Results 101-120 of 1,141,169 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Rory O'Hanlon OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Joe McHugh OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Helen McEntee OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:Jim O'Callaghan OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Noel Grealish OR speaker:Alan Dillon OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Violet-Anne Wynne OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Jennifer Murnane O'Connor OR speaker:Carol Nolan OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan) in 'Committee meetings'

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)

Jim O'Callaghan: When the Minister looks at our rising population, it is unsurprising that the prison population has increased quite significantly. I welcome the fact that the capital budget for the Prison Service recognises that we need 1,100 more prison spaces between now and 2030. Where are they going to be built? Where in Dublin will they be built? I know the Minister is talking about a location...

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)

Jim O'Callaghan: Even by way of remand prisoner or convicted prisoner.

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)

Jim O'Callaghan: We will move on to consider Vote 22 - Courts 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)

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...

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 cannot say progress will not be made in the next year, although I do not believe it will be made between now and the end of this year in terms of the planning. Nevertheless, we need to get it to the stage where the design will be progressed and where planning can be applied for. The site was bought only this year, so we have to go through the stages and progress it as quickly as we can....

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 can certainly speak to the Courts Service about that.

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: There was one question about the Prison Service I forgot to ask. It relates to the drafting of legislation to facilitate Ireland's ratification of the UN Convention Against Torture and the optional protocol. I understand that the convention was passed by the UN in 1987, yet the Government is only now preparing legislation to pass the optional protocol. Is that correct?

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 expect the Bill to be finalised by the end of the year and then, depending on where we are and what is going on, it can be progressed in the Houses next 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: That will be almost 30 years after it was published.

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: Absolutely. That is why I am keen that we get to that point and why I want it to have been published by the end of this year. It should have been done before now - I think we all accept that - but the Bill has been progressed, and if it can be published by the end of this year, that will give us a chance to make sure it is done next 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: Are there other UN conventions and so on that have been sitting within the Department for years without having been adopted or ratified?

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 cannot think of anything off the top of my head. There are often reasons certain matters are not progressed or ratified, but if we give a commitment to ratifying something, we tend to do so, and the objective is always to do it as quickly as possible, whether it is the Istanbul Convention or any other convention. It often takes longer because there can be different strands that include...

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)

Jim O'Callaghan: The final Vote we will consider is Vote 24, governing the Department of Justice.