Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Once again, I extend my condolences to Shane O'Farrell's family on his sad death. A scoping exercise was done. I think it was by a retired judge. I have not seen the report but I know the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, is very keen to publish the report as soon as possible. He wants to put the published report out there. We want Members to be able to read it for themselves so that, having read the report, they can make an informed decision as to whether a further inquiry is appropriate.

I understand there have been a number of inquiries already. We are very keen to be fair to the O'Farrell family but we also need to be fair to those being inquired into. Many of them have been inquired into already and we have to bear that in mind, and the impact on them and their families.

The common travel area between Britain and Ireland and between Northern Ireland and the Republic Ireland only applies to UK and Irish citizens. It does not apply to EU or non-EEA citizens, and that causes problems for them. I have raised it in my conversations with Prime Minister Sunak, particularly in the context of the proposal to bring in an electronic travel authorisation, ETA. That would make life unnecessarily hard for EU and non-EEA nationals who regularly cross the Border. That is a concern we have.

On the matters raised by the Deputy, I do not know enough about the details of that area. I appreciate he raised it with the Tánaiste when he was Taoiseach but I do not want to say something that may turn out to be incorrect without a proper understanding of it. If the Deputy sends me a short note on it or something, I will take a look into it and see if there is something practical we can do to help people to cross the Border freely, as they should be allowed to do, but does not have other implications that I may not have considered.

On the general question of public service recruitment and retention, public bodies and private companies across the board are struggling to recruit and retain staff. That is true in the public and private sectors and in almost every sector of the economy, among big companies and small, well-paid jobs and poorly paid. It is a reflection of the fact we have close to full employment in Ireland, which we have rarely had in our history. It is very much an employee's market. There is no sector of our economy or society that is not struggling to recruit and retain staff at the moment. I would rather be in this position of close to full employment than there being 10% or 20% unemployment, when recruitment and retention would be much easier, but it is a problem nonetheless.

What we are doing, particularly when it comes to health and social care, is increasing dramatically the number of people we train as nurses, doctors, therapists and health and social care professionals, recognising that the world has changed, people change careers and travel and, just to stand still, we need to train and recruit more than we did in the past. We are adjusting our policies to do exactly that.

The issue of Garda recruitment is linked to that. We have funding for 1,000 additional gardaí this year and that should be more than enough to cover retirements and resignations. We hope to see a net increase in the number of gardaí this year, heading towards a target of 15,000. I discussed this with the Garda Commissioner when I met him before Christmas. Recruitment slowed down greatly in the past two years because of the restrictions related to Covid. He and the Minister are confident it can increase significantly in the coming months. We need to see if that happens, but that is the position, as they are informing me.

I prefer not to comment on the issue in relation to JD Sports. I am not aware of the incidents that are happening. The first I heard of it was now. There may already be labour law or other laws covering this area. I am not able to comment without knowing all the facts or the current legal position.

On District Court waiting times, it is a Government priority to ensure the courts are resourced to administer justice efficiently and effectively. That is central to ensuring there is access to justice. The Courts Service works closely with the Judiciary to address backlogs and prioritise urgent work. However, a whole-of-system approach is required in order to address systemic challenges. The Minister for Justice is optimistic that both implementation of the recommendations of the judicial planning working group and the commitment by the Courts Service in its corporate strategic plan to maximise use of digital technologies to provide a more efficient and user-centred service will lead to improved efficiencies and shorter waiting times in due course. The Minister is very much aware of the delays in proceedings on vulnerable victims and it is important to point out that applications for urgent interim domestic violence orders are prioritised by the courts and are heard in the District Court on the day the application is made or at the next court sitting. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has requested a report on the disparity in waiting times between districts for family law domestic violence applications from the Courts Service. Waiting times for other domestic violence applications vary across districts but the majority hear these applications at the next sitting.

Like everyone, I have seen the newspaper and media reports on baby Laoise Kavanagh. I think we all feel for the Ó Scolaí and Kavanagh family and what they have endured. For everyone in this House it is difficult to comment on an individual case. None of us knows all the details and it would take anyone a long time to be fully across all the details of any medical case of this nature. When it comes to individual responsibility, where it relates to a doctor it is done through the Medical Council and where it relates to a midwife it is done through the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.

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