Matt Carthy

The Minister should have brought it earlier.

They have lots of opportunities and the Taoiseach knows it.

It was not an issue when the Green Party was in government.

We want an answer.

Hear, hear.

Then deal with them.

The Government is pulling a stroke.

There has to be respect for the democratic process-----

How is that going now?

A Cheann Comhairle, is he doing this for his own backbenchers or is he doing it for Deputy McGrath? We need clarity on that issue now. Who is the Taoiseach actually fighting for now?

A Cheann Comhairle-----

114. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice if he will establish a public inquiry into the death of a person (details supplied), as mandated by the Dáil on two separate occasions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12757/25]

This is my first opportunity to present oral questions to the Minister for Justice. I wanted my first question to be in respect of the case of Shane O'Farrell, with which the Minister is very familiar. The Minister moved a motion on the case previously, which was adopted by the House, calling for the establishment of a public inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Shane and the actions of …

I agree entirely with the Minister that one person alone is responsible for the death of Shane O'Farrell, that being, Zigimantas Gridziuska. However, at the heart of this case is the indisputable fact that Gridziuska should have been imprisoned at the time of Shane's killing. He was in breach of multiple bail conditions set by multiple courts. He had been stopped on several occasions by gardaí whe…

There are two distinct elements here. One is the recommendations of the scoping exercise report. I agree that we should look at all of those and perhaps there is a role for the justice committee in deliberating on whether those are achievable. Every recommendation ultimately comes down to whether the Minister or another Minister decides to accept them. One of the recommendations is that there is n…

116. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice the actions he will take to address the fact that the suspects for 40,348 crimes carried out in 2024 were on bail; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12758/25]

Many people were shocked - I certainly was - at the reply I received from the Minister that revealed that known suspects in 40,348 crimes carried out in 2024 were on bail. I submitted the question on the back of a number of high-profile instances where habitual offenders, including people who had repeatedly breached bail conditions, were subsequently convicted of very serious crimes. Will the Mini…

To be clear, no one is suggesting that every bail application end with a remand order. Is the Minister satisfied with the extent to which adherence with bail conditions is monitored and enforced? I received another reply to a parliamentary question from the Minister on 25 February that revealed that, although people were suspected of committing more than 40,000 crimes in 2024 while on bail, there…

I will go back to the Minister's original response where he repeated figures included in the initial reply to the parliamentary question in respect of the most common offence types carried out by offenders who were on bail. He mentioned public order, drunkenness, theft from shops, possession of drugs for personal use and criminal damage, which accounted for 59%. Will the Minister outline to the Dá…

123. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice his plans to increase the training intake capacity for An Garda Síochána; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12801/25]

Further to the previous debate, I hope the Minister will accept what I consider to be an absolute fact and that is we now have a clear and ongoing crisis in respect of Garda numbers and in particular Garda visibility within our communities. That crisis will not be addressed unless we substantially increase the training uptake capacity for An Garda Síochána. What measures does the Minister intend t…

It absolutely is. A career in An Garda Síochána has the potential to be a very fulfilling life experience. However, the difficulty is not people applying to join An Garda Síochána but, with due respect to the Minister, it is the intake capacity and the experience of some people who apply but who do not make it into Templemore - in other words, they have a negative experience which they convey to o…

Government representatives have increasingly cited the increase in population as a rationale behind the increase in crime figures. For example, earlier this morning the Minister cited it as an explanation for the increase in the number of people offending while out on bail. Yet, we have a Government target that has 15,000 members of An Garda Síochána, a target that is nowhere near being met at the…

We need to be clear. The previous Minister for Justice committed to ensuring that there would be at least one refuge in every county. In January, Cuan confirmed to me what the Minister has repeated here, namely that rather than delivering one refuge in both Cavan and Monaghan, the plan has changed to one centre between the two counties. That is not good enough, particularly when we consider the ci…

The commitment was already given.