Jim O'Callaghan

The Deputy raises an interesting point about the use of mandatory minimum sentences. We did that previously in this House in respect of firearms offences where we said there was to be a mandatory sentence of, I think, five years and the Supreme Court looked at that and said it was unconstitutional because it did not give any exceptionality or discretion to a court. Introducing minimum mandatory se…

I thank Deputy Gannon for his question. I alluded to this in my response to Deputy Carthy earlier. In terms of resignations, 141 gardaí resigned from An Garda Síochána in 2025. That is a very low number. The number of gardaí is over 14,300 and, therefore, it is less than 1%. In terms of the number of retirements and resignations together over the past five years, 382 gardaí resigned or retired in …

I should have answered that question because the Deputy did ask it. There is a cumulative figure of 1,792 gardaí that will become eligible to retire by 2028. That, of course, does not mean that this number will retire over this period, only that they will be eligible to do so. For example, a Garda member may have 30 years of service or more at age 55 but may opt not to retire for the next seven ye…

The important thing is that we get Garda numbers continuously going up, which is happening. There are always going to be retirements and some small level of resignations but, cumulatively, we want to see the figures of attested gardaí rising, and we are seeing that. The Deputy asked about exit interviews. The Garda offers exit interviews to all individuals who leave the organisation, with the exc…

I met with the Garda National Vetting Bureau in Tipperary town about two months ago. I went down there to get an update from the bureau, but also to communicate some of the concerns Deputy Ward and other Deputies have expressed to me. It is important to point out that the vetting bureau of An Garda Síochána received over 6,330 vetting applications in 2025. The current processing time for 85% of t…

One of the consequences of being a public representative is that people only ever come to us when they have issues of concern. They are never going to come to us and say, "Deputy, that is a fantastic vetting process. I managed to get a response within eight days." I am conscious that aspects of the current vetting system result in a highly segmented process. It should be updated to ensure the bur…

It would be primary legislation. I will come back to the Deputy on that. It will not be coming in the very near future but it is something I am committed to doing. It will also require updated technical systems to support the revised approach. When I was down in Tipperary with the vetting bureau, I raised the issue of the wet signature for vetting. Currently, the bureau does not accept digital si…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist. Sula fhreagraím í, ba mhaith liom mo chomhghairdeas a roinnt le roinnt Éireannaigh óga as éachtaí den scoth ar bhain siad amach ag an deireadh seachtaine agus le déanaí. I thank Deputy McDonald for her question. Before I answer it, I want to acknowledge the very considerable achievement by Irish young people over the weekend. In particular I comm…

Sinn Féin is in government in Northern Ireland. It has money to reduce the cost of fuel in Northern Ireland yet its finance and economy Ministers have done nothing about it as of yet, so it is a bit rich of the Deputy to criticise the Irish Government for not acting fast enough-----

-----when her own Government has done nothing in respect of it in Northern Ireland.

People on the Government benches are well aware of the consequences of rising fuel prices.

That is why after the invasion of Ukraine-----

-----measures were taken by the Irish Government to assist consumers in respect of those rising prices. That is why the Taoiseach indicated when he was in the United States that measures are being considered and it is likely that there will be measures introduced-----

-----to alleviate the pressure upon Irish people at the petrol pump-----

-----and at the heating oil level. We will decide it ourselves. We will not decide it based on when Sinn Féin wants an answer from the Government.

Unlike Sinn Féin, we will give it consideration-----

-----and we will not engage in kneejerk reactions.

Come back to us when Sinn Féin has done something in Northern Ireland.

Any fair-minded person looking at the events in the White House yesterday would recognise that the Taoiseach did an excellent job-----

-----in extremely challenging circumstances. Obviously, had Deputy Bacik been there, she would have dealt with it completely differently and more effectively-----

-----on behalf of the Irish people.

Of course, we know what would have happened had she been the Taoiseach because she had made the decision in advance of the visit that the Taoiseach should not go there.

Had the Labour Party been in government, there would have been no engagement in respect of the United States of America.

It was a very important message that the Taoiseach delivered. It is an extremely difficult time in terms of the relationship between the United States and Europe. I thought it was a real advantage for the Taoiseach to be there yesterday, as the leader of a European country that is not a member of NATO. I think he did Ireland and Europe proud in terms of setting out the values of Europe and, indeed…

Each year, my Department issues tens of thousands of visas on foot of work permits granted by the Department of enterprise. We are a very open economy. We welcome in migrant workers. In fact, if the Deputy looks at the Irish workforce, we have a significant number of workers who come from overseas. We have had a very positive experience with migrants who have come to Ireland to work. We have done …