Results 6,861-6,880 of 15,536 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including the development of operational protocols. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters. As the Deputy will appreciate, every member of An Garda Síochána is committed to reducing the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Programme (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The Stormont House Agreement, concluded by the two Governments and the Northern Ireland Parties in December 2014, provides for a framework of measures to address the legacy of troubles-related violence in Northern Ireland. The framework of measures agreed include the establishment of the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR). The ICIR is to be an independent...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Residency Permits (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, registrations for people living outside of the Dublin area are processed by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) through the Garda Station network. On the 2 December 2021, I announced that customers renewing their immigration permission were no longer required to submit their passport to have an immigration permission attached. While having an in-date...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Status (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 615, 616 and 618 together. Since the onset of the pandemic, immigration permissions have been extended nine times, which means that people who held a valid permission to be in the State in March 2020 are legally permitted to remain until 31 May 2022. At this time, I have no plans to issue an extension beyond 31 May 2022. Dublin based customers who are seeking...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Probate Applications (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: Management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions are the responsibility of the judiciary and Courts Service, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution. The Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Visa Applications (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: There are seven overseas visa offices that process appeals for short stay “C” visas. Appeals are also processed in the Dublin Visa Office of my Department. The Dublin Visa Office is currently processing appeals for short stay visit visas received, in Dublin, on 16 May 2022. Processing times for the other visa offices can be found on my Department's immigration website...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Status (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: All successful applicants under the scheme for the Regularisation of Long Term Undocumented Migrants will be granted an immigration permission. Successful applicants over the age of 16 years will be required to register that permission, in person, to receive their Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card. When attending the immigration registration office to register their permission, they must...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Ukraine War (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: Since I lifted the visa requirements for those entering Ireland from Ukraine on 25 February, some 30,597 people have entered Ireland from Ukraine and my Department has already processed more than 30,576 temporary protection permissions. People who are from a country that is visa-required, will still need to apply for a visa to travel to the State. These visa applications are accepted through...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The Irish Prison Service continually monitors the staffing requirements and vacancies that arise as a result of multiple factors including mobility, promotions and retirements, and recruitment campaigns are put in place as required. Specialised posts such as Prison Doctors, Psychologists, Professional Accountant Grade II, technical grades such as Engineer Grade I and Quantity Surveyor and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy may be aware, under section 87(4) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the remit of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) extends to investigating complaints of a criminal or non-criminal nature against former members of An Garda Síochána. This is subject to the complaint meeting admissibility requirements with regard to time limits which may be...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Programmes (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) was introduced in April 2012 to encourage inward investment and create business and employment opportunities in the State. The programme provides investors with the opportunity to invest in Ireland. Key to the programme is that the investments are beneficial for Ireland, generate or sustain employment and are generally in the public interest. To date,...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Bodies (17 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The Dublin and Monaghan bombings were horrific atrocities. They represented the largest loss of life on a single day in the Troubles, with many more injured and countless families affected. Despite the passage of 48 years, the tragedy and loss are as stark today as they were on this date in 1974. As the Deputy will appreciate, it is the role of An Garda Síochána to investigate...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Asylum Applications (18 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: All applications made under the Afghan Admissions Programme received by the closing date of 11 March 2022 are currently being processed by my officials. The application for the persons referred to by the Deputy does not appear to have been received by my Department by the closing date. My Department is checking its records and has reached out to the proposer’s legal...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Measures (18 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the issue of parental alienation. As the Deputy will be aware, among the recommendations made in the Report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality on Reform of the Family Law System was that consideration be given to whether laws should be amended to take into account situations where one parent is wrongfully influencing their...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Courts Service (18 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: Management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions are the responsibility of the judiciary and Courts Service, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution. The Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Family Reunification (18 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The person referred to by the Deputy submitted on-line Join Family (Irish national) visa application on 3 January 2022. Processing of this application is ongoing at present. As each application is examined under it's own merits, I am unable to provide an exact timeframe for its completion. In accordance with the provisions of my Department's Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification,...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Naturalisation Applications (18 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The application for naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy continues to be processed, with a view to establishing whether the applicant meets the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation, and will be submitted to me for decision in due course. The granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is a privilege and an honour which confers certain...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: United Nations (19 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: Ireland has signed but has yet to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT). Ireland has, of course, already signed and ratified the Convention itself. The Protocol provides for the establishment of bodies known as National Preventive Mechanisms (NPM) which would inspect facilities where people can be held involuntarily. The Programme for Government includes a...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Travel Documents (19 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I can advise the Deputy that Travel Documents are processed by the Travel Documents Unit of my Department with the assistance of the Passport Office in the Department of Foreign Affairs. In recent times, the Unit has experienced a very high volume of applications requiring processing and this, along with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, has unfortunately had a negative impact on...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Residency Permits (19 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The application from the person referred to by the Deputy was received by the Undocumented Unit of my Department on 14 March 2022 and continues to be processed. Due to the large number of applications on hand it is not possible to provide a definitive timeframe for a decision to issue. To be fair to all applicants, applications are processed in order of the date on which they are received....