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Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Charities Regulatory Authority (17 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Before we move to Deputy Murphy, could Ms Delaney clarify that the consultancy fees were nothing to do with the regulator's core work and it was for exceptional items like the IT project?

Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community:

I welcome our guests. I remind people of their privileges and that they cannot participate if they are outside of Leinster House, etc. Those giving evidence have to be physically present within the grounds of Leinster House and should not criticise or make charges against any person, or identify him or her by name or in such a way that makes him or her identifiable. I think we all understand that.

I propose that we publish the opening statements from our witnesses. Is that agreed? Agreed. I suggest that we invite our witnesses to speak for five or ten minutes and that we allow members to ask questions and make comments for approximately five minutes. Members may ask more questions after everybody gets an opportunity to speak.

The committee is looking at Travellers' experience of the justice system. Today we will focus on Travellers in prison. The committee has already visited Castlerea Prison, Mountjoy Female Prison - the Dóchas Centre - and Oberstown Children Detention Campus. Travellers represent less than 1% of the population yet we make up 8% of male prisoners, 16% of female prisoners and 21% of children detained. The committee looks forward to hearing from our witnesses about this very important subject. We would like to hear about the experience of Travellers dealing with the justice system, including prison, and how we can make things better.

We are grateful to our witnesses for coming here today. They include representatives of the Irish Penal Reform Trust, the Traveller Justice Initiative, the Traveller Mediation Service and Barnardos.

Our witnesses are all very welcome here today.

It is very important for us as a committee to examine the justice system and, most importantly, why there are so many Travellers in prison in this country and what supports we need for Travellers. I am sure we all know the answers but it is important we document those answers and that this committee has a responsibility to work with the Traveller community.

We will begin with one quote a young man said to me in 2020. It was his first time to be in court and he was very nervous. I said to him he will be okay and that everything will be fine. He said, "No Eileen, I am already guilty." I said no, he would not be and that was up to the judge. He said, "I am guilty on the basis of being a member of the Traveller community." I want us all to be mindful of that before we start.

I will open it up to our witnesses. I ask Ms Saoirse Brady to begin.

(26 Sep 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I want to come back to the situation in Kildare. I have a useful document that was compiled by a very good citizen journalist, Treasa Keegan. She made a freedom of information application and put together a document that gives us a profile of Kildare. Some 250,000 people live there. There was a good leak detection system before the water services ever transferred. It seems to have...

Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (19 Sep 2024)

Catherine Murphy: There are aspects of the Bill that we can support and other aspects about which we have concerns. If we were to ask the average person on the street whether they see this as something that applies to them, they would say it does not, not because they fear their reputation being defamed but because there is a perception and reality about the cost of taking legal proceedings. It would only be...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (19 Sep 2024)

Catherine Murphy: This is the first available opportunity I have had to correct something. In a radio interview, I said that the Clerk of the Dáil was the Accounting Officer. He is not the Accounting Officer for capital works. I was incorrect on that. I would like to withdraw that aspect of my request in terms of the people who we are seeking to come before us, because we should be seeking those who...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (18 Sep 2024)

Catherine Murphy: 157. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress that has been achieved by the National Transport Authority in the past three months on works (details supplied); and if this work is likely to commence before the end of the year. [36830/24]

Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I have listened very carefully to the arguments that have been made. Before every recess we have last-minute legislation and things that are rushed. It is possible to get one's head around some of the things that are rushed, but this Bill has potentially very serious consequences and I am not satisfied at all with being told that it is like a pat on the head and that it will only affect a...

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: Motion [Private Members] (10 Jul 2024)

Catherine Murphy: The State has a central responsibility to put systems in place to protect its citizens as much as possible. In this House, we pass criminal justice legislation and rely on the criminal justice system to do its work. There has been a concern about the consistency of sentencing and the Judicial Council Act was passed in 2019. One of its stated aims is public confidence in the Judiciary and...

Inquiry into the death of Shane O'Farrell: Motion [Private Members] (9 Jul 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this really important motion tonight. Like others, I welcome the O'Farrell family and say I am sorry that you must continue to campaign for justice for Shane. I could begin by saying "I know that you were forced to endure a living nightmare which began when your loved ones were so cruelly snatched from you" but I must confess they would not be my...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: The Future of Local Democracy: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I thank the Cathaoirleach for the invitation. Prior to my election to the Dáil in 2005, I had been a county councillor since 1991 and a town councillor since 1988. If Deputy Canney is feeling old, he can imagine how I am feeling. I have come to the very firm conclusion that there cannot be Oireachtas reform without local government reform. A piecemeal approach cannot be taken; the...

Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (25 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: This annual motion without change happening in between continues to be completely unsatisfactory. Last year's debate occurred very shortly after the independent review that resulted in both the minority and majority reports being published. That review had been ongoing since 2021, as the Minister stated. The six-member group voted four-two - majority-minority. The independent review group...

International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Motion (Resumed) (19 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: This debate is a facade. The Government will be able to point to it to claim there was a debate in advance of the Government opting in, which it has already decided to do. It will be in advance of the various legislation that will be required. When we talk about legislation, there are five Stages to Bills, the first of which is when a Bill is published and considered in advance of...

Digital Services (Levy) Bill 2024: Second Stage (19 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I welcome the opportunity to speak to this legislation and the Social Democrats are happy to support it. The Bill gives me an opportunity to return to the Digital Services Act, which we debated late last year. At that time, it was stated that Coimisiún na Meán was funded to the tune of €6 million for 2024 despite a business case that had been developed by the commission for...

Hospitality and Tourism Sector: Motion [Private Members] (19 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: The Social Democrats recognise that some indigenous businesses are struggling and we support a targeted approach for providing support to them. In addition to the hospitality sector, some smaller retail outlets are under pressure. We are losing vibrancy in our cities, towns and villages, seeing buildings becoming redundant and that leads to dereliction. In turn, that puts other businesses...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (13 Jun 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I can see it being a case of pass-the-parcel here. We will hear: "It is not mine; it is the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science". If we go to that Department, it will say it is nothing to do with it. I can see it will be a case of pass-the-parcel. There must be some combination of Departments involved here. As Mr. O'Connor says, there is work to...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (30 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: It seems like 4,000 out of 5,560, and even at that there are 1,500 that have not got to the threshold that are completed. There are 4,000 rooms where there is still quite considerable work outstanding, even if it is only 10% or 15% of the work. Is February of next year optimistic?

Extension of Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021: Motion (29 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I would like to follow on on that theme. Every six months we deal with this motion and have been told today that the initiative is part of business support. I feel sorry for the Minister of State. He is standing up here and trying to say something different but it is pretty difficult to do that. We know this is a temporary provision and none of us will oppose it, but neither do we find it...

Business Support Package: Statements (23 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. One of the things business people will tell you is about the high input costs, including, for example, energy. We have some of the highest energy costs in Europe. It depends on the particular business but they will tell you about insurance costs. They will all talk about them but some businesses are particularly impacted by it. The...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: ...hall as a consequence of being accommodated in prefabs. There is somewhere in the region of €400,000 per year being spent on security for the site. It looks from the outside and from a distance like the school is complete, but it is the fit-out and the internal work that need to be done. When does the Department expect the school to be open? Are there other situations where...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: We know Caranua was a finite organisation and it has completed its work. There are, however, still a small number of outstanding clients. There is one particular gentleman in Limerick who had a builder walk out of the site and it has been a building site for the past few years. Are there others like that? When do the witnesses expect to have in place the legislation needed to wind Caranua...

Road Safety and Maintenance: Motion [Private Members] (15 May 2024)

Catherine Murphy: The number of people killed in incidents on our roads is an issue of major concern for all of us. Speed, together with the consumption of alcohol or drugs and distractions such as mobile telephone use, is most definitely a factor in some collisions. The reduction in the numbers involved in the traffic corps over the past few years rather than in increase is relevant when we consider...