the Deputy for her comments on the officials in the Department. This is a scheme that is constantly kept under review. Last year there was reform relating to those working in the sea fisheries sector as it moved over to the current system. The atypical working scheme unit within my Department has developed sector-specific training material to reduce the number of incomplete applications, for employers and for applicants, to ensure the applications meet the required standards. The unit continues to engage wi…

The Government is committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has the necessary resources for the entire country. Budget 2023 provides funding of €2.14 billion for An Garda Síochána. This is an increase of 38% since 2016. There is a planned recruitment of up to 1,000 additional gardaí this year. I am informed there will be 400 Garda staff as well, which will release gardaí from administrative duties and put them onto the front line. The Deputy will be aware the Garda Commissioner is solely responsible for the administr…

I thank Deputy Tully for this very important question on the number of gardaí in the Cavan-Monaghan division. The Government is committed to ensuring An Garda Síochána has all the necessary resources it needs to deliver a very modern, fit-for-purpose, policing service. Budget 2023 provided funding of €2.14 billion for An Garda Síochána. In total since 2016, the budget for An Garda Síochána has increased by approximately €586 million, or 38%. This increased level of investment by Government has enabled sustained and…

There can be all sorts of reasons for gardaí retiring earlier. We are in an exceptionally tight labour market at the moment. An Garda Síochána intends to start carrying out exit assessments to determine why individual gardaí may be leaving. The actual number compared with the overall force is still quite low. On the Cavan-Monaghan area, I assure the Deputy that recruitment is actively happening. There will be 1,000 additional gardaí this year and 400 additional civilian staff for An Garda Síochána. We will see addi…

I thank the Deputy. There is record funding of €2.14 billion for the Garda in budget 2023, which is an increase of €586 million or 38% since 2016. That is a very significant increase. That funding is going towards the recruitment of additional gardaí and the provision of resources, including equipment and vehicles. That is important for the Garda. As of 31 March, there were 76 vehicles assigned to the Cavan-Monaghan division, including 53 Garda cars and 12 vans. That represents a 9% increase since 2020. All members…

I thank the Deputy for tabling this very important question in respect of the regularisation of the long-term undocumented migrants scheme. I am pleased to be able to advise the Deputy that 76% of all applications under this extremely successful and impactful scheme have been processed since it opened in the past year, with 89% of all decisions to date being positive ones. As the Deputy is aware, this once-in-a-generation scheme was designed to give long-term undocumented residents the opportunity to regularise the…

A total of 284 appeals have been received. I agree with the Deputy in that we have all been calling for a regularisation scheme in the United States of America for some time. It was important for this State to set out that it was prepared to do what it called on other states to do and bring in a regularisation scheme to help those people. The people who needed the regularisation scheme are on the margins, often working in the black market and being exploited. This is a scheme the Department of Justice can be proud …

Generally speaking, the pathway to citizenship is clear and is set out in legislation. There was a cut-off point but it was acknowledged internationally that our cut-off point for the regularisation scheme was quite generous. It was for the long-term undocumented, but we kept it down to quite a short period for people to qualify. There will always be people, unfortunately, who just miss out. That is the nature of these things, but I ask anybody who is undocumented in the country to come forward and see if there is …

On the issues raised by Deputies Nolan and O'Sullivan, the deployment of Garda resources is a matter for the Commissioner. However, record funding has been put in place for the recruitment this year of an additional 1,000 gardaí. Many of them have already been recruited and have entered training. There are an additional 400 civilian staff as well, which will release gardaí to carry out other duties. An additional Garda recruitment process has started as well. I encourage people to apply for that.

I welcome the publication of the report of the independent review group into the Defence Forces. It is very much a watershed report that a lot of people have waited for, for a very long time. It makes for very stark reading and raises very profound issues in how women were treated in the Defence Forces. Nonetheless, what the report sets out very clearly is a critical need for fundamental and immediate culture change within the Defence Forces to ensure that what happened in the past does not happen again. The report…

Often we see that apart from what is stolen, the damage done to the houses often costs more than whatever money obtained for the stolen property. The damage to people's minds is often far more profound. I thank Deputies Ó Laoghaire and Kenny for bringing forward this Bill and for speaking on it this evening. I am acutely conscious of the impact of property crime, not only in financial terms but in how it makes people feel both victimised and unsafe. It affects both urban and rural communities and as public represen…

I am glad to speak in favour of the Government's motion of confidence. We are here because of the Labour Party's motion of no confidence. It is notable that only two Deputies were here for the start of the debate. That sends out a clear message as to whether this is serious or simple gamesmanship. It was a bizarre situation. One Deputy complained about the Taoiseach's speech, but he was not here for it. Another Deputy complained on Twitter that all of the Ministers turned up when he did not. That tells people all t…

Let us remind the people of why the Labour Party went from 37 Deputies to only seven in one election cycle. It started with then leader throwing out the word "treason" in a heated situation, playing on people's anxieties and fears and manipulating them at that time. I remember canvassing in Wexford town. My canvassers were young women in their 20s and 30s.

They knocked on doors and Labour Party supporters, taking their cue from the then leader, gave abuse to young women at the doors. It was not supporters of Sinn Féin, Independents or Fine Gael; it was Labour Party supporters-----

-----taking their cue and giving abuse to young women at the doors. It was not Sinn Féin supporters, Independents or Fine Gael; it was Labour Party supporters taking their cue. Does that remind the party of the campaign slogan "Frankfurt's Way or Labour's Way"? Does it remind the party of the slogan "Every Little Hurts" and promises on student fees and protecting the vulnerable, and all of the promises the party broke when it got into government? As the Labour Party said on the record, it is not about what people d…