Results 9,081-9,100 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy asked earlier about the delays in respect of recruitment to the Garda Reserve. Reserves go through the public appointments system. The Public Appointments Service has been asked to fill many vacancies recently and the delay is the result of the volume of work the service has. A number of vacancies have been advertised while promotions have been dealt with, although that was done...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes, probably a consortium. The pre-qualification process for potential tenders was completed over the summer. Four consortia pre-qualified to tender for the bundle of projects. An invitation to tender was issued to them in October 2014 and a series of consultation meetings on technical, legal, commercial and insurance issues is under way. Tenders will be submitted in next month following...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Government has not decided yet on the approach to the nomination of the chairman of GSOC.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I know from previous experience as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs that Garda youth diversion projects are a valuable input. There has been a good decrease in the numbers of young people, for example, who are in detention or coming into contact with the Prison Service. Youth diversion programmes are working well. A value for money study was conducted on them some time ago. I am...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes. There is always room for improvement and one of the issues that came up in the value for money study was that, for example, the location of the projects needed to be based on a series of criteria. Useful work has been done on analysing the areas where the projects should be run and it is based on a research project by a team that works on youth diversion. The locations for the new...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: What works best in an organisation such as An Garda Síochána is ongoing seamless recruitment, which is the phrase I use, because that allows the college in Templemore to plan its work and training, including the supervised work the trainees are doing, and then make arrangements for them to go out into the community. We have to be careful. We need to be aware that the Garda...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy is speaking about something that is extremely relevant, which is the need to have an increased focus on the victims of crime. I did not say this when I spoke earlier. Out of the Dormant Accounts Fund, we are allocating an extra €233,000 to victims of crime and the various helpline services. That is something we have been able to do with the dormant accounts. I think...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: That is an interesting way of putting the question. Obviously this has come up before and there has been an approach that all members of An Garda Síochána wear the same uniform. As I understand, other forces have taken a different view and there was a long discussion in the UK on the matter. As Ireland becomes more multicultural, with members of different communities getting...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I understand that.

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I thank Deputy O'Dowd for raising this issue. We need a particular approach for women prisoners, and members have mentioned Dóchas and the need to find a new site. Deputy O'Dowd was speaking primarily about aftercare for women and an effective response for them. As he said, in March last year, a women's strategy, entitled An Effective Response to Women Who Offend, set out how the...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: One of the areas that has been greatly enhanced is inter-agency work between the Probation Service and the Irish Prison Service, and I pay tribute to both services on that. This is a key initiative. I have had a number of meetings with the Probation Service and attended a number of its conferences, and I have been struck by the new initiatives taken. One excellent initiative is focusing on...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: Deputy O'Dowd is right to identify this as an area needing attention. Prevention is also important. Many women are taken into custody for reasons to do with debt or drug addiction, which are key factors. In terms of prevention, it is key that the Courts Service and the Probation Service work together on this. If people are released from prison, we must try to prevent them from reoffending...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: We are finalising the position with the Courts Service. The numbers are down but there are still issues. I am in the process of issuing a letter seeking information on from the Courts Service regarding progress on ensuring that an effective system is in place for the payment of fines. The Deputy is probably aware that we have been working on this, as the committee discussed the Bill....

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: To provide an update on the situation, this relates to the Fines (Payment and Recovery) Act 2014, which had the objective of supporting the administration of justice when fines are imposed to ensure that the fines imposed by the courts are collected and to reduce to the minimum possible the number of people committed to prison for the non-payment of fines. There is work to be done to...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: It will be this year. It is a question of months. We all want to see this in action, but procedures need to be put in place, for example, for the courts accounting system and the criminal case tracking system. Computer and accounting systems need to be put in place. We did not have these systems in place previously because we did not have this more sophisticated approach to dealing with...

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: The increased funding provided to the Department of Justice and Equality under dormant accounts funding means we have an increase of €233,000 for victims of crime. We want to get people to use the helpline service. Part of the money will go to ensuring the helpline is available and accessible to victims. We are giving €50,000 to recruit and train volunteers, which will help....

Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Revised)
Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Revised) (4 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I am not sure if I have the information to hand but I can make it available.

Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: As the Deputies noted, we are increasing the period within which a complaint may be made to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission from six months to one year. I thank speakers who welcomed this change. The purpose of the amendment is to extend the time limit from one year with a proviso that it can be set at two years for complaints about behaviour that would constitute an...

Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: If there are questions of criminal investigation concerning retired gardaí, clearly, that would continue in regard to those gardaí. When it comes to disciplinary procedures a different issue arises because if a person is retired that is not relevant. Clearly, however, if there are issues in regard to a criminal investigation that would be ongoing. I will give the Deputies as...

Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Frances Fitzgerald: I agree fully with the Deputies that the Garda should make everything on PULSE fully available to GSOC which believes it should have such access for the purpose of investigations. I assure them that at this stage it is an aspect of co-operation and An Garda Síochána that is being fully catered for operationally. That is the reality. There were problems in this area for a variety...