Results 201-220 of 3,719 for speaker:Gary Gannon

Committee on Drugs Use: Family Supports: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: We have gone full circle and I have not asked any questions. The witnesses have all given up their time and expertise, taken out of what are clearly busy days. Is there any question that has not been asked of them? Is there any point they were making that was interrupted? Is there anything of which they would like to make this committee aware before they leave?

Committee on Drugs Use: Family Supports: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: Thank you, Ms Lyones, for sharing that experience.

Committee on Drugs Use: Family Supports: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: From my part, it genuinely has been a privilege to hear the extent of the work the witnesses do, the heart they bring to it and the difficulties they have to overcome in order to deliver the services that are just based on kindness, decency and humanity. It should not have to be so hard. I thank the witnesses. On the part of the committee, we have all been better informed from their...

Estimates for Public Services 2025 (24 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: What strikes me reading through the Estimate is how little ambition the Government is showing when it come to targeting vulnerable young people, tackling domestic violence and living up to our obligations on prisons and immigration. Once again, we are presented with tables that look busy on the page but that fail utterly to meet the needs of the people who depend on a functioning and fair...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (24 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: In the Irish Examiner this morning, Cormac O'Keeffe gave voice to what many of us working in the area already know. Throughout Dublin city, even youth workers are starting to feel scared as they go about their work, such are the levels of increased violence and intimidation. I find that extraordinary. What is more extraordinary is that the Minister's Government has, over the last two...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (24 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: Are they wrong?

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht – Questions on Policy or Legislation (24 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: I will tell the people-----

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (24 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: 122. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the independent external review of the chaplaincy service within the Irish Prison Service; the timeframe for the implementation of the review's recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50720/25]

Energy Costs: Motion [Private Members] (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: I too welcome our guests in the Gallery. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion tonight. It is timely. Many households will be looking in on this debate with eagerness because winter is approaching. We broadly agree with most aspects of the motion before us this evening. We live in a country where energy prices are among the highest in Europe. That reality is hitting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: I thank the Minister for his presentation . I assume I am one of the people he referenced as accusing him of lacking compassion when it comes to deportation flights. I do not think I personalised the matter. The decision that was made lacked compassion. I might just go into it, since the Minister referenced it. The decision was in relation to the deportation of children. The Minister...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: Yes, both of us would like to see a speeding-up of the process, but probably with different safeguards implemented beforehand. However, those children had been here for many years of their young lives. That is the difference. They were failed by the same systems the Minister is trying to rectify, so within that there possibly is space for an amnesty in light of the length of time a child...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: As I said, 17% of the centres did not meet the standards. Earlier this year the whistleblower's ombudsman described as unacceptable the current regime for investigating wrongdoing in IPA centres. What reforms have been introduced since then to ensure that residents can safely and effectively report mistreatment or mismanagement?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: Which specific recommendations are in place for the residents? If residents have a problem with food or their treatment, do they go to the management of the IPAS centres themselves?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: The question is about how the Minister is ensuring value for money from the IPAS operators. People are entitled to seek asylum, whether they are successful or not. While they are in the care of the State, how the State is spending the money is actually how the Department responds back to us. How is the Minister ensuring that the money is being spent in an effective way?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: It does not operate effectively. A total of €1.2 billion is allocated for IPAS accommodation this year. What oversight exists to ensure the money is spent on services for residents, rather than expanding the profit margins for operators, and to ensure taxpayers are receiving value for money?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: We will go for a lightning round. How many people are currently in prisons awaiting deportation? How many people have spent time in prisons this year awaiting deportation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: They are going to prisons that are overcrowded. Dóchas, for example, is operating at 141% and yet it has had more than a few people sent there awaiting deportation. What is the impact of that on the prison population and how many people have been released who have committed crimes to make space for those coming in awaiting deportation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: How many violent offenders have been allowed out of prison?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: How many people who have committed violent crimes-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Gary Gannon: When we have overcrowded prisons, there have been scenarios where people who have committed crimes, sometimes violent, have been allowed out of prisons.