I want to ask the Minister about the changes made recently to the INIS Oireachtas email address and whether any representations from TDs about immigration and asylum issues will be acknowledged and processed.

I thank the Minister for the reply. Are there plans to expand it so that other queries can be taken by Oireachtas Members? I noticed that some replies received from the system suggested that no representations would be considered were being sent to some TDs. Are there plans to expand this? For example, 100,000 migrant visas were issued in 2022. A large number are going through the system. It is often a cause of delay and anxiety for people when progress does not seem to have been made after questions have been aske…

With regard to the investment being made in the process, I understand that many more staff have been employed. Are there statistics? I know that the international protection accommodation services, IPAS, are quite good at publishing the statistics on those staying with it. Will there be regular reports from the IPO to the justice committee? More co-ordination is needed to ensure those who have applications turned down know what is happening with them. Will any extra efforts be made on co-ordination between social w…

Will the Minister provide a breakdown in tabular form of the targeted number of Garda recruits in each cohort who are beginning training and who will attest in Templemore for the year 2024?

To clarify, did individuals from new communities comprise 27% of the applicants or of the intake who would be starting the class?

The Minister will probably be aware that the justice committee visited the Garda Training College in November. We were impressed by the level of professionalism in Templemore. The college was anxious to stress that it was never actually closed during Covid, only that a hybrid model was introduced. We have called for that to continue. Templemore has the capacity for 1,000 recruits per year. The figures later this year will be interesting. I understand that in some counties, only two new Garda recruits have been depl…

The Minister mentioned that there was one class less coming through Templemore this year. Is that because of the attestations? A group was attested just before Christmas and was then more or less sent home again. Bringing forward those recruits’ attestations looked like a bit of a stunt. We cannot have a box-ticking approach to increasing the number, as visibility is vital. How soon does the Minister expect the new recruits to the Garda Reserve to be on the street? Every time we speak to people, particularly in Dub…

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this worthy motion. This may well be the seventh anniversary of the Committee on the Future of Healthcare's Sláintecare Report. Despite the commitment to ending the two-tier system contained within the health service, little progress has been made. This is especially the case in the context of GP care. The Sláintecare Report states: A new GP contract is due to be negotiated in 2017. The new contract provides an opportunity for the GPs to provide the core lead…

What is happening there should be looked at.

There are serious concerns among health staff and the community in County Kerry about the disgraceful situation of a 14-year-old boy who has been existing for 56 days in a windowless room off the emergency department in a hospital in the county. The room has no bed. It is not the responsibility of University Hospital Kerry - that is not the place for him. This is a human rights violation because the disability services have not acted. The boy is a former CAMHS patient. I was told by his mother that he had ADHD and …

The Taoiseach may not have heard about it. That might be another case.

As the Minister stated, PNR data is the information provided by passengers and collected and held in the reservation systems of the carriers for commercial purposes. The content during book in and check in may also include personal data of people on their own or with other people. This can assist authorities in identifying criminals. Like yesterday’s debate about facial recognition technology or data at the justice committee, the holding of any such data must be necessary, proportionate and subject to strict limita…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 12, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “ Reform of Coroners Acts 12. The Government shall, not later than 12 months after the date of commencement of this Act, bring forward legislation to reform the Coroners Acts 1962 to 2024, having due regard to recommendations contained in the Joint Committee on Justice Report on an Examination of the Operation of the Coroner’s Service, published in February 2023.”. On the Bill, it is worth saying we are not opposing its passage. I…

I am happy with the reply.

I thank People Before Profit for introducing this Bill. Clearly, a new way is needed for the State’s drug policy. A report of the justice committee last year recommended a policy of decriminalisation be pursued in line with emerging international best practice in respect of the possession of drugs for personal consumption through appropriate legislative reform in favour of a health-led approach to problem drug use. The final report of the citizens’ assembly was split. It does not go so far as to call for possession…

What about Tralee?

The condition of courthouses in Kerry was recently criticised by the local judge. It has long been my view that the existing building in Tralee should be refurbished in accordance with the town centre first plan of this Government, the lack of a plan to do anything with the existing building and the need for extra help for Tralee town centre, which, like a lot of places, suffers with a lot of vacant units. All along, the Courts Service has been saying that the court had to move because it was shoehorned into the cu…

Ba chóir dom beagáinín a rá mar gheall ar sin. I welcome the proposal and the amendment agus táim buíoch go raibh an Rialtas ag éisteacht leis an díospóireacht a bhí sa Teach ach tá beagáin imní orm mar gheall ar an rud a tharla leis an gCoimisiún Toghcháin. Since that name was brought in, it seems to refer to itself as “the commission” as Béarla. I would hope that “fiosrú” will be used. Feicim sa leasú go luaitear “Fiosrú - Oifig an Ombudsman Póilíneachta (in this Act referred to as the “Office of the Police Ombud…

It is important that the relevant Minister or Department media team would use Fiosrú all the time, rather than using the longer term or even the Office of the Police Ombudsman. Fiosrú is much easier and rolls off the tongue a little better.

That guidance will be given by other members of An Garda Síochána. Is that correct?