Results 81-100 of 1,150,623 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Brendan Smith OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh OR speaker:Bernard Durkan OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh24 OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh06 OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh31 OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Alan Kelly OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Willie O'Dea OR speaker:Helen McEntee OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh12 OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh21 OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh6)

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: This year has seen an almost 20% increase in current spend for prisons compared to last year. This year was an acknowledgement that there needed to be a step change and a significant increase for our prisons for the reasons the Deputy has outlined. Our prison population has increased. The number of people on remand in our prisons in the past ten years alone has increased significantly,...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Thomas Pringle: I may be completely wrong but I do not think it could be totally unforeseen that there was going to be an increase. Everybody in jail this year would have been going through the court system last year. Obviously, some would have come but the Minister should be able to plan for that. Why did it come as such a surprise? It should have been budgeted for last year rather than having a...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: No. I do not think we can predict. Every year, I have always tried to get as much money as possible for all of the different Votes. Some years, you get more while other years, you do not. It is hard to predict how many prisoners will be across the entire prison estate but I believe this year represents a step change and an acknowledgement of the fact that our prison numbers have gone up...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Thomas Pringle: So the Minister is basically saying that at the time of the Estimates last year, she did not foresee that the prison population was going to increase this year.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: No. Last year, I strove to get as high a budget as I could for the prison service.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Thomas Pringle: Did the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform say to the Minister it knew it was going to increase but was not going to give her the money and she could plan for a Supplementary Estimate this year?

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: What I got last year allowed me to increase staff numbers significantly but there was a significant increase last year in our capital spend. This year was a step change but last year was also a significant increase in the overall capital spend but also for the first time in many years, we have significantly increased the number of prison officers. We have continuous recruitment campaigns...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Thomas Pringle: Surely last year, the Minister would have been able to predict that the number would hit 5,000 this year. The Minister put a figure to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Department of Finance last year, they did not accept it and they gave her an under-budget figure so she knew at the start of last year that she was under budget and...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: Again, it is hard to tell. I believe it will meet the vast majority of requirements for this year.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Thomas Pringle: But she would have said that for last year.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: It would have been more challenging last year and I think that was clear then but I do believe that the significant increase this year will assist us with regard to where we are this time next year if we are looking for a Supplementary Estimate.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: No. He is always very easy to deal with.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Thomas Pringle: This is a discussion for the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform but I would imagine that the Minister can say that next year, there will be 5,100 prisoners or thereabouts and know what that will cost. The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform can say it will cost X amount but will only give the Minister 90%...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: It is always hard to predict because numbers do fluctuate. They go up and down and you have costs you do not expect. We have had issues around netting and restrictive measures put in place to prevent drugs getting into prisons. Some of those have been damaged this year, it has cost millions to restore them and that is not money that could have been predicted or planned for so there is...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: There are four larger projects across four of the current prison estate. Refurbishments are happening in the prison estate. Some of them involve bringing prison space that would not have been in use back into use and identifying other space. This includes the Curragh. It is across a variety of different prison estates.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: That has not yet been decided.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: That has not been decided.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: Obviously we want all public services and spaces to be accessible to everybody. That does require either upgrading older buildings or in the case of Tralee, developing a new court house. The site has been bought for that project and the intention is for the design and works to begin as soon as possible. There has been significant investment in new court houses across the country in the...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: Yes, absolutely.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána (Supplementary)
Vote 21 - Prisons (Supplementary)
Vote 22 - Courts Service (Supplementary)
Vote 24 - Justice (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Helen McEntee: I do not think it will be finished by next year, given it has not yet started, but I would certainly like it to have started by next year. It will be a fantastic facility for families, not just in Dublin but throughout the region, and there has been significant investment in a number of new courthouses throughout the country. As we continue to develop our infrastructure and look to the...