Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I have asked my question for the day; I will not be asking any more.

I express my deepest condolences to all who have lost loved ones in this horrific pandemic and wish a safe recovery to all those fighting the virus. I pay particular tribute to front-line workers throughout the sector, including gardaí and Garda staff, prison staff, courts officers and staff and immigration officers. In managing our response, my Department has a cross-functional team in place and is part of the series of cross-Government structures. In particular, we work closely with the HSE.

The 14,700 members of An Garda Síochána, including 300 student gardaí who attested early in March, play a key role in protecting public health. They have been given exceptional new and temporary powers for that purpose and, therefore, we have taken care to ensure effective oversight and close attention to our tradition of policing by consent and adhering to human rights obligations. These temporary powers are necessary and provided for by law. They are explicitly in the interests of protection of public health and applied in a proportionate way as part of a carefully graduated response. This ensures gardaí engage, explain and encourage the public to comply. They only make use of these enforcement powers as a last resort. I requested the Garda Commissioner to compile and publish a record of the use of these powers, which he is doing on a weekly basis. I requested the Policing Authority to independently assess and report regularly on the use of the powers. I have made this information publicly available on my Department’s website. Beyond this critical role supporting public health restrictions, ordinary policing operations continue, with a particular focus on cybercrime.

I acknowledge and thank gardaí for their tireless work in community engagement and outreach. This pandemic has reinforced the community role of our front-line gardaí. I am sure Deputies have seen countless examples in their community and local media of Garda members checking in on those cocooning and providing practical assistance on a 24-7 basis. The deep connection to the community has always been a defining feature of An Garda Síochána and never has this ethos been more acutely needed. I thank the Commissioner for his leadership and all gardaí for their dedication and commitment.

The women, men and children who perhaps feel most vulnerable and afraid at this time are victims of domestic abuse, those whose homes are, tragically, anything but safe in these uncertain times.

We recognised at an early stage that being asked to stay at home must bring added risk and a real sense of fear for victims of domestic abuse, and we came together with key partners to devise a new plan. This has included the setting up by the Garda of a special Operation Faoiseamh on domestic abuse; and special measures by the Courts Service and Legal Aid Board to give priority to domestic abuse and childcare cases. While not directly within my remit, I understand Tusla has put a range of practical supports in place in respect of refuge accommodation. We have also launched a public awareness campaign which has delivered a hard-hitting campaign across TV, radio, social and traditional media. I strongly urge anyone suffering domestic abuse to reach out for help. The State and front-line services in the community are standing together to support you. More information on where to find support is available at a specially designed website, www.stillhere.ie.

I wish to draw particular attention to the work being undertaken by the Irish Prison Service, IPS, which faces an exceptional challenge. A significant range of measures have been taken by the IPS to safeguard the well-being of prisoners. These measures have been guided by advice from NPHET and have also been consistent with prison-specific guidance issued by WHO and the Council of Europe. These measures include a reduction in prisoner numbers; cocooning vulnerable prisoners; a quarantining arrangement; isolation and testing of prisoners with symptoms; specially trained contact tracing teams; basic health checks on all entrants, including staff; and restrictions on access to prisons, including suspension for the moment of family visits. I want to say publicly how proud I am of the men and women of the Prison Service and pay tribute to the ongoing work of the director general, Caron McCaffrey, her senior management team and approximately 3,500 prison service staff, including the medical team.

Since the start of the crisis, the Judiciary and the Courts Service have shown considerable capacity to adapt and respond to ensure that the administration of justice continues in an effective and safe manner. Critical business has continued and new measures have been introduced, including video-link appearances from prisons for persons currently in custody; judgments issued online and some pilot remote court hearings. Last Friday, the Chief Justice, court president and Courts Service outlined the next steps being undertaken to extend court services in a gradual and responsible way, creating a pathway to opening some courts in line with the Government's roadmap.

Turning to the more than 7,700 people we provide accommodation and supports to under direct provision, I acknowledge the support provided to my Department by the HSE, in particular the National Social Inclusion Office and the NPHET subgroup on vulnerable persons. Working collaboratively has enabled us to quickly develop policy responses for the benefit of everybody here. I also acknowledge the leadership and dedicated role of the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, who is here to assist in responding. HSE advice has evolved over time and we have evolved our responses with it. We have been assured by both it and the Office of the Chief Medical Officer that our approach to these issues is appropriate. From the outset, we recognised the need for offsite self-isolation facilities for individuals and identified four suitable premises in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Dundalk with capacity for 299 people. These self-isolation facilities have non-profit, section 39 organisations onsite providing psychosocial supports to residents and residents are being supported by HSE healthcare professionals. Since the start of the year, more than 1,550 permanent and temporary new beds have been procured in new centres. More than 600 residents have relocated to support social and physical distancing and cocooning measures in centres. We have reduced the number of people sharing a room to a maximum of three and such shared spaces constitute households in line with HSE guidance on congregated settings. We moved quickly to cocoon all residents over the age of 65 and those advised as having a serious medical illness. More generally, residents have been made aware of the need to practice social and physical distancing and good hand hygiene and coughing and sneezing etiquette. Managers have been given detailed HSE guidance on the standard and frequency of cleaning required. Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, is distributed as required and in line with Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, guidelines on appropriate use in residential settings.

In partnership with the HSE and Safetynet, my Department has put in place a national clinical telephone service to provide public health advice to support centre management and staff.

I am very conscious of the concerns of Deputies in respect of services provided to international protection applicants and, indeed, I have my own concerns. However, as Minister, I have worked closely with the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, to drive a programme of improvements across the State. At this time, approximately 20% of all residents are in own-door accommodation and more than half of residents have access to cooking facilities and that programme of upgrades was steadily rolling out when this pandemic hit and continues daily. The Minister of State and I were also anxious to take a longer term view and that it why we asked Dr. Catherine Day to convene an independent expert group to establish international best practice in the provision of services to international protection applicants and advise on long-term planning. That report is due later this year.

As the Chief Medical Officer has made clear many times, people should only travel where essential. The numbers arriving into Ireland are very small, the majority of whom are Irish citizens returning home. The border management unit at Dublin Airport together with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, are collecting the Irish public health passenger locator form and the system of spot checks is being rolled out on an administrative basis on behalf of health authorities, including follow-up phone calls where appropriate. The operation of this process is currently being analysed and reviewed by officials in the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General, in the context of potential new regulations. There remains work to be done in developing these complex regulations and further consultations are required.

I can confirm today that the two-month automatic extension I announced in March for immigration permissions will be further extended for an additional two months, that is, immigration permissions due to expire between 20 May and 20 July will be extended subject to the same conditions being met. For students, this means they will be able to continue work if they so wish, but they must also re-enrol in a course of study. We can return to this matter in the course of the engagement.

Finally, myself and the Minister of State wish to sincerely thank our front-line healthcare workers, for all the work that has and which continues to be done.

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