Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. As to my own thoughts on the justice Vote, obviously, I am very pleased to see not only the funding but the emphasis put on the domestic violence sector and the gender-based violence strategy. Does the Department envisage legislation to enable the creation of an agency and when is that expected? I am aware of the funding is there.

I very much welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Browne's work on the justice strategy. It is really encouraging to see that. There are some indications the trickle effect of funding like that might not necessarily be getting to every community but certainly the increase in the youth diversionary projects and the significance of their funding is obviously extremely important.

I would point out, because it is inter-related to garda numbers and community garda numbers, and I am sure my colleagues could probably highlight one or two cases in their constituencies, the specialisation and professionalisation into specialities within An Garda Síochána, which is very encouraging, has led to a knock-on effect when it comes to the ability of the local chief superintendent to allocate resources on the ground, particularly in local stations. That can have a net impact. I am flagging that now because will be worth talking about it at a later stage with the Commissioner, in that it has an impact and unfortunately prevents other things from happening in terms of youth diversionary strategy programmes. That, in and of itself, is something we are trying to undo and get to the bottom of.

Deputy Daly quite rightly pointed out the legal aid rates. I remember having a conversation in 2017 with a bunch of barristers. I do not know what a collection of barristers is referred to as.