Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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250. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality how many of the 3,285 persons who arrived to Dublin Airport without a valid identity document in 2023 were under the age of 16; coming from or embarking for a place in the State, Great Britain or Northern Ireland; a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or a person who has established a right in the State pursuant to EU law. [2232/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am informed that the overall figure cited by the Deputy refers only to arrivals of persons over the age of 18 at Dublin Airport and the further information requested is not readily available.

All unaccompanied persons under the age of 18 who arrive at Dublin Airport are managed in the first instance with a focus on child safeguarding; they are not recorded in the overall refusal of leave to land figures or in figures for the undocumented arrivals collated by my Department. I am advised that in 2023, approximately 250 unaccompanied persons under the age of 18 presented to officers of the Border Management Unit at Dublin Airport and were subsequently referred to the Child and Family Agency (TUSLA); a significant number (over 50%) of these were unaccompanied minors fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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251. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality how many of the 3,285 persons who arrived to Dublin Airport without a valid identity document In 2023 did not seek international protection. [2233/24]

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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252. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality how many of the 3,285 persons who arrived to Dublin Airport without a valid identity document were refused leave to enter the State. [2234/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 252 together.

The Border Management Unit of my Department and the Garda National Immigration Bureau are working closely with airlines on a range of measures to ensure that passengers have the appropriate travel documentation when boarding. Immigration officials are available 24/7 to assist airlines with queries in relation to immigration matters.

In addition to providing advice to airlines on specific queries, training is provided to airline ground staff on current travel documentation requirements to help them reduce the number of passengers boarding flights without correct documentation.

2023 has seen a reduction of one third in the number of persons arriving at Dublin Airport without valid identity documents.

All persons arriving without valid documentation will be refused leave to land, As such, all of the 3,285 persons recorded without valid identity documents were refused leave to enter the State.

While systems do not allow for the extraction of the precise data requested, it is the case that the majority of those who present without appropriate documentation and refused leave to land seek to enter the international protection process. It is also the case that some people with valid travel documents seek to enter the international protection process.

Border Management Unit (BMU) and the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) have an ongoing intelligence-led programme of operations at airplanes to detect passengers who destroyed documents inflight and to identify the point of embarkation of undocumented passengers.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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253. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of deaths in custody in 2023. [2242/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, all deaths in custody are notified to An Garda Síochána, who investigate where circumstances warrant, in addition to the inquest held in the Coroner's Court. The cause of death is determined by a jury on the basis of the information presented to the Coroner's Court.

The Deputy may also be aware that all deaths in custody and deaths that occur within one month of temporary release, are also subject to an independent investigation by the Inspector of Prisons.

Following this investigation, the Inspector of Prisons Office makes recommendations for improvement where appropriate. These recommendations are forwarded to the Prison Service for their attention and the final report is submitted to the Minister for Justice. Finalised reports and any associated Prison Service Action Plan to address recommendations are published in an anonymised form on the Gov.ie website and made available to the Coroner.

Further, the Irish Prison Service has a robust, internal review mechanism which assesses the circumstances of a death in custody, highlights accountability and actions taken in relation to the incident, and outlines lessons learned. This outcome review is reported to the Irish Prison Service National Suicide and Harm Prevention Steering Group, which is chaired by the Director of Care and Rehabilitation.

The circumstances of each death in custody and incident of self-harm are also examined by a suicide prevention group in each institution. The groups are chaired by the Prison Governor and include representatives from the various services including; Prison Doctor, Psychiatry, Psychology, Chaplaincy, Probation, Education, and Prison staff. The Groups are required to meet quarterly, or more often if necessary. Their examinations cover the background and circumstances of each death and their objective is to identify, where possible, measures which might be implemented to contribute to a reduction in the risk of deaths and incidents of self harm in the future.

I can advise the Deputy that the information relating to the number of prisoners who died in the State in 2023 is provided in Table 1 below and I would like to express my sympathies to the family and friends of each of those individuals.

Table 1: Total Deaths in custody in 2023 inclusive that took place while the prisoner was in Prison, outside the prison on Temporary Release, on Renewable Temporary Release, Full Temporary Release or Unlawfully at Large:

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from the Garda authorities. Unfortunately, the information was not received in time. I will contact the Deputy directly once the information is to hand.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, restriction of a person’s liberty prior to trial is a very serious matter, given the Constitutional presumption that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.

While the State’s bail laws provide for the refusal of bail in certain circumstances, judges are independent in the exercise of their judicial functions and the decision to grant bail in a particular case is solely a matter for the judge concerned based on the available facts.

The Bail Act 1997, which followed a 1996 referendum on the matter, enables courts to refuse bail for a person charged with a serious offence to prevent the risk of another serious offence being committed while on bail. Since then, the State’s bail laws have been further strengthened, specifically by the Criminal Justice Act 2007, the Criminal Justice (Burglary of Dwellings) Act 2015, and the Criminal Justice Act 2017.

In considering whether to refuse bail under the 1997 Act, the Court is required to have regard to persistent serious offending by an applicant, and, in specific circumstances, the nature and likelihood of any danger to a person or to the community from granting bail. The 2017 Act further provides for stricter bail terms for repeat serious offenders, including the use of curfews and strengthens Garda powers to deal with breaches of bail.

The Deputy may be aware that Zero Tolerance, the Third National Strategy on Domestic Sexual and Gender Based Violence, commits to establish a review cycle to identify outstanding and emerging further reforms required to law, practice and procedure outside of supporting the victim/survivor (with attention to the voices of adult and child survivors). As part of this work, consideration will be given to provisions governing bail where there has been a suspected breach of a barring order and where there is a history of violence.

As bail applications are made directly to the court and judges then make a decision whether or not to grant bail in a particular case, the information sought by the Deputy is not held by my Department.

As the Deputy will be aware, the management of the courts, operational matters and logistical functions are the responsibility of the judiciary and Courts Service, which are independent in exercising their functions under the Courts Service Act 1998 and given the separation of powers in the Constitution.

The Courts Service has a dedicated email address for the provision of information to members of the Houses of the Oireachtas: oireachtasenquiries@courts.ie , but to be of assistance I have referred the question to the Courts Service for direct response to the Deputy.