Similar to amendment No. 28, I hope in the future there is leadership shown by the Department and Minister to say it would be referred to as "Fiosrú" at all times, as opposed to the longer "office of the police ombudsman". Seanad amendment agreed to.

The main difference is that the Minister is changing the definition of superior officer so someone of the rank of inspector would be able to make these applications.

The Minister of State is familiar with the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, disaster that occurred between 2016 and 2021. That is the identified period for which there was overprescription of medication and inappropriate care. Children experienced massive weight gain. Risperidone was nearly universally applied and prescribed for children. Lives were ruined. Following the identification of some of the issues involved, the Maskey report was established. Following Maskey, a redress scheme was put in…

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I accept it was acknowledged that 240 people did not receive an adequate standard of care. The problem is that anyone who does not meet these criteria, as the Minister of State said in the reply, is free to pursue a case separately with the HSE. An example of what we are dealing with in north Kerry in particular is the case of one young fellow who was a talented footballer, who had a most serious form of social anxiety and who who was prescribed Risperidone. He put on fo…

When will that look back be finished?

With the greatest respect to the Minister of State, it is very disappointing that there is nobody here from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Before he left, the Minister for agriculture dropped a statement which said that as the Tánaiste made clear, interventions by states are not about joining one side or another but about aiming to assert a legal interpretation of the issue at hand. That sounds to me like someone who is looking for an excuse not to do anything. It sounds to me like a Government that does not ca…

The housing policy of this Government can be summed up by saying, "We need more houses, the market will provide them and we do not really care how or for whom they will be delivered". The bulk purchase of the 46 homes in Belcamp that were aimed at individual buyers has exposed the incompetence of the Government's plan and its lack of concern for home purchasers, homeless children, students, people on the housing waiting lists and older people. I will return to the latter group. In order to prevent this and disincen…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 to permit and encourage courts to refer cases to restorative justice schemes between charge and conviction, and to dismiss charges if appropriate; to encourage courts to refer cases to restorative justice schemes between conviction and sentencing; to permit and encourage An Garda Síochána and the Director of Public Prosecutions to refer cases to restorative justice schemes between charge and c…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

First, I want to praise those working in homeless services in Kerry County Council. Within the council's housing services, they have around 70 beds. Approximately 50 of these full, but they are just about managing because of their efforts to keep some beds in reserve. They are continually trying to source more beds. Much of their efforts are focused on keeping people out of emergency accommodation. They are engaging with clients to see what can be done, as once they are in, they know that it will be difficult to ge…

I ask the Minister for Justice her views on the public order disturbances and riots of 23 November in Dublin city centre with special regard to any action that has been taken since that date.

There has been a number of engagements on this Bill. I will again mention the victims of the incident, including the parents, school community, bystanders, emergency services, council workers and gardaí, in particular the resting gardaí who came in at short notice. We have been hearing for a long time that the main issue has been a lack of a Garda presence on the streets. That is not only true in Dublin city centre but also in many of the other cities across the country and in most large towns. We have heard a numb…

I am glad that the wording has been amended to "closed to new recruits" because for a long time, many spokespersons said the Garda College was closed, which, of course, it was not. When they talk to us, gardaí demand assistance with the Garda Reserve regulations. It has not been able to recruit since 2017. I heard what the Minister said about legislative amendments. We attended the Phoenix Park today to receive a briefing on bodycams and facial recognition technology. This legislation is not going to distract from …

I ask the Minister to provide a breakdown, in tabular form, of the average number of gardaí on ordinary absence and those on absence due to injury on duty in each of the Garda districts for quarter 3 of 2023 in comparison with the same period in 2020.

The numbers do not simply reflect the pay and conditions because, as the Minister said, there are increased stresses resulting from having to deal with things like serious road traffic accidents, people having taken their own lives and other types of stressful scenes. Gardaí also feel overstretched, burnt out and that no one has their back. It is interesting to hear the Minister mentioning peer support. Does she have a figure for the number of people who provide peer support to gardaí? What I am hearing suggests th…

Much of this comes back to the number of gardaí being attested in Templemore. The Garda Commissioner said a number of weeks ago that the total for this year would be 714 but then last week a figure of between 700 and 800 was mentioned. Does the Minister have a figure for the number of attestations that have been brought forward for this month? Does she have a figure for the total for this year and the number she anticipates will be attesting and entering the Garda College next year? I ask her to revert to me on the…

The immigration, migration and asylum debate, like the system, often seems unclear, unfocused and even chaotic, and often sees more disinformation than almost any other issue in the public policy sphere, on common travel areas, EU travel zones, stamp 4, work visas, international protection and the Ukrainian scheme. It is also worth remembering that 100,000 people arrived in Ireland last year on work visas and they are the people staffing our nursing homes and hospitals. Nation states can and should manage their bor…

We have no choice but to bring this motion. We have no choice because the problems are so serious. They have been raised but they were not addressed in an adequate way. We highlighted the problems that existed and continue to exist within criminal justice. We said there was a crisis with Garda morale and the Minister said there was no crisis. We said she needs to complete the new regulations for the Garda Reserve to improve the Garda presence on the street, something demanded by retailers, workers who feel unsafe, …

The Deputy has not seen it. She is bluffing.

The individual is not identifiable.