Results 5,701-5,720 of 16,285 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The Government is committed to providing An Garda Síochána with the resources it needs to ensure communities around Ireland are safe and feel safe. This is reflected in the allocation of over €2.3 billion in Budget 2024 to An Garda Síochána, a 23% increase since 2020. This funding provides for 800-1000 new Garda recruits across 2024, with the aim of growing the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Family Reunification (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: Officials from the Family Reunification Unit (FRU) of my Department have advised they will make direct contact with the person concerned. It is open to anyone with questions in relation to family reunification to contact the unit at FRU_IPA@justice.ie ensuring to include their Person ID and clearly state that their question is for the Family Reunification Unit.

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Ministerial Staff (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: As I hope the Deputy will appreciate, for policy and security reasons An Garda Síochána do not comment on matters of security. I can advise the Deputy that there are two civilian drivers in my Department. They are both assigned to the Minister for State. Each driver has a working pattern of seven days on and seven days off, on a week-on, week-off basis, on opposite weeks. Each...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: When an International Protection claim is being examined by the International Protection Office (IPO), the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) provides accommodation and related services to IP applicants who wish to accept such services. There is close engagement between my Department, GNIB and IPAS concerning persons subject to deportation orders who are or may have...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: At the outset I would like to assure the Deputy that community safety is a top priority for me as Minister and this Government as a whole. The Department's community safety policy is about people being safe and, importantly, feeling safe in their own community and is being piloted in three locations around the country, ahead of a planned national rollout later this year. As part of that...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including all operational policing matters like the use of equipment such as drones. As Minister, I have no role in these independent functions and am unable to direct the Commissioner in any...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible by law for the management and administration of Garda business, which includes all decisions related to the provision of Garda equipment to the Garda fleet and the operational deployment of Garda resources. As Minister, I have no role in these independent functions. I am informed by the Garda authorities that An Garda...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, the Irish Prison Service must accept into custody all people committed to prison by the Courts. As such, the Irish Prison Service has no control over the numbers committed to custody at any given time. Today there were 4,768 people in custody with 101 people sleeping on mattress on the floor. Where the number of people in custody exceeds the maximum capacity in...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy is aware, combatting all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGBV) is a priority for me and my Department and this is reflected in a range of policies and legislation I have introduced, as well as unprecedented increases secured in successive Budget allocations. As the Deputy will be aware, in June 2022 I published an ambitious €363 million, Zero...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The additional €28 million for overtime is welcome. That will not just be allocated in our capital city, where there has been a particular focus; it is to have a benefit right across the country. It must be taken in the context of a number of other changes. First and foremost, the way we can respond to issues as they arise is by ensuring we have as many gardaí to respond as...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: On the last question, I do not have any sense of the difference yet. I have an idea of the overall number who have applied to date. I will not state that until after the closing date. I am very interested in seeing the final figures. I never expected that we would have thousands, perhaps over the age of 35, applying at the same time. I certainly believe there will be interest. It was an...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: And older, perhaps. We need to make it worth everybody's while, at the same time. On transport, the allocation will be in addition to what we have. The aircraft will be of higher capability, particularly in dealing with our international partners and having the ability to focus on particular types of criminal activity that we cannot focus on given the types of aircraft we have. As I...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: At this stage, all members have access to the Garda apps and the mobility devices. As the Deputy said, they are working really well. Gardaí do not have to go back to stations but are able to access information from the car or from wherever they are working. They are able to identify information about individuals if they are stopped or otherwise. There has been a body of work under...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: Yes, everybody has access to the mobility app.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: In regard to Garda staff, the objective of making sure we have an increase in our overall numbers is to ensure as far as possible that front-line gardaí are not behind the desk doing paperwork or work that Garda staff could do. There will always be a level of work that gardaí need to do, inputting data and information, but certainly the objective is that the more Garda staff we...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Deputy. He is right that one of the biggest challenges is making sure that we have enough prison staff to manage the overall prison population, which is increasing, but also to make sure prisoners are able to access their education and health needs. They are impacted where there are not enough people essentially to transport them to that class or whatever it is they are going...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: The reduction in prisoner care and rehabilitation is primarily related to inflation and costs that were specific to Covid last year. There is no decrease in service. It is just that last year there was inflation in the overall costs, which we do not expect to happen this year. On mental health more broadly, a body of work was done by the former Minister of State with responsibility for...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: One of the ways in which we can support people is by supporting some of the organisations that are specifically there to work with people. I met with some of them in the Dóchas Centre only last week. Through separate funding in my Department, I have tried to invest in many of those organisations so that they can expand where possible and also offer as much of a service to as many...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - An Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Revised)
Vote 41 - Policing Authority (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised) (30 Jan 2024)

Helen McEntee: Certainly, one of the recommendations of the Drogheda implementation plan was a prison link worker. I met with that group last year. It has just one prison link worker in place but it is working very well and has already had a positive impact. A very small number of people can have a very positive impact.