Results 4,701-4,720 of 15,342 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This ministerial amendment is technical and required to deal with an error that occurred in the transposition of the Bill as amended on Committee Stage in this House. Section 252 lists sections of the Bill under which orders or regulations may be made in the post-Committee Stage draft of the Bill. Paragraph (j) in subsection (3) referred to section 3 of the Bill. This is incorrect as there...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This amendment is technical and necessary to correct an error that occurred in the drafting process. Section 266(k)(ii) amends section 47(1A) of the Coroners Act 1962, a provision which allows for the current ombudsman commission to perform functions in relation to requesting the exhumation of bodies in certain circumstances. Section 266(k)(ii) updates references to the ombudsman...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in this grouping concern section 114,l which provides for the making of regulations to establish new local community safety partnerships, LCSPs. These new partnerships will, on a phased basis, replace the existing joint policing committees, JPCs, with a new broader type of body, built around a key principle of the Bill that community safety is not just a matter for An Garda...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This amendment concerns section 118, which places certain duties on public service bodies in respect of improving community safety. The amendment simply ensures that public bodies must now include in their strategic plans an assessment of the issues affecting community safety that is relevant to its functions. The body will also be required to include the actions or proposed actions in...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in this grouping provide for the deletion of section 165 in its entirety along with any other references to that section contained in the Bill. In short, section 165 provided for the transfer by ministerial order of staff of the current Garda Síochána Inspectorate to the new policing security and community safety authority. At the time of drafting, it was considered...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendment was proposed by Senators Ruane, Black and Flynn and it is in the same vein as amendment No. 2. It sought to include data protection as a listed area of desired expertise for membership of the new policing and community safety authority. As I had supported the Senators' amendment with regard to ensuring that data protection was included in the criteria required of the Garda...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in grouping 9 are ministerial and are technical in nature. They are necessary to update collective citations for other Acts mentioned in sections 155 and 165 of the Bill. References to the Maternity Protection Acts, 1994 and 2004, will now become references to the Maternity Protection Acts, 1994 to 2022. This is on foot of the provisions of the Local Government (Maternity...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This set of amendments relates to the recommendation of a person for appointment to the role of police ombudsman. They concern section 172 and the appointment of the police ombudsman under section 174, which relates to the terms and conditions of office, and the insertion of a new section 173. Following the conclusion of the Dáil debate on this Bill, I gave further consideration to...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The official branding will have to have the Irish and English on equal terms. While I cannot dictate at every stage how somebody refers to themselves, I will most likely be referring to Fiosrú. It is about ongoing engagement to make sure one is not used more than the other. As the Deputy said, it is a simple name people will be able to use, understand and relate to. It should be no...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: That would be the intention.

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This is an amendment put forward by Senators Ruane, Black and Flynn, which I supported in the Seanad. It relates to section 16 of the Bill, specifically to the list of matters that persons recommended by the Public Appointments Service for appointment as members of the new Garda board are to have experience and expertise in. The amendment adds data protection to sub-paragraph (b), in...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in this grouping are necessary to bring certain provisions in this Bill in line with the requirements of the 2019 EU directive on debt and insolvency issues. I was advised that as previously drafted the provisions in the Bill, which bar a person who is bankrupt from the Garda board, the policing and community safety authority and office of the independent examiner were not in...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in this grouping concern sections 32 and 225, which provide for different types of judicial led inquiries under the Bill. During debates on the Bill in the Dáil, it was noted by Deputies Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Brendan Howlin that the sections providing for judicial inquiry lacked any penalties for non-compliance of the respective judge leading the...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: This is another amendment proposed by Senators Ruane, Black and Flynn. It amended section 36(1), which requires the Garda Commissioner to keep the Minister and the Secretary General of the Department of Justice fully informed of certain matters. The amendment added an additional paragraph requiring the Garda Commissioner to inform the Minister of significant developments that might...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in this grouping concern section 54, which deals with the appointment of members of Garda staff. Although this matter was previously discussed at length in the Dáil, by way of background I will briefly note that the Commission on the Future of Policing recommended that Garda staff would be directly recruited into An Garda Síochána and that An Garda...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in grouping five are technical in nature. They relate to section 55, which provides for the making of a superannuation scheme or schemes by the Garda Commissioner for members of Garda staff where members of Garda staff do not become members of the single public service scheme. They also concern section 112, which performs a similar function with regard to the new national...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in this grouping relate to section 75, which sets out the functions of the audit committee of the new proposed Garda board. Their purpose was to correct a drafting oversight. They align certain provisions regarding what matters the audit committee will provide advice on. As initially drafted, the committee was obliged to advise the Garda Commissioner on governance and...

Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023: From the Seanad (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The amendments in this grouping all follow on from previous amendments made to the Bill arising in this House arising from proposals made by Deputies on the issue of the prominence of the Irish language in the names of the newly established bodies. Those Report Stage amendments provided for Irish language names for the various policing bodies in line with the Official Languages (Amendment)...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Naturalisation Applications (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: I am deeply conscious of how important the granting of naturalisation is to all of those who apply for it. The median processing time for applications currently stands at 19 months. I understand that extended wait times can be frustrating and disruptive for applicants and my Department has been working hard to clear backlogs. Processing rates have increased by over 30 percent against...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Family Reunification (31 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: I can advise the Deputy that the application referred to was created on the 26 July 2023. Supporting documentation was received in the New Delhi office on the 02/08/2023 where it awaits examination and processing. Long Stay Join Family visa applications are processed in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification. This policy document may be...