Gary Gannon

I have a very brief question. Just to confirm, when the Minister says "places of detention", does he mostly mean prisons?

When we speak about places of detention, we are speaking about our prisons. The Minister knows, because we have had this conversation countless times, that our prisons are already overwhelmed. We have a scenario where there are people in our prison system who are awaiting deportation. That, in turn, is leading to a scenario where we are adding a burden to a system that is already broken. I appreci…

Nobody is disputing that for a second. Given the fact that we have a broken system of incarceration at this moment, however, the number of people being placed there is also adding exponentially to the suffering that is being experienced by the prison population and by people who are in prison are awaiting deportation. Until we have a solution - potentially the one the Minister outlined, although t…

As we are approaching the end of the debate and are about to reach the guillotine I will speak to several of the amendments at once. The Minister used the term "family unity" in his contribution, which gives me the opportunity to speak about his family reunification changes. Of the measures contained within this Bill, that one is not based on any evidence and seems purposely designed, in the Minis…

Safetynet on Amiens Street. It is a front-line service that deals with the most marginalised vulnerable groups and provides immediacy in terms of healthcare. The staff down there have stories that would send a shudder down most of our spines about providing healthcare to people who were previously in the asylum process but had then received deportation orders and lost access to all medical treatme…

You have ignored it completely.

Immediate family.

I am wearing my Shelbourne top tonight because that was my boyhood club where I spent a lot of my Friday nights both as a kid and an adult. A couple of years ago, the fans of Shelbourne were at risk of losing Tolka Park, which the club had grown in, and embarked on a campaign to save the ground. It was an inspiring campaign that was fan-driven and culminated when Shels won the league. It was genui…

I will start on football by wishing our lads the very best of luck tonight. I will also stay on the issue of sport more generally because in that welcome, we see a disparity between those who have and those who have not in this country. One of the players carrying the hopes of the nation on his back tonight is Troy Parrott. Troy comes from Portland Place in the heart of Dublin's north inner city, …

The heart of this issue for me is not about the success. Very few children will ever reach the scale of Troy Parrott or Kellie Harrington. All too often I have to take a phone call from a coach who is dealing with kids who are oftentimes coming from overcrowded and disadvantaged backgrounds, to tell me that their pitch booking has been cancelled or they do not have playing facilities. The inabili…

I am conscious that this will be my last contribution, and I am sure that of others, before we head off for the Easter holidays. The Easter celebrations have a particular resonance in Ireland because we celebrate the parts of our history where we were valiant. We will probably visit commemoration sites and read testimony on walls about a nation that proudly professed that it would cherish all of i…

The Minister's opening statement started off in a way that was almost expected. He acknowledged the outstanding work of An Garda Síochána and phrased it in a way that somehow what everybody else was about to say was somehow challenging An Garda Síochána, as opposed to challenging his Department, his policies and his responsibility. Across this House, all contributors have said that An Garda Síochá…

The Social Democrats will be supporting the extension of the accommodation recognition payment from 27 March. We would like to do so at its current rate. I am conscious that in his contribution, Deputy Carthy spoke about the Opposition needing to reflect on our continued support of this scheme and we do. I reflect constantly. I reflect on the fact that today a court case was taken by the Irish Hum…

I have read the Deputy's amendment but I also listened to his contribution.

Yes, I listened to the Deputy's contribution. The Social Democrats will support the continuation of the payment because, imperfect as it may be, it is better than the alternatives that exist. The Government does not seem to have a plan at all for the ending of the temporary directive. I listened to the Minister of State's opening contribution earlier and he talked with such vagueness about the en…

Before I discuss the legislation and the legal mechanisms of co-operation between states, it is important to pause and remember exactly what we are about today. This is by no means just another Bill. It is about the 29 people and two unborn children killed in Omagh, the 220 people injured and the families who, nearly three decades later, are still searching for answers. It can be too easy for atro…

I welcome the motion put down by Deputy Cullinane and Sinn Féin. I acknowledge the personal testimony shared by Members throughout the debate. It is really appreciated and I know it will matter to a lot of people. Today’s motion is very timely, coming just a week after Daffodil Day when people across the country showed solidarity with those affected by cancer. People across this House showed the …

3. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if he will respond to reports that women prisoners are being held in degrading and overcrowded conditions in the Dóchas Centre; and whether the Government accepts that continuing to rely on incarceration without sufficient investment in alternatives to custody, risks simply warehousing vulnerable women in the prison s…

Will the Minister respond to reports that women prisoners are being held in degrading and overcrowded conditions in the Dóchas Centre? Does the Government accept that continuing to rely on incarceration without sufficient investment in alternatives to custody risks simply warehousing vulnerable women in the prison system? The phrase "warehousing vulnerable women" is not something I have concocted …

I thank the Minister for his response. The figures are fairly stark. Last night, the Dóchas Centre was at 153% of its capacity and 29 women were sleeping on the floor. Can the Minister imagine what that does to a person's capacity for rehabilitation and sense of place in the world? I understand these people have committed crimes and that there are consequences to that but the consequences of placi…

I would definitely like to hear a lot more about these separate places because we still have not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, OPCAT, on the prevention of torture. Today, I am here talking about the Dóchas Centre. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about the women's prison in Limerick. The conditions in the men's prisons are extraordinary. We had the Inspector…

10. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if he will clarify the Government's position regarding potential new powers allowing An Garda Síochána to access encrypted communications and personal device data, following recent reports concerning remarks he made on the issue; and whether he will outline the safeguards that will be put in place to ensure that any …

I understand the rationale for a measure like this. I understand that the legislation the Minister is working off is from 1993 and its drafters would never have foreseen the world we are in now but we need to move carefully and cautiously with a measure such as this. Some of the technology being referenced here might be developed by companies such as Pegasus, for example. In other jurisdictions, P…

13. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of Garda members who have retired or resigned from An Garda Síochána in each of the past five years; whether his Department has carried out any analysis of the reasons for those departures; the number of members currently eligible to retire within the next three years; and the measures being taken to impro…

I want to ask the Minister the number of Garda members who have retired or resigned from An Garda Síochána in each of the past five years, whether his Department has carried out any analysis of the reasons for those departures, the number of members currently eligible to retire within the next three years and the measures being taken to improve retention within the force.