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

The record justice allocation for 2025 of €3.92 billion will help to keep our communities stronger and safer. This budget is a step change in investment across the entire criminal justice system, including the courts and prisons, and will build on a robust programme of new laws, policy delivery and significant capital investment in technology, equipment and buildings.

I am pleased to provide €70 million, which is a trebling of funding since I took office, to leave no place in our society for any form of domestic, sexual or gender-based violence.

The total gross allocation for the Garda Vote is a record €2.48 billion, an increase of more than €500 million since 2020. This will maintain and enhance our police service through recruiting between 800 and 1,000 more gardaí and 150 new civilian staff. Increasing and strengthening our Garda Reserve towards 1,000 members is key to stronger, safer communities and has been provided for in this budget. We have continued to take significant measures to boost recruitment by increasing the training allowance in this budget to €354, thereby almost doubling it in a year, increasing the entry age to 50 and increasing the mandatory retirement age to 62. There will be €150 million for Garda overtime in 2025, representing a boost of 13%. This will provide resources for high-visibility policing efforts and serious crime investigation.

A priority for me is to look beyond the measures that have been taken, which is why a group that I established this year will report to me soon. It has been looking outside the box to determine what more we can do to support Templemore with new recruits.

Another priority for me is to support the individual members of the Garda Síochána who serve and protect our communities with dedication and skill in what are often very difficult circumstances. There is an additional budget provision of €1.5 million for training, employee well-being, medical services and equipment to support a modern police service. A further €5 million is being allocated for public order equipment, including specialist personal public order equipment, crowd barrier controls, an expansion of the dog unit, water cannons and thousands of units of body armour.

I can confirm that €9 million in additional funding is being provided for enhanced road safety measures, in particular the deployment of additional speed cameras, which will provide for improved enforcement of traffic laws, reduce speeding and, ultimately, save lives on our roads.

The gross allocation for our Justice Vote is €661 million, an increase of €63 million on last year. This significant increase is to support victims and vulnerable people and to provide vital services to those who need them. Tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a priority for me as Minister for Justice in terms of providing victim-centred supports and services while ensuring that perpetrators are punished. Budget 2025 provides €70 million for this, a trebling of funding since I took office in 2020. I have increased funding specifically for Cuan, our new domestic violence agency, to €67 million, including additional resources to support the implementation of our zero-tolerance strategy. There will be funding for 80 additional refuge spaces with a view to doubling their number so that ever person, family or child who needs a space can access one. The domestic violence services will also benefit from the additional funding being provided for victims of crime.

My Department has continued to improve the processing of international protection applicants. On top of €50 million, €25 million will go towards end-to-end investment across our system. This will provide for a reduction in application processing times by significantly increasing staff numbers and through the greater use of technology. In 2025 alone, we will hire a further 400 staff to be deployed at every stage of the process. This builds on my work of recent years in more than doubling the number of staff, with a corresponding tripling of decisions. The quicker people get a “Yes”, the quicker they can move on with their lives. If it is a “No”, the quicker they can be removed.

I will shortly announce another set of successful applicants to the community safety fund. This is funding that has been taken directly from criminals by CAB and reinvested in our communities. I am pleased that the fund will reach €4 million this year and €9.5 million next year. This funding will provide for 36 community safety partnerships nationwide and see the establishment of a national office for community safety to ensure that all of the partnerships are supported in their plans at national level.

I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, in the areas of youth justice and tackling gambling as a public health problem. Regarding the latter, he is taking a Bill in the Seanad at the moment. He has delivered a more than 160% increase in youth diversion scheme funding since we started working together. The youth justice funding of €33 million will have a significant impact on individual young people, their families and wider communities. We have also secured additional funding for the gambling regulator, with funding to more than double next year to €9 million.

Regarding family justice, which is another area that has needed a lot of focus over the years, ensuring that the voices of children continue to be heard in family law proceedings is an important aspect of my family justice reforms. Some €3 million has been allocated through this budget to enable the piloting of a scheme to fund voice of child reports in family law proceedings. It will also allow for the development, implementation and evaluation of a pilot project to establish a children’s court advocate. The role of the advocate will be to support children in their journey through private family law proceedings, to ensure that their voices are heard and, above all, to ensure oversight of reports provided by any person to the court.

The budget for criminal legal aid will be increased by €9 million and include an 8% increase in fees from 1 January, building on the 10% increase I secured last year. There is a commitment to ensure that we can close the gap and find an additional 8% in the year ahead.

The gross allocation to the prisons Vote is €525 million. Additional funding and capacity are crucial if we are to ensure that the prison system is safe and humane and has sufficient spaces to house the most serious offenders while also focusing on rehabilitation. Funding this year will support the recruitment of up to 350 new prison officers, allowing for another 130,000 extra staff hours and the building of 155 new prison spaces by the end of this year. It will also allow us to roll out the total allocation of 1,100 spaces that I have planned for by the end of the decade.

Beyond that, a separate group that I established is bringing recommendations to me this week to look at what further resources are required in the prison population. It is absolutely essential that we increase overall capacity within the Irish Prison Service to continue to boost the number of staff. The allocation of €53 million will help us to deliver just this - the 1,100 new prison spaces that I have mentioned.

Finally, on the Courts Vote, the gross allocation of €195.6 million is increasing by €11 million from last year. This will allow for 50 additional staff to support the work of the expanding Judiciary. I have appointed 30 additional judges in the past two years. This supporting staff will assist them in their work while laying the ground for 20 additional judges that will be allocated across the district, circuit and high courts.

The courts will also receive €2 million more to provide for the progression of the courts modernisation programme. This includes the outsourcing of jury-minders to free up tens of thousands, to be exact, 24,000, garda hours for important front-line policing work. I will continue to see what areas in which we can free up gardaí to do front-line duties.

Finally, I thank again my colleagues, the Ministers, Deputies Chambers and Donohoe, for supporting these proposals and, indeed, for prioritising our overall objective, that is, to have stronger safer communities.

See this speech in context