Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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122. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the way in which she is guaranteeing the independence of her review into the use of public defenders as per a commitment to an independent review of the area within the Programme for Government (details supplied). [21063/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the agreed 2020 Programme for Government includes a commitment to “independently examine the option of a dedicated system of public defenders”.

The development of an evidence based analysis of the costs and benefits associated with the policy choices for introducing a Public Defender System, not only in terms of the direct and indirect financial costs of establishment, but also taking account of the possible economic impacts of such a model on the wider system, will help to inform, identify and develop the objective for introducing any potential changes to the existing system.

The current position is that an initial scoping paper on this matter has been developed within my Department, setting out options for how the process will be conducted. The next step is to develop the Terms of Reference for the review, taking into account international best practice and equality of arms between prosecution and defence, and that process is underway.