Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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631. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of vehicles seized by An Garda Síochána in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, by Garda district and division to learner drivers for the offence of driving unaccompanied by a qualified driver; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23852/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2018, known as the Clancy Amendment, provides for penalties to be imposed on car owners who allow their vehicles to be used by an unaccompanied learner driver. The law provides for fines to be levied in such cases and gives Gardaí the power to seize their cars if being driven by unaccompanied drivers.

The Garda authorities have provided me with the below table, which has an annual breakdown by Garda division of the number of instances in which a vehicle was seized under Road Traffic legislation in circumstances of the vehicle being driven by a learner driver unaccompanied by a qualified driver.

I am advised by An Garda Síochána that given the large number of Garda districts, it is not possible to provide a breakdown to district level.

* Figures for 2021 up to 30/04/2021

- Figures less than 10.

For the Deputy's information, the figures in the above table are based on incidents which occurred from 1 January 2019 to 30 April 2021, inclusive. All information contained in the above table is based upon operational data from the Pulse system as was available on 4 May 2021 and is liable to change.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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632. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prosecutions for criminal offences at banks or financial service institutions in each of the years 2010 to 2020. [23976/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It is not clear from the Deputy's question the prosecutions or specific offences he is referring to.

However, as the Deputy is aware, the decision about whether or not to prosecute a person, and for what crime, is entirely a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions and I, as Minister, have no role in such matters.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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633. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of prosecutions for offences at or involving illegal puppy farms and or illegal dog breeding establishments in each year from 2010 to 2020. [23978/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the decision about whether or not to prosecute a person, and for what crime, is entirely a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions and I, as Minister, have no role in such matters.

As the Deputy will appreciate, matters relating to animal welfare are not under my remit as Minister for Justice. I understand that the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, which is within the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, provides a modern and robust framework for dealing with issues relating to animal welfare. I further understand that Local Authorities are responsible under the Act for inspection of the breeding facilities referred to by the Deputy.

I have been advised by An Garda Síochána that there is no specific incident type from which cruelty to animals or offences relating to puppy farms can be isolated on PULSE. In addition, there is no mention of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 (which contains the offence relating to puppy farms which came into effect on 1 February 2020) on the legislative act table on PULSE and hence there are no offence codes on PULSE that are linked to that Act. There is a broader incident type of ‘Offences against Animals’ which includes cruelty to animals amongst numerous others, and figures relating to those offences were provided to the Deputy in the answer to Parliamentary Question No. 691 of 13 January 2021.

I have been further advised by the Courts Service that these offences do not have dedicated codes in place on the Courts Service Case Management System, but rather are processed by way of free text which is a format used by prosecutors for all offences with no dedicated code.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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634. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of fines which have been issued for breaches of Covid-19 regulations in each month since the start of the pandemic; the nature of the fines; the value of the fines; and the nature of the breaches which resulted in these fines. [23979/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, An Garda Síochána is responsible for policing the public health regulations made under the Health Act 1947.

An Garda Síochána continue to use the 'Four E's' approach in line with their strong tradition of community policing and policing by consent. This sees Garda members engage with, encourage and educate members of the public on public health advice and regulations, with enforcement used only as a last resort.

The Health (Amendment) Act 2020, which amended the Health Act 1947, was signed into law by the President on 25 October 2020. Regulations providing for a new system of fines under the Act were subsequently signed by the Minister for Health on 21 November 2020. The Act allows for a system of fixed charge notices for those found in breach of certain COVID-19 regulations which have also been designated as penal provisions. It also allows for a speedier system of fines, without the requirement for the person to be brought before the Courts and prosecuted. A person has 28 days to pay the fine after it is issued.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that the table below shows the number of fines issued by month up 6 May 2021.

* Fines incurred up to 11 April 2021

**Recorded up to 6 May 2021

*** ‘Movement of Persons (€100)’ relates to the offence of non-essential travel beyond your county/20km limit which came into effect on 12 April 2021.

For the Deputy's information, weekly updates in relation to the total number of COVID-19 related fines and the numbers in each Garda division are published every Friday on the Garda website. These statistics can be accessed at:

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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635. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that were arrested since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic for breaching lockdown regulations by county. [23980/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, An Garda Síochána is responsible for policing the public health regulations made under the Health Act 1947.

An Garda Síochána continue to use the 'Four E's' approach in line with their strong tradition of community policing and policing by consent. This sees Garda members engage with, encourage and educate members of the public on public health advice and regulations, with enforcement used only as a last resort.

The Garda authorities have advised that persons who are found to be in breach of the regulations may not necessarily be arrested. In some cases, they may be charged directly or summonsed following direction from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), where appropriate.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that as of 10 April (the latest date for which information is available) there have been a total of 65 COVID-19 related incidents in which at least one arrest occurred, where the reason for the arrest is due to a breach of the regulations. The Deputy should note that more than one person may be arrested in a single incident.

The table below provides the breakdown by Garda Region:

Due to the substantial checking and reviews undertaken on these incidents prior to publication, there is a slight reporting time lag.

For the Deputy's information, updates are published on the Garda website at the below link when available (currently approximately every four weeks). The earliest of these incidents occurred on 8 April 2020, when the first regulations came into effect. The most recent figures available cover incidents which occurred up to 10 April 2021.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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636. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of speed camera vans operational nationwide by county. [23987/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I have requested a report from the Garda authorities on the matters raised by the Deputy, and I will communicate directly with him when the information sought is to hand. The Deputy may wish to note that the locations of the safety camera zones are available at

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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637. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of speeding fines or penalty points issued as a result of evidence obtained by speed camera vans nationwide in each of the past five years and to date in 2021, by county. [23988/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I have requested a report from the Garda authorities on the matters raised by the Deputy, and I will communicate directly with him when the information sought is to hand.