Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I fully support the Deputy's sentiments. There needs to be continuous engagement between governments in general on these matters but also between individual Departments and Ministries. I am pleased there is ongoing contact between myself and my colleague, Naomi Long, who is the Minister of Justice in Northern Ireland, as well as excellent ongoing cross-Border co-operation between our respective Departments on a range of issues. There is also engagement between An Garda Síochána and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, and other agencies within our competencies and their counterparts.

As the Deputy will be aware, the intergovernmental agreement on co-operation on criminal justice, IGA, is the main formal stream of ongoing joint work with the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland. Under the IGA, justice ministers from the two jurisdictions meet regularly to discuss criminal justice matters of mutual interest or concern and to develop plans to achieve more effective co-operation and co-ordination on criminal justice matters. The last IGA ministerial meeting was held virtually in February, at which Ms Long and I agreed a new plan of work to run until the end of 2023. The next ministerial meeting under the IGA is being planned for the autumn. Unfortunately, due to the timing of the most recent number of meetings and with Covid figures, they have all been online so we have not had a chance to meet in person through that format. The Garda Commissioner and his equivalent in the North, as well as a number of representative organisations, are also on those calls. We plan to host the next meeting in the autumn and, hopefully, that will be in person. I would be delighted to welcome the Ms Long, if she is still in that position, at that stage.

Under the IGA, a senior officials working group oversees co-operation in a number of criminal justice areas, including forensic science, public protection, victim support and youth justice matters. This group last met in March and includes senior policymakers from all the relevant areas from both jurisdictions. Outside of the formal framework of the IGA, there is regular North-South co-operation. Ms Long and I recently engaged on victims' issues and we issued a joint statement on the topic of consent to mark International Women’s Day. We have regularly discussed how we can work collectively to progress our laws and policies, particularly in the areas of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Stalking legislation has been introduced in the North, which is something we are now introducing and hope to have enacted later this year.

I note that my Secretary General, Oonagh McPhillips, met her counterpart recently. There is ongoing contact at senior official level too.

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