Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is welcome that a statement of strategy for the years from 2017 to 2020 will be published later this year. It is worthwhile for the Department of Justice and Equality to take time to consider issues and to assess how it should make progress. For far too long, the Department has operated on the basis of the next crisis on the list, such as an issue pertaining to the Garda Síochána or the prisons. As a result, many important issues do not get dealt with, unfortunately. I have been my party's spokesperson on justice and equality for almost 18 months. We have dealt with very few equality issues during that time. We need to recognise that equality was previously part of a different Department. I think disability also gets lost in the Department of Justice and Equality. There is an argument to be made that responsibility for disability should be given to the Department of Social Protection. The Department of Justice and Equality is also responsible for the rights and regulation of charities, gambling, property services and data protection. Perhaps responsibility for gambling could be transferred to the Department of Finance. I am not making a definitive commitment in this regard, but I am suggesting that we should consider transferring these areas to other Departments. If we do not do so, they might get lost in the morass of issues in the Department of Justice and Equality.

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