Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the members of the committee and appreciate them giving me this time today. I have circulated my script so I will be quite brief in order to engage. I am seeking the committee's approval for the Revised Estimates for the Justice Vote group to provide for much-needed investment across our sector. The Estimates provide for a gross expenditure of over €3.4 billion across the six Votes in my Department and the justice sector, €3.134 billion of which relates to current expenditure and €293.5 million in capital expenditure. In addition, an amount of €5 million in unspent capital from 2022 has been carried over to 2023, bringing the total capital allocation available to €298.5 million.

I will set out in some detail the key developments in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2023 in respect of each of the individual Votes, but the main objective of the funding in 2023 is to protect our communities and to support victims. This is core to what we do in the Department of Justice. The budgetary allocation reflects the ongoing and increased investment in supports for people and communities impacted by crime and also the broad range of services offered to the public, recognising the need to accelerate the digitisation of the services.

The gross expenditure for Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána is €2.25 billion, which amounts to around 66% of the funding for the entire Vote group. This includes a capital allocation of €183 million. As members may recall, there was a capital budget in 2022 of €146.5 million, and additional funding of €25 million was allocated as part of last year's Supplementary Estimates process, which brought capital funding to €171.5 million in 2022. The 2023 capital expenditure of €183 million comprises €100 million for Garda ICT, €50 million for the capital building and refurbishment programme, €10 million for transport and €21.5 million for the air support unit. In the region of 87% of the Garda current expenditure budget is pay and pensions related. I am pleased that the funding for 2023 provides for a further 1,000 gardaí to commence training and for the recruitment of an additional 400 Garda staff to free up more gardaí for front-line duties. It is a core objective this year to get 1,000 gardaí into Templemore and to start growing Garda numbers again, as we want to reach Garda numbers of 15,000 and beyond during the course of the lifetime of this Government. Garda management is planning significant recruitment this year, with intakes scheduled for the coming weeks and in May, July, October and December, meaning up to 1,000 new Garda recruits will enter the college this year. The organisation's capacity will be further strengthened by the recruitment of additional Garda staff, including to specialist roles, to support the investigation of crime and enhance the management of An Garda Síochána. I am pleased to say that as of 31 December 2022, more than 880 Garda members have been released from posts not requiring Garda powers or expertise and their duties reassigned to Garda staff.

This in turn has facilitated the redeployment of Garda members to operational and front-line duties. This process will continue in 2023. This year we see €6 million for new ballistic vests to protect our front-line gardaí; €3 million to support the introduction of body-worn cameras and we have to get that legislation passed through both Houses of the Oireachtas and start protecting gardaí on the front line; and €5.5 million for Garda operational expenditure including provision for new mobile devices, equipment for a range of Garda specialist units as well as, importantly, ongoing training in regard to priority areas, including tackling sexual, domestic and gender based violence.

Before moving on from the Garda Vote, I wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the members and staff of An Garda Síochána for their exemplary service in supporting our communities. Their work is valued and appreciated by people throughout the country. It is important that the work of the organisation continues to be supported. The Government and the Oireachtas are committed to doing this particularly in the context of the ongoing reform programme and the recruitment campaign, which will benefit both the Garda organisation and the public it serves.

My Department’s Vote, Vote 24, has a gross estimate provision of €546.7 million. The budget is broken down into two separate programmes, criminal justice and civil justice, comprising almost 50 separate subheads, including support for a number of agencies. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, secured an extra €9 million in the Estimates, which represents a 22% increase, for combating domestic, sexual and gender based violence, DSGBV. I acknowledge the huge priority she attaches to this and ensure the committee that I intend to continue this focus in her absence. This reflects the fact that tackling these crimes and supporting victims is a top priority for the Government. The Government will now establish a new statutory agency with a dedicated focus on DSGBV under the remit of my Department. My firm intention is to have this new agency operational by next January. Pending establishment of the agency, responsibility for the allocation of funding for domestic violence services continues to be channelled through Tusla.

The Department has also allocated an additional €5.8 million in funding to promote and assist the development of specific support services for victims of crime within the criminal justice system, which includes victims of domestic and sexual crime. An additional €1 million was provided under the Garda Vote to refurbish the divisional protective service units. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, has published our Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027. The immediate priority within this strategy is to enhance engagement with children and young people who are most at risk of involvement in criminal activity, principally by strengthening the services available through the existing network of 105 youth diversion projects, YDPs. Youth justice funding has been increased by €2.5 million to €24 million, providing the resources to deliver the key objectives in the youth justice strategy and, in particular, the programme to expand and deepen the range of supports made available through our local YDP services.

A number of other agencies in our sector have received additional funding. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission received an extra €2.9 million, bringing its total allocation to €16.6 million. This reflects its increased workload in terms of both volume and complexity and equips it to prepare for significant change coming over the next year with the advent of the new Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill, which will begin to be debated in these Houses next week. Funding for the Legal Aid Board amounted to €47.9 million in 2022. An additional €3 million was allocated to it in budget 2023. Increased resources have been made available to the Inspector of Prisons who I was pleased to meet last week and the Parole Board, which I have also seen. I am pleased that we now have a €3 million fund provided to what we call the community safety innovation fund, which is up €1 million on the previous year. This is making sure that we take the funds from criminality and provide them to communities in terms of investment in community safety projects.

We have seen a significant increase in investment in our International Protection Office, IPO. During 2022 the number of people claiming international protection increased significantly with 13,651 applications made. This is a 186% increase on the same period in 2019, the last year in which application numbers were not impacted by Covid-19. Additional funding of nearly €18 million will go towards increasing efficiency in international processing applications, to reduce the risk of people remaining in the system for long periods with uncertainty about their status. I will be very clear in this regard. Immigration is a good thing; welcoming people to our country is a good thing. Faster processing times are also a good thing. Members do not need to take my word for that. I heard the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, representatives of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and migrant rights groups talk about the importance of accelerated processing times. This is about making sure that people get certainty about their position much more quickly. We have a very clear aim of making sure that anyone who comes to Ireland from a country of safe origin in 2023 gets a first-instance decision in three months, down from between 17 and 24 months last year. That is why we are increasing staff. It is already beginning to work. It is an important part of any migration system. As I said, we have €18 million which will see an increase in staff in the whole area of international protection.

We also have an allocation of €1.7 million in 2023 to the gambling regulatory authority will go towards start-up costs. We have legislation that we need to consider in these Houses but it is important that we establish an implementation support team, initial staff appointments, accommodation and professional services. I know there is, or at least I think there is, a real willingness and desire on all sides of these Houses to make progress on the whole area of gambling regulation.

Turning to the prison Vote, Vote 21, the gross estimate in 2023 is €421.9 million, plus an additional €3.2 million in unspent capital. I will go a little quicker on this because I am conscious of the time of the committee. We have seen the redevelopment of Limerick Prison, replacing an old jail dating from 1821. We have also seen the development of the new women's prison. I look forward to visiting both very shortly. Additional funding of €6.5 million will provide for the recruitment of approximately 100 extra staff. We are making real progress in terms of staffing numbers in the Prison Service. I want to thank the Irish Prison Service for its work in that regard. Physical visits have now returned on a weekly basis in our prisons since 12 December last year and visitation rates are now close to pre-Covid levels. I want to acknowledge sincerely the impact that Covid-19 has had on the operations of the Prison Service, the incredible collective efforts that have been made by the Irish Prison Service staff, management, prisoners and Red Cross volunteers. I met with some Red Cross volunteer prisoners in Clover Hill Prison recently. People have done a huge amount of work throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to keep people safe in prison and insofar as possible to keep Covid-19 out of or to minimum levels within the Prison Service. This has been recognised internationally by the WHO. I want to acknowledge all involved, staff and prisoners, in the success in that regard.

In regard to our courts Vote, which is Vote 22, we have €179.6million being provided as well as the allocation of a further €2.5 million for the courts modernisation programme. I am committed to driving this modernisation agenda, the digital first agenda, throughout the entire justice sector. I particularly welcome the commitment set out by the Courts Service. I should flag, as I believe it is really important that we increase judicial numbers in this country, that I have now received the report done by the group chaired by Brigid McManus. I intend to try to bring that report to Government shortly, in the coming weeks, with a view to publishing and hopefully making progress on it. Judicial numbers are not about judges but actually about making sure people have timely access to justice across a whole range of areas including the family courts. That is a big priority for us in the coming weeks.

In regard to data protection, the Data Protection Commission, Vote 44, has seen a gross estimate of €26.9 million being made available. This allocation includes an increase of €3.7 million compared with the previous year. To put this into perspective, the funding for the Data Protection Commission in 2015 was €3.6 million. It is now €26.9 million. As many major technology companies are headquartered in Ireland, the Data Protection Commission, DPC, has a significant lead supervisory authority responsibility role throughout the European Union. This extra budget allocation will allow for increased staff, including hiring two new commissioners, alongside the renovation of the new office premises for the DPC over the course of 2023.

The final Vote is Vote 41, which is the Policing Authority Vote of €4.2 million of a gross estimate for 2023. It includes €0.2 million in anticipated expenditure in 2023 in respect of the establishment of the policing and community safety authority, PCSA, which will merge the existing broad-ranging functions of the Policing Authority and the inspection function of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. Merging the functions of the two bodies ensures that the new body through its inspection function will have access to real-time information.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss these Revised Estimates.