I welcome the opportunity to present this Bill to the House. The Sexual Offenders Act 2001 provides the legislative basis for the monitoring of convicted sex offenders. This Bill aims to strengthen that legislation. Its objective is straightforward: to reduce the risk of sexual violence. The Bill strengthens Ireland's system for monitoring and managing sex offenders in the community. It will give An Garda Síochána and the Probation Service the tools to ensure sex offenders are managed effectively. I am sure every M…

I welcome Senators' positive comments on this important legislation which will strengthen measures that contribute to the Government's efforts to ensure our communities are safer. This legislation forms a core part of our efforts to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence along with many other measures that we are taking legislatively, in terms of increased financial support and through strategies such as our domestic, sexual and gender-based violence strategy. My current and previous ministerial colleagu…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." On behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, I am pleased to introduce the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 to the House. The Bill gives effect to a programme for Government commitment and forms part of the wider policing reform programme, A Policing Service for our Future, published by the Government in December 2018 to implement the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. This report was a com…

I thank Senators for their constructive contributions. Over the past two and a half years, we have had to clear off a large number of technical amendments that are nonetheless important and will affect people's real lives. We have a small number of provisions still to deal with but we will get there.

I move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to accept the following measure: Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2021 on the European Union Agency for Asylum and repealing Regula…

I thank the Deputy for his question. As can be seen from the zero tolerance strategy published by the then Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee, last summer, the Government is committed to tackling sexual violence in all its forms. The Government’s plan recognises the importance of strong legislation, reporting, supports for victims and a co-ordinated approach in our work with victims, and it outlines the actions we will take in each of these areas. Sexual assault treatment units carry out important work unde…

In terms of data, the reason we have commissioned the Central Statistics Office, CSO, to undertake a national survey is to establish the prevalence of sexual violence. The results are expected next month. The intention is to establish whether there is an increase in events of sexual violence or an increase in the number of people reporting what is happening. We must create a situation where people feel confident and safe coming forward. That is the cornerstone of our strategy to help people come forward. Combating …

The Government is very much aware of the serious situation regarding young people and what they can access online. There is a cross-government approach to addressing this very serious situation. Work is being led by the new domestic, sexual and gender-based violence agency, which is also working with the Department of Education and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. It will build on successes of previous awareness raising campaigns as well. We cannot be naive either. Simply int…

That is how the Internet works. Deputy Tóibín is being a little bit naive to say that if we simply ban something that it will prevent it happening.

That is not what we are saying. We are doing a significant amount of work in this area. We have put a lot of bodies in place and we are addressing this very serious situation. We must address all of the areas and not take a simplistic approach to it either.

I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this important matter. An independent, impartial and efficient Judiciary and courts system is critical to our democracy. The Government will work with the Courts Service and the Judiciary to deliver a number of important commitments in the programme for Government, which will help ensure that we have a modern Courts Service. This includes enacting a Family Court Bill to create a new dedicated Family Court within the existing court structure and to provide for court procedures that s…

I concur with the Deputy on the importance of having appropriate facilities. I practised family law in the old courthouse in Wexford. It was conducted in a public sphere where people were also queuing to pay their motor tax. We now have a new court in Wexford town which has dramatically changed the situation for people in difficult circumstances. We must see that right across the entire country. That is part of the national development plan. The Department of Justice is very much focused on getting all of those fac…

I agree with the Deputy not only about having the physical spaces but having modernisation through technology. That is crucial. We have seen what can be done during Covid in terms of the courts and advancing and speeding up the use of technology. We need to see more of that. The enabling of video technology in courtrooms is part of the courts modernisation programme, as well as the training piece. Courts can use the technology for expert witnesses as well perhaps to provide their evidence from a distance so that co…

I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this important matter. The Irish Prison Service is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for both staff and people in prison. This includes ensuring sufficient staffing and managing attendance issues. The Prison Service has been recruiting prison officers in the past number of years and has also put in place a range of supports for staff. Good progress has been made with 133 prison officers recruited in 2021 and 128 in 2022. I am pleased to note that 16 recruit prison…

The main point the Deputy is making is that prisons are effectively an ecosystem and need to be treated as such. Prisons encompass staff, prisoners and management and we must ensure that both prisoners and staff have the services and the supports they need. On mental health, I absolutely agree with the Deputy. Indeed, I raised the same issue numerous times when I was in opposition. I was glad to see that Deputy McEntee when she was Minister for Justice used her own experience with mental health and established a hi…

I absolutely agree. There has not always been a recognition of that in the past but now there is an understanding that people need those kinds of supports. Often people end up in prison because of a lack of support services when they were younger. When I visited Cork Prison the high number of inmates with undiagnosed dyslexia was really notable. That led to people leaving school at an early age, getting involved in other activities and, unfortunately, committing crimes. Identifying those kinds of issues right acros…

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of the number of gardaí assigned to Bandon, Bantry and Clonakilty districts. The Government is committed to building stronger and safer communities. Since 2015, the Government has increased the budget for An Garda Síochána by approximately €672 million or 46%. This has allowed for sustained and ongoing recruitment. We are committed to delivering the necessary resources to bring the number of Garda members to 15,000 and beyond. In respect of individual Garda divisio…

I again thank the Deputy for his question. As I said, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the allocation of resources to a given division, district or station. He keeps the allocation of resources under continual review. There has been an increase in the number of gardaí in the area about which the Deputy asked since December 2015 but there may have been variations within those time periods due to operational issues. As I said, the Garda Commissioner will continue to keep the level of deployment under continu…

I assure the Deputy there was massive interest in joining the Garda during the last recruitment campaign. There were more than 11,000 initial responses and we have had no difficulty in finding people who want to become members of the Garda. There is no issue in respect of the attractiveness of the Garda or people seeking to become gardaí. That is reflective of the high esteem in which the Garda is held in this country. There was a challenge in respect of training the applicants who came forward due to the pandemic.…

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for raising this very important question on the review of income limits for those seeking legal aid. In its 40 years of operation, the civil legal aid scheme has been a significant and beneficial public service, providing legal aid and advice to people of limited means in civil disputes, including family law.  However, since the scheme was set up, Irish society has changed and the demands on the service have grown. In order to provide maximum benefit to those it was established to serve with…