Results 301-320 of 11,742 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Gangland Crime (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: At the outset I would like to assure the Deputy that tackling drug dealing and associated criminal activity, including by organised crime groups, is a top priority for An Garda Síochána and this Government. As the Deputy will appreciate, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management of Garda resources, including the assignment of Garda members to a given area or...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Prison Service (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: Various rehabilitative options are made available to all prisoners, including first time offenders. I can assure the Deputy that all services are available to this cohort of people. These include integrated sentence management, education, vocational training, healthcare, psychiatric, offence related treatment, psychological, addiction counselling, welfare, employment, resettlement and...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: The unprecedented allocation of over €2.35 billion for 2024 to An Garda Síochána demonstrates the Government's commitment to ensuring An Garda Síochána has provision for the equipment, technology, facilities, fleet and personnel it needs to carry out its vital policing work. As the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for all operational...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Coroners Service (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: The coroners service comprises the network of coroners located in districts throughout the country. All coronial districts, with the exception of Dublin, are the responsibility of the relevant Local Authority. Coroners are independent quasi-judicial office holders whose core function is to investigate sudden and unexplained deaths. I recognise the significance and sensitivity of the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Work Permits (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: Under the European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 230 of 2018), persons are eligible to apply for labour market access permission if: - They are an international protection applicant; and - They have waited at least 5 months from their “Application Received” date for their first instance recommendation; and - They are cooperating with the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legislative Measures (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: The Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act came into force in 2021. The purpose of the Act is to consolidate and simplify the law relating to perjury and related offences and to update certain penalties accordingly. The Act provides a clear, statutory definition of perjury and enables the offence and related offences, including false statements on oath, false statutory...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (23 Apr 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 the distribution of Garda members between the different Garda units and Divisions. As Minister, I have no role in such matters. Information in relation to the allocation of Gardaí...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: While the Deputy is not talking about judges, I will not tell him that I have allocated 30 additional judges in the past year and a half and there will be 20 more in the second round of the judicial planning working group. This is something we need to do, irrespective of the pact. We have gone from 3,000 applications per year on average to 13,200 plus last year and we will most likely...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: I am sorry; we have already provided legal aid to support people and that funding will increase.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: I agree.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: I cannot predict that; I do not think it is possible to predict that. We obviously have prediction figures for this year based on the current system without any further changes taking place. For example, where we have allocated safe countries, the number of people coming from those safe countries has dropped significantly. As we apply much more efficient procedures and quicker processing,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: For example, just over 5,000 people have applied so far this year and we are coming to the end of April. We know that more than 50% of those are secondary movements. At the moment, we do not have an effective system of returns. The Dublin III Regulation is not working. If we were to be in the migration pact where we would have more effective systems of returns, we could have half of those...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: It is not that they are not co-operating with us; it is just a system that does not work. It is based on a request. It is based on the member state we are requesting-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: In the vast majority of cases, no.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: It is not working but it is not working for anybody. It is not a system that is benefiting anybody. Obviously, as a country that has significant numbers of secondary movements, we are impacted more than other countries perhaps.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: A significant proportion of people are coming through the Border now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: I would say higher than 80%.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: We engage with the UK authorities on a regular basis. We have a common travel area committee, which meets on a quarterly basis, but we also have continuous engagement between our relevant departments. The PSNI works closely with An Garda Síochána in identifying where people are coming through Northern Ireland and applying for asylum here. The challenge we have is that we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: EU Regulations and Directive on International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

Helen McEntee: As the UK is not in the EU, it would not be part of this migration pact so we have a separate agreement with it. We have a returns agreement with the UK. There have been issues in recent weeks because of a High Court ruling. To my earlier point I will bring forward legislation to address that in a matter of weeks because it has to be the case that we can return people to the UK. We have an...