I will certainly speak to the Garda Commissioner in respect of it. I am aware of the point the Deputy makes about community gardaí. Obviously this type of technology is no replacement for them, but it is of great assistance to them and complements the work being done by them. I assure the Deputy that the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Cleere and the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, have also been on to me about wanting more Garda resources in Carlow-Kilkenny. As Deputy Callaghan indicated, there was a lar…

No, but I will give the Deputy an overview of why that is the answer. I am fairly satisfied that Ireland has transposed the European Council framework decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia in a manner appropriate and tailored to the domestic system of law in Ireland. I assure Members of the House that Ireland's position has been communicated to the European Commission. That position is that the framework decision is fully transposed in Irish legislation in a manner appropriate…

I want to dispute the Deputy's categorisation of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in terms of her role in the previous Government. It was the policy of the previous Government and the previous Government made a decision to change that policy. It is unfair of the Deputy to focus on her individually. In regard to challenging hate speech, it is important to point out that, as I said earlier, simply because there is not new legislation being put in place does not mean there is not legislation in place. Since…

I have answered that already. I said we have fully transposed the Council decision. It is part of Irish law. We fully transposed it. There are no further steps for Ireland to take. However, I believe we all have a responsibility to ensure we challenge hate speech. Irrespective of whether it is challenged in the courts or by the Garda, we have a responsibility to challenge it.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. At the start, I am pleased to say that I and my colleagues, the Ministers of State, Deputies Brophy and Collins, have secured an allocation of €6.17 billion for the justice sector in this year's budget. This is a record allocation that involves a €330 million increase on last year and it will allow us to invest in a number of priority areas. One of the main areas within the justice budget is in respect of the Vote for An Garda Síochána. I am very pleased to be able…

I think I had indicated everything I wanted to say. I am conscious that it was last July we were here, so just to remind people, the amendments we are talking about seek to change the situation in respect of the proposal to abolish juries. One of the points I mentioned the last time is that the law at present is that the plaintiff, the person taking the defamation action, can decide whether there is a jury in the High Court. If the plaintiff in the High Court wants a jury, they get a jury. If the defendant in the H…

I will make a brief one. I suppose the point Senator Stephenson is making is a court could direct that a defamation action would be heard with a jury, if it were in the interests of justice to make such an order. Again, how is a court supposed to determine that one case should be heard by a jury in the interests of justice and the other should not? We would need to have a statutory scheme set out that would inform a court what are the interests of justice that would need to be taken into account. Otherwise, we woul…

I thank Senator McDowell for his interesting contribution. At the heart of it is his submission that the proposal within the Bill is illogical because we will have a situation where defamation actions will now not be heard by a jury, whereas other actions, such as assault, could be heard by a jury. It is important to emphasise at the outset that when you look at the civil law system that operates in Ireland, we have categorisation of causes of actions and thresholds within that legal system. For instance, if the Se…

They might be told they are better off going in front of a jury because overwhelmingly the jury is going to like and respect them. However, that gives a distortion to what the administration of justice is about. It is not the administration of popularity. Cases are not determined on the basis of who is more popular or who is less popular. Cases are determined and justice is administered on whether there has been a cause of action or a breach of a right that a claimant has and what is the remedy. We are reading too …

I thank the Deputy for her question. I welcome that yesterday the Comptroller and Auditor General published his report for 2024. One of the items in it, as she identified, was a chapter on the management of IPAS contracts. That report is helpful because it sets out, what no doubt the Deputy believes as well as I believe, how spending on IPAS has increased significantly in recent years. In 2019, we spent €129 million on IPAS accommodation. Last year, we spent €1 billion. As the report indicates, however, the real dr…

I thank Senators McDowell and Ruane for their contributions. For anyone watching, it is important to point out that this is not just Senator McDowell's amendment. I do not want to give the impression that he is a lone voice here. This amendment has been put down by Senators McDowell, Boyhan, Clonan, Conway, McCarthy and Keogan. All those Senators want to retain juries in the High Court. It is important that this is publicised. Senator McDowell asked why, if somebody is assaulted by the gardaí, he or she gets a tria…

All of the contracts are being reviewed as they come up for expiration. That is why I have managed to bring about a situation where we have achieved savings of over €50 million this year as a result of renegotiating 100 contracts. The Deputy asked whether or not I accept the recommendations of the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is apparent from the report and if the Deputy read it she could see-----

-----that in respect of each recommendation, the response of the Department of justice is agreed. We agree with the findings set out in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report. What we need to do, however, is to try to ensure that we can reduce the cost on the State. We have a new rate card in place which will ensure we pay lesser amounts for the accommodation. The new average is €71 per person per night. That is significantly down on what it was previously. However, we need to recognise that the driver of it …

I will certainly ensure there are efficiencies in the system. I am achieving efficiencies in the system. I want to get more State accommodation purchased but we need to recognise that when the contracts are coming up for negotiation, I and my Department will ensure that we get the best deal possible for the State.

I thank Senator McDowell and the other Senators for putting forward this amendment. The objective here is to try to deal with a situation which can arise when, if defamation is removed from a jury, it will still be permissible to be heard by a jury if other causes of action which are heard by juries are taken. Senator McDowell's example probably expresses it most clearly. He says if this legislation is enacted as it has been approved in the Houses up to now, the default position would be that you would not be entit…

I thank the Deputy for her question. I did see the “Prime Time” programme two weeks ago and I thought it was very concerning. It was an issue of considerable concern to me, not that fact that I or, indeed, other politicians were identified in it, but the potential that was there for brokers, of whom we were unaware, to sell on the market details about an individual’s movements. Obviously, from a security point of view, that could be an extremely serious matter if it was the case that individuals could identify the …

I am not going to identify the other EU country as of yet.

I do not want to put the focus on that country or the entity. In terms of the issues that arise, one of the difficulties is that many of us have granted permission to use apps to gain certain services on our mobile phones, for instance weather apps, location apps or maps. This can have the impact that we are giving information out about our location. I am not suggesting all responsibility should rest on the individual but certainly since that programme aired, I have turned off any of the location apps on my phone a…

Of course it does not but notwithstanding that, if we manage to put ourselves in a situation where we are not making the information available it cannot then subsequently be sold on. This is a recommendation I make. It is certainly inappropriate for it to be sold on and I know the DPC is looking at it. Further engagement will take place in respect of it.

I have not noticed any elbows out at Cabinet when it comes to budget negotiations. In fairness to Ministers, their objective is to try to ensure they can get sufficient resources to fund their Department for the year ahead. In my area of justice, it is something I am seeking to do but I also have to be conscious and responsible that we need to keep restraint on public spending. Notwithstanding that, we find ourselves in a unique position in this country whereby we have a very large surplus. We are not in the positi…