Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I do not accept the Deputy's allegation that nobody is in charge of it. He is being very unfair to the civil servants and gardaí who are working night and day on this issue, often in difficult circumstances. This was a case which slipped through due to human error. I believe that it was an isolated incident. Once it was brought to my attention, I asked for a review to be carried out. The review included the granting of additional resources, because the pressure of work in other areas, especially dealing with the great number of judicial reviews, took away some of the attention from the area of family reunification.

Additional resources have been assigned. There were four staff involved, but now there are eight. As part of the review, a new database has been installed to allow a better examination of ongoing issues. Regular case conferences on difficult cases are being held since July——

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