Results 7,801-7,820 of 17,498 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 7: In page 11, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “Retrospective application of repeals 20.(1) Subject to subsection (2), the repeals effected by subsection (1)of section 19and paragraph (a)of subsection (3)of that section shall apply in respect of a relevant offence committed before the date of the coming into operation of this Chapter,...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I accept what the Deputy is trying to achieve with this amendment. First, the role of Tusla within the new national referral mechanism is clearly set out. The way this amendment is worded would prescribe additional requirements in statute on Tusla, which would have to be done with agreement so further engagement would be needed with the agency. I acknowledge there have been asks for a...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: We need to talk it through further with the agency.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I will bring forward amendments on Report Stage to amend the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act to update dated terminology that refers to vulnerable persons as mentally impaired and to provide that there is no need to provide the trafficking of a vulnerable person occurred via specified means such as force, fraud or any other specified means.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: We have three proposals in to do the same thing but with slightly different wording. I assure the Deputies that I agree and we want to ensure that we remove the reference to credibility and replace with a reasonable grounds standard. I have been advised that it is potentially a part of all three of them and so what we are trying to identify through the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel is...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: What we have here in section 49(3) already mandates me to have due regard for humanitarian considerations when making a decision, whether it is on an international protection applicant and whether they should be granted permission to remain, in that regard. Obviously, if somebody if a victim of human trafficking, it would fall under that consideration. The concern here is that by being...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I will speak to the first two amendments separately and then amendments Nos. 16 and 17 together. I cannot accept amendment No. 14 because it would create a right to accommodation and nobody has an absolute right to accommodation. That is perhaps a separate discussion that is happening. What we can provide is assistance and for that reason, I accept amendment No. 15 because what we are...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: Yes, it is agreed to.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: No, they automatically receive the 60 days whether they are engaged with An Garda Síochána or not, to give them that time.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: If a person is found to not be a victim of trafficking, that potentially has consequences for the individual. If he or she goes through a process and are found to be, or there is a-----

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: Yes, this is where the committee comes in then in terms of the national referral mechanism. Where the committee identifies a person as a victim, that then allows them the opportunity to potentially extend that period. A national referral mechanism will be on a statuary footing and there will be a specific committee, which will encompass An Garda Síochána, State agencies and the...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I do not have data on that here.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: We would know on that basis. In cases where someone has come forward and claimed to be a victim of trafficking, I am not sure anyone has ever been deported. I can clarify that for the Deputy but my understanding is that very few, if any, have been deported.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: The DPP is independent in her functions. This amendment would provide a statutory defence for a person where that person has committed an offence that is not within the dominion of the Bail Act 1997, so where it is not rape or murder but an offence for which the penalty is anything under five years. It could potentially be assault or some form of theft. It would automatically provide that...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 21: In page 5, line 6, to delete “to amend the law relating to rape;”.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 22: In page 5, line 10, to delete “and” where it firstly occurs.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (14 Nov 2023)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 23: In page 5, line 11, after “enactments;” to insert “to repeal certain provisions of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017; to provide for the retrospective application of certain of these repeals in certain circumstances;”.

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...