Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The judge in this case, Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan, stated that the information in regard to the applicant's conviction has been in the Minister for Justice agent's possession since October 2021, without telling the applicant of his obligation to register as a sex offender. The judge went on to say that she was troubled by the fact that this has not come to light. She said this was in the public interest.

Here we have a judge who is saying that the Department of Justice is not doing its job in keeping people safe and that an individual who is a sex offender was not told the relevant information. This is incredibly serious. I understand that my question relates to funding. However, this is just one of the issues that highlights the problems being experienced by Departments. The issue is whether this is an issue of incompetence or is it a question of funding. It is important that we get down to that because the Minister and I have a responsibility to make sure Departments work in the public interest. We have to be able to identify, when that work breaks down, whether it is due to incompetence, the lack of accountability or the lack of funding.

Here we have an individual who was found guilty of a shocking crime. The Department had the information for two years yet did not inform An Garda Síochána. The two arms of the Department of Justice therefore did not work with each other. A judge made very serious comments in regard to the Minister for Justice's work in this regard.

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