Results 121-140 of 10,013 for speaker:Jim O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: I am hopeful that next year we will get more than 1,000.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: I know.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: That is a fair point.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: The good news is that the 170 who started on 9 June include some of the 6,700. This is a good sign that they are being processed quickly. We have been expediting and changing the vetting process. People were critical about this. It used to be the case that you could not start in Templemore until you were fully vetted. Vetting took a long time, particularly for people who lived in other...

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: I do not have the statistics to hand but the majority pass. There used to be issues with the fitness test and we have tried to make changes in respect of that. The majority pass. I would certainly be concerned if large tranches of entrants to Templemore did not pass. The fitness test used to be a problem and it was looked into and changed. We need to keep examining this to ensure that,...

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: Let us wait and see.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: Hopefully, I will still be here in a couple of years. The Deputy may be able to say to me that we only achieved 3,000-----

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: I know that.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: It is a hard job, though. I have funding for 1,000. Usually, the problem is trying to get funding out of the Department of public expenditure. I have that funding and I am not going to change it. The funding is for 1,000 and I am not going back to the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, to say it looks like we are going to hit only 600. I want to keep the funding for 1,000.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: I hope so. That may give rise to another issue in that if 1,200 people are interested each year, we will have to expand Templemore and consider the other avenues available.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: As of 31 May, the Garda has had 3,672 vehicles – that is, 2,705 cars, 658 vans, 151 motorcycles, 98 4x4s and 68 other vehicles. The Garda fleet is in good condition. The number of vehicles is up from 3,112 in December 2020, so we have seen an 18% increase in less than five years. Obviously, we need to see more Garda vehicles and we need gardaí available for them. The number of...

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: If it is a serious matter, the gardaí will get there immediately. Obviously, there is grading. When a 999 call is made-----

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: The calls have to be triaged, but if an incident is serious the gardaí will come.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: Okay.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: I thank the Deputy.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: That should not be happening because, as I have said to the Deputy before, the increased numbers are due to a decision made to put many new recruits into the city centre to have a greater sense of safety there. In fairness, Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary deserves a lot of credit for that. This deployment should not be affecting areas such as the Deputy’s or mine, but it all comes...

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: Will I go through the rest?

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: I will go through the rest of the Votes now. Vote 24, concerning my Department, has a gross Estimate provision of €2.723 billion. The Revised Estimate for this Vote was already approved in April, and the purpose today is to agree the further Revised Estimate for the Department’s Vote. The further Revised Estimate for the Department reflects the transfer of responsibility...

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: That is no problem. The Deputy did not.

Select Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Revised)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Revised)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Revised)
Vote 44 - Data Protection Commission (Revised)
Vote 24 - Justice (Further Revised) (24 Jun 2025)

Jim O'Callaghan: A huge project that has been spoken about for many years, and I am determined to see it commence, is Hammond Lane, which will be the new family law courts for the Dublin area. At present, if you go by Dolphin House, you will see people out on the streets in totally inappropriate conditions trying to deal with their family law disputes. Most people do not end up going to court but the one...