The Deputy and I agree on that point. This is an absolute priority for the Department. A board has been established to deliver a zero-tolerance strategy and is co-chaired by the Secretary General at the Department of Justice and the Secretary General at the Department of the Taoiseach. The Deputy is correct, though, about there being so much we need to do in this area. I had an incredible meeting with a superb individual, Jason Poole, yesterday concerning the horrific scenario his family has endured because of the …

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I start by expressing my sympathy to the members of the O'Farrell family on their desperately sad loss. Shane was clearly a wonderful son and brother with a bright future ahead of him and I know his loss is felt acutely by all those who had the great benefit of knowing him. As the Deputy will be aware, retired District Court Judge Gerard Haughton was appointed by the then Minister for Justice, Deputy Charles Flanagan, in 2019 to carry out a scoping exercise in l…

I thank Deputy Gino Kenny and I again reiterate my absolute sympathy and condolences to the O'Farrell family and all those who knew Shane. The report is a substantial document and my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, rightfully carefully considered its contents and, indeed, legal advice that was sought and received on foot of the report. Once I have concluded my consideration of the report and the associated legal advice, it is my intention to bring the report to Cabinet at that stage and I do expect to be i…

I fully accept the Deputy's absolute sincerity on this issue. As the Deputy quite rightly said, the report has not been seen yet because it has not been published. He is asking me a direct question as to when it will be published. I am conscious of the substantial nature of the report and that there was a meeting between the family, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, and the then Minister, Deputy McEntee. I am also conscious there was legal advice in respect of publication. I am considering all that and I i…

I join with the Deputy in welcoming his guest, Ellie, to the Public Gallery. I assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities across Ireland and key to that is ensuring that An Garda Síochána has the resources it needs. This is reflected in what has been a significant allocation of over €2.14 billion under budget 2023. There are currently just over 14,000 sworn members of An Garda Síochána and a little over 100 gardaí, 109 to be precise, resigned last year. While there ha…

The best way we can keep our gardaí safe is to pass laws in this House that help ensure they have the legal powers to keep them safe. When they take criminals off the street there should be adequate sentencing in place and we should give them the technology and resources they require. Front-line gardaí are asking us to provide them with body cameras to keep them safe. They have been asking for a long time and we need to get on and heed their request. I know the Deputy and I agree on this matter. To be very clear, t…

The Deputy is right. We should always follow data and check that we get what we want. To take a point in time, since 2015 over 880 Garda members who were doing back office duties - I am not suggesting that is unimportant but they were not able to do front-line duties - have been freed up to do front-line duties. That is 880 more gardaí. Taking the global picture from 2015 to now, there are 12% more gardaí, or an increase of 12%-----

There are more gardaí now than there were in 2015. We went through a global pandemic in that time which saw our Garda college close on a number of occasions.

I will get to Deputy Tóibín's question in a moment. I have to deal with one Deputy at a time here. Interest in joining the Garda is high and strong. We see that every time we run a Garda recruitment campaign. We will get 1,000 new gardaí into Templemore this year, which will be the largest intake in a long time. We will get to over 15,000 gardaí in the country. That is the shared view of myself, the Commissioner and the Government. I will listen very carefully to front-line gardaí and representative bodies on this.…

We will work with the AGSI and the GRA to give them the tools and resources and to hear their concerns.

I thank Deputy Burke for raising this matter. Zero tolerance is the Government's third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It was published by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, last year. The strategy has been widely accepted by stakeholders as an ambitious five-year programme for reform to achieve a society which simply does not accept domestic, sexual and gender-based violence or the attitudes that underpin it. The strategy is built on the four pillars of the Istanbul Conven…

The Deputy is entirely right. While we need to pass legislation in this House, the education piece is key. My colleague, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, is leading on a number of actions in that area, including overhauling the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum, effective from next September, and work on age-appropriate primary school education in this space. There is a cultural element involved here. The horrific Andrew Tate-type online scenario gave us a real insight into that. It c…

I will do that. We have also significantly increased funding for groups working with victims and survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, as is right and proper, to help those on the front line respond in communities. The roll-out of safe homes, alongside the roll-out of refuge spaces, is a key element in making sure of this. I do not want anyone listening to this discussion, who is in immediate danger, to think he or she needs to wait for the Oireachtas to pass a law. Anybody can call 999 or 112 to…

I thank Deputy Smith for raising this matter. I have spoken to him about it in recent days and am acutely conscious of the devastating impact that illegal drugs and drug dealing have on communities across the country. I have discussed these concerns directly with the Garda Commissioner and his senior team working on this issue since my appointment as Minister. Tackling drug dealing and associated criminal activity, including by organised crime groups and by members of the public who, through their drug-taking fuel …

The Deputy is entirely correct and I want to build on his last point. I am very concerned about the growing social acceptance of drug-taking in this country. Let me be clear, I am not talking about people with drug addiction and the pain and hurt associated with that. We need to support people in overcoming addiction. They need our help, not stigma, and they need a health-led approach but there is another type of drug use that we have to start talking about in this country. We have to call it out and talk about it …

Any conversation we have about drug use cannot ignore this reality. There is a direct link between snorting a line or taking a pill and murder, assault, criminality and misery. Drug use on a Friday or Saturday night is funding and supporting violence, crime and murder the next week. Those using drugs are helping to line the pockets of criminals who are inflicting misery and pain in communities across our country. We need to get real about this. Drug use is not victimless, far from it. As I said, I am so proud of th…

I fully agree. We must and will always support people overcoming addiction. I welcome the establishment of the Citizens' Assembly on drugs. As a former Minister for Health, I know the importance of a health-led approach to supporting those going through addiction and their families. That is not what we are talking about. What I am talking about is the so-called social use of drugs, as it were. I am referring to those who go out for a pint and accompany that pint with the taking of drugs. We have got to start callin…

I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this important matter. I begin by extending my sincere sympathies and those of the Government to the family of the late George Nkencho on their very sad loss. While events of this nature are thankfully extraordinarily rare in this country, that is of no comfort to his grieving family. My thoughts are with them. The circumstances must be fully investigated. As the Deputy will be aware, the fatal shooting is the subject of an investigation by GSOC, which is the independent statutory …

I am very conscious that there is a grieving family in all of this. It is important that this matter is fully investigated by GSOC. I cannot comment on the ongoing investigation. It is important to note that this House decided that GSOC must be independent in the exercise of its function. I am advised, and I can only relay to the Deputy the latest information that I have, that the report is at an advanced stage, GSOC will make its findings publicly available as other statutory processes permit it to do so, and the …

I thank the Deputies. I fully agree that this matter needs to be fully investigated. On that, there is no disagreement. I can only relay the answer as truthfully as I have been given it, which is that there is now a draft report that is out for internal and external peer review and legal review. I have been assured by GSOC that it is not a matter of resourcing. If it was, I would ensure that resources were not the issue. In relation to the overall issues and different Deputies' views on oversight and governance str…