Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is why we have made available €9 million for the purchase of new Garda vehicles. Also, the long promised new Garda roster system is now operational. This is working, though members of the opposition choose to ignore that. Crime figures have been reduced across the majority of crime categories due to the success of targeted Garda operations and smart policing. Drugs to the value of over €100 million were seized in 2012.

A new visa investment programme from the Department of Justice and Equality has resulted in investments of more than €10 million, to date, and the visa waiver programme is contributing to an increase in tourist and business visits by non-EU nationals to Ireland.

We have brought in regulations extending recognition to single sex marriages and civil partnerships entered into in many foreign states.

As with the Department of Defence, the Justice budget has kept within its allocated spend.

The above is only a sketch of what has been happening - often quietly - beneath the surface of media noise and public discourse. Each one of those initiatives was made possible because we listened to those most closely involved. This was not done by press release. It was done by people who share a sense of the common good, meeting and working through the practical detail to overcome obstacles.

There is a process which I intend to see through, relating directly to the real needs of people. This is far removed from the sort of political circus we have seen over the past two weeks. In the coming weeks and months I will be dealing with the following: publication of a Green Paper on Defence; enactment of the Criminal Justice Bill 2013; Committee Stage of the Legal Services Bill and the Bill's ultimate enactment by the end of the year-----

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