Results 1-20 of 1,127,640 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:John Carty OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Francis Noel Duffy OR speaker:Imelda Munster OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Ivana Bacik OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:Helen McEntee OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Réada Cronin OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Richard O'Donoghue OR speaker:Patrick Costello OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Michael Creed OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Dessie Ellis OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:Jennifer Murnane O'Connor) in 'Committee meetings'

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I thank members and witnesses for participating in today's meeting. Anyone joining remotely needs to do so from within the Leinster House complex, as they know. We will now proceed with our consideration of the 2024 Supplementary Estimate for Vote 32. To discuss the matter today, I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins. I invite members to contribute as per the speaking rota. First, is Deputy Louise O'Reilly who has 14 minutes.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I have a question for the Minister of State on the savings on the programmes she referenced earlier, including the Workplace Relations Commission, Corporate Enforcement Authority, Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, and local enterprise offices. She suggested the savings were because they could not recruit the staff. Does she have the numbers of outstanding staff for each...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: What about the Corporate Enforcement Authority?

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: My other question is about InterTradeIreland. Obviously North-South trade is increasing exponentially. The Minister of State referred to it in her opening statement. What interaction has she had with it and how does she see the organisation progressing?

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I am happy for the Minister of State to come back to us with a written note if she wishes. That would be fine.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: To clarify, the Minister of State referred to creating a number of jobs outside of Ireland. Did she mean outside of Dublin?

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I was getting worried there for a minute. I thank the Minister of State. I propose that the consideration of Supplementary Estimates by the committee has concluded. Is that agreed? Agreed. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, for assisting the committee in its consideration of the Supplementary Estimates.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: I should have thanked them as well. I thank the Minister of State and her officials for coming.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Business of Select Committee (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: For the attention of members, the imeachtaí of the committee's meeting on 16 October have been circulated. Do members have any comments on those? No. Are they agreed? Agreed.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Message to Dáil (17 Oct 2024)

Maurice Quinlivan: In accordance with Standing Order 101, the following message will be sent to the Clerk of the Dáil: The Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment has completed its consideration of the following Supplementary Estimates for public services for the year ending 31 December 2024: Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

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: Good afternoon, Chair. I thank members for making time to consider these Supplementary Estimates. I am joined from the Department by Ms Yvonne Furey, assistant secretary, Ms Niamh Merrigan, assistant principal, and Mr. Aonghus O'Connor, principal officer. On Vote 20, budget 2024 reflects the commitment of the Government to ensuring our communities are safe and that An Garda...

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 due to a recruitment competition. It is a matter of going through the process working with the Public Appointments Service. It is likely it will be next year before we have some of our first new recruits. The competition resulted in 1,800 people applying to become members of the Garda Reserve. We are still going through that recruitment process with the 1,800 applicants.

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 one has been recruited yet. It was hoped that it would happen by the end of the year, but it will most likely be early 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)

Helen McEntee: I will have to come back to the Deputy with the exact figure in Dublin. I do not have that currently. We have set a target of having an additional 2,000 members of the Garda Reserve by 2026.

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 am happy that the reserve competition was opened for the first time in approximately seven years. I am satisfied there was significant interest in the competition. Obviously, I want to see our newer members come through as quickly as possible.

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: The competition is ongoing. While I would have liked to have seen it completed by the end of the year, the process is progressing well. I hope to see new Garda Reserve recruits fully through the system by early next year and out on the beat supporting our gardaí.

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: To answer the initial question about the reason for the underspend this year, we had funded for the higher end of that target. There were 746 trainees last year. Obviously, we do not have the full and final number for this year. While I appreciate we have not reached the higher end of our target, a number of things have been done to ensure we can increase Garda numbers, not just 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: Yes. While I would like it to be higher, I am happy that last year we had six times more people than we had in the previous year. Obviously, we want that to continue.

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, six times more compared with the previous year in which we started recruitment post-Covid. We are now essentially back to where we were pre-Covid. We need to go higher. We need to hire 1,000 Gardaí per year to be able to respond to and deal with the challenges we have with retention and retirements. While we do not have the final figures for resignations or retirements this...