Results 9,641-9,660 of 15,638 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: State Pathology Service (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The Office of the State Pathologist (OSP) provides the State with a national forensic pathology service and a forensic pathologist is on duty, twenty-four hours a day, each day of the year. Annually, the OSP deals with a very small number of forensically relevant skeletal remains, and in these cases an independent consultant forensic anthropologist is appointed by the coroner. In the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The unprecedented allocation of over €2.3 billion to An Garda Síochána for 2024 demonstrates the Government's commitment to ensuring the Gardaí have provision for the equipment, technology, facilities, fleet and personnel it needs to carry out vital policing work. Following Budget 2024, I announced that this allocation would allow for the recruitment of between 800 to...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The nationwide roll out of Divisional Protective Service Units (DPSUs), which was an action under both the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and ‘Supporting a Victim's Journey’, has been completed. As the deputy will be aware, there is now a DPSU in every Garda division across the country. This is to ensure that when vulnerable victims of crimes such as domestic...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The unprecedented allocation of over €2 billion for 2023 and €2.3 billion for 2024 to An Garda Síochána, up 23 per cent since 2020, demonstrates the Government's commitment to ensuring An Garda Síochána has provision for the equipment, technology, facilities, fleet and personnel it needs to carry out vital policing work. As the Deputy will be aware, under the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of all crime statistics.The CSO produces these statistics using data recorded on An Garda Síochána’s PULSE system and makes regular releases in relation to various crime statistics. The most recent statistics were released...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), as the national statistical agency, is responsible for the compilation and publication of all crime statistics. The CSO produces these statistics using data recorded on An Garda Síochána’s PULSE system and makes regular releases in relation to various crime statistics. The most recent statistics were released...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Capital Expenditure Programme (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I can inform the Deputy that there are four votes with capital expenditure within the Justice Vote group, An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service, Courts Service and Department of Justice. These in total combine to almost €294m for 2023. The details of spend as a percentage of annual allocation for the first nine months of the year, is set out in the table below. ...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: International Protection (7 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 881 to 885, inclusive, together. Unfortunately it has not been possible to collate the requested information in the time requested. I will revert to the Deputy when the information is available.

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Immigration Policy (8 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The State is required to examine the application of anyone who is at the border of the State or is in the State and indicates they wish to make an application for international protection. This is in accordance with our obligations under international and EU asylum law. Ireland is a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The International...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (8 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy is aware, in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), it is the Garda Commissioner who is responsible for managing and controlling the administration and business of An Garda Síochána, including the deployment of Garda resources and training of Garda personnel. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters. I am advised by the Garda...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Policies (8 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The Multi-Unit Developments Act 2011 (MUDs Act), reformed the law relating to the ownership and management of common areas of multi-unit developments, and aims to facilitate the fair, efficient and effective management of Owner Management Companies (OMCs). The MUDs Act includes provisions relating to: the setting of the annual service charge payable by apartment owners in a MUD; the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Measures (8 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: Protecting and supporting victims of sexual violence is a priority for me and my Department and I am keenly aware of the devastating physical and emotional consequences such crimes have on victims. The issue of the disclosure of counselling records is a complex one. To strike a balance between conflicting rights, section 19A of the Criminal Evidence Act 1992 was enacted. Whilst section 19A...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: International Agreements (8 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The Government is firmly committed to ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023, which I published in July, will remove the final obstacles to ratification of the Protocol. The Bill will deal with the issues...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Residency Permits (9 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The Spouse of Irish National (SOIN) application from the person referred to by the Deputy has been approved. A permission letter issued from the Domestic Residence and Permissions Division on 6 November. The person concerned should register this permission at their local immigration office. Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Human Rights (9 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The Deputy will be aware that the question she raises relates to an investigation of nearly 50 years ago and which culminated in the courts overturning the convictions of two people in 1980; a pardon for one individual in 1992; and the payment of financial settlements. There is no doubt that this case cast a shadow on the trust we place in our criminal justice and policing systems to...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Measures (9 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 was commenced on the 10th February 2021. Along with other provisions, it created two new offences of sending, or threatening to send, intimate images without the consent of the person, regardless of the motivation for doing so. It also broadened the existing offence of harassment and provided for a new offence of...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Measures (9 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The Criminal Justice (Mutual Recognition of Custodial Sentences) Act 2023 (the “2023 Act”) was signed into law on 1 March 2023 and was commenced on 3 May 2023. As the Deputy will be aware, the 2023 Act transposed Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA on “the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Visa Applications (9 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The visa applications referred to by the Deputy were refused by the Visa Office. The reasons for this decision were set out in the refusal letters sent to the applicants on the 11 September 2023. An appeals process, which is free of charge, is available which allows applicants, in the event of a refusal of the application at first instance, to address the factors which gave rise to that...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Naturalisation Applications (9 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The naturalisation application from the person referred to by the Deputy continues to be processed by my Department. I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants and my Department has been working hard to clear backlogs. It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay. However, the nature...