Written Answers Nos. 160 - 167
160. Deputy Anne Ferris asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the development of the Mountjoy Prison A wing, Dublin 7; the current expected date for completion; if there will be full in-cell sanitation once the refurbishments are completed within this prison by the end of 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24899/13]
View answerI can advise the Deputy that the refurbishment project in Mountjoy, which forms part of a 40-month Capital Plan, published in April 2012 as part of the Prison service Three Year Strategic Plan 2012-2015, includes the installation of in-cell sanitation to all cells in Mountjoy Prison. You will be aware that the C and B wings were completed in 2012.
Refurbishment of Mountjoy "A" wing commenced in December, 2012. The works are expected to be completed in September this year. When works are completed, every cell in the wing will have a flushing toilet and a wash hand basin with hot and cold water supply.
I am advised by the Irish Prison Service that consultants will shortly be appointed to assist in the planning, design and supervision of a complete refurbishment of Mountjoy Prison "D" wing. It is intended to close the "D" wing in September for the refurbishment works that will be completed by July, 2014. At that stage every cell in Mountjoy Prison will have full in cell sanitation facilities. Once the refurbishment of the D wing commences, slopping out will have finally ended in Mountjoy.
161. Deputy Anne Ferris asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of operational dedicated committal areas that are fully operational in all committal prisons at present. [24900/13]
View answerI can inform the Deputy that there are dedicated committal areas in all committal prisons at present with the exception of the female Dochas Centre in Mountjoy Prison. Work is currently underway on this project and a Unit is expected to be operational later this year. Portlaoise does not have a designated committal area as it only receives a small number of committals directly from the Special Criminal Court.
162. Deputy Anne Ferris asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of ISM officers currently employed within each prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24901/13]
View answerThe Irish Prison Service is implementing an Integrated Sentence Management (ISM) initiative within the prison system. ISM involves a new orientation in the delivery of services to prisoners and an emphasis on prisoners taking greater personal responsibility for their own development through active engagement with both specialist and non-specialist services in the prisons. The end result is a prisoner-centred, multidisciplinary approach to working with prisoners with provision for initial assessment, goal setting and periodic review to measure progress.
Over a thousand new prisoners participated in ISM in 2012. At the end of April this year there were over two thousand three hundred current and active cases and over a thousand prisoners had sentence plans in place at that time. Currently sixteen ISM Co-ordinators are in place in ten institutions as set out in the table underneath. It is envisaged that, through redeployment and a forthcoming internal competition, full time ISM Co-ordinators will be assigned to all prisons in the coming months. Having a dedicated team of ISM Co-ordinators in all prisons will enhance the effectiveness of the sentence management system and facilitate the growing numbers of prisoners participating in the process. A complement of over twenty ISM Co-ordinator posts have been identified to date, through the Transformation process, to provide vital coordination and support for the initiative at prison level.
|
Institution |
No. |
|
Arbour Hill |
1 |
|
Castlerea |
2 |
|
Cloverhill |
2 |
|
Dochas |
2 |
|
Loughan House |
1 |
|
Portlaoise |
1 |
|
Midlands |
2 |
|
Mountjoy |
2 |
|
Training Unit |
1 |
|
Wheatfield |
2 |
|
Total |
16 |
163. Deputy Anne Ferris asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current status of the Irish Prison Service's joint task review of health care; the anticipated date of completion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24902/13]
View answerI can advise the Deputy that the Joint Task Review of Healthcare in the Prison Service is an essential component of the overall programme of review and reform being undertaken in accordance with the terms of the Public Service Agreement 2010 – 2014. The Joint Task Review of Healthcare involves an in-depth analysis of the numbers of medical staff in each prison, and the individual tasks each of them is required to perform, in order to match these most effectively to the healthcare needs of prisoners.
The Healthcare Review, which is obviously co-dependent on the separate Joint Task Reviews of the prisons being finalised at present, must take account of the projected number and profile of prisoners and also any potential reductions in the resources available to the Prison Service resulting from the Public Service Agreement and the extension to this agreement currently under negotiation. I can confirm that the fieldwork in the Joint Task Review of Healthcare is approaching completion and it is expected that a report will be agreed between the staff and management sides shortly thereafter.
164. Deputy Paschal Donohoe asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding an application in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 7; when this application will be considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24903/13]
View answerI am informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service that the person mentioned by the Deputy was registered in the State on 19/9/2006 as a student until 30 November 2012. I am advised that this case is being assessed on its merits and will be decided upon in the coming weeks.
All non-EEA students resident in the State are subject to the student immigration rules set out under the "new immigration regime for full time non-EEA students which was published in September 2010 and has been in effect since 1 January 2011. These rules stipulate that non-EEA nationals may reside in Ireland as students, subject to the provisions of the new regime, for a maximum period of seven years. As this person arrived in the State in 2006 he is now classified as a timed out Student.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
165. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Justice and Equality when a person (details supplied) in County Carlow will receive a response to their application for Garda vetting. [24906/13]
View answerI am informed by the Garda authorities that a vetting application on behalf of the individual referred to by the Deputy was received by the Garda Central Vetting Unit (GCVU) on the 3rd of April 2013. The application is being processed and will be returned to the registered organisation concerned in due course.
166. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide in tabular form the cost to the State in the years 2010 to 2011, 2011 to 2012 and 2012 to 2013 of the provision of Romanian interpreters to the Courts Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24931/13]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service and I have no role in the matter. Section 4(3) of the 1998 Act provides that the Courts Service is independent in the performance of its functions, which includes the provision of statistics. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that interpretation services for the courts are provided by an external service provider under contract and the statistics are not maintained in the manner sought by the Deputy.
The tables below set out the percentage of the total number of bookings that were in respect of Romanian language interpreters. It should be noted that the cost of each booking varies according to the length of time in court which is largely dependent on the seriousness of the charge. Table 2 sets out the total expenditure for each year on interpretation for the courts. It should be carefully noted the data below is not interrelated as it does not follow that a percentage of bookings equates to an equivalent percentage of overall expenditure.
Table 1
|
- |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 (Jan -Apr) |
|
% of bookings for Romanian language interpreters |
14.8% |
17.5% |
17.5% |
18.60% |
Table 2
|
- |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 (Jan -Apr) |
|
Total Annual Cost |
€2,319,788.52 |
€1,703,888.65 |
1,560,316.85 |
€478,717.10 |
167. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 298 of 7 May 2013 regarding the regulation of charity collectors, the reason there is a delay in the implementation of the Charities Act; the financial reasons for the delay; the reason there is a delay in the creation of the register of charities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24941/13]
View answerThe Charities Act 2009 provides for an integrated system of mandatory registration and proportionate regulation and supervision of the charities sector in Ireland. The various sections of the Charities Act are subject to implementation through commencement orders. Sections that it was possible to commence in advance of the establishment of the Charities Regulatory Authority, as provided for under the Act, have been commenced. The remaining sections, including those relating to the Register of Charities, can only be commenced following the establishment of the Authority.
The Deputy will appreciate that the full implementation of the Charities Act, including the establishment of the Authority and Register of Charities, had to be examined as part of the comprehensive review of expenditure, which took place in 2011. Arising from this review, and in the context of the urgent need to make savings in Government expenditure, implementation of the Act was deferred, as my Department considered how best to achieve the objectives of the Act in a climate of financial constraint. Clearly the introduction of a comprehensive new regime for the regulation of charities, including the setting up of a new body - the Charities Regulatory Authority - will have some resource implications.
As I outlined to the Deputy in my response to the previous Parliamentary Question to which he refers (Question No. 298 of 7 May 2013), it remains an objective of the Government to strengthen the regulation of the charitable sector in effective and proportionate ways. My Department has therefore examined how best to implement key provisions of the Charities Act on a phased, low cost basis. As part of this process, a public consultation on proposals for implementing key provisions of the Act took place earlier this year. The consultation document invited the views of stakeholders and members of the public on proposals for the implementation of the Act in a cost effective way. I was very pleased with the response to this consultation, to which some 160 submissions were received. My Department is currently reviewing the submissions received and, as previously outlined to the Deputy, I look forward to publishing the results in due course and to giving a further indication of the Government's plans for the introduction of an operational Charities Regulatory Authority, the creation of a statutory Register of Charities, and full implementation of the Charities Act 2009.
168. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the provisions that are being put in place to prepare for the new wave of immigrants that are expected to arrive here in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24942/13]
View answerI am unclear as to the basis of the Deputy's expectation of an influx of new migrants to Ireland in 2014. I am of course aware of the debate in the UK regarding removal of the labour market restrictions in respect of Bulgaria and Romania from 1 January 2014 and the impact this could potentially have in terms of EU citizens from those countries exercising their rights of free movement to come to the UK as workers. However, since Ireland already allows full labour market access to such persons, no special provisions are required in respect of 2014 beyond the general and ongoing monitoring of developments in the UK in respect of immigration and free movement.
169. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if legislation will be amended to enable a person who wishes to be considered for appointment to judicial office to avail of a soft copy form without a request to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, as opposed to the current position in which a person must request a form to be issued to them in hard copy format; if for future legislative reform on judicial appointments, he and his officials will take this into account; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24944/13]
View answerThe Judicial Appointments Advisory Board was established pursuant to the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995. Section 14 of the Act provides that the Board may adopt such procedures as it thinks fit to carry out its functions under the Act. It is, therefore, a matter for the Board whether it would wish to make a form available in the manner suggested and I have arranged to pass the Deputy's suggestion on to the Board.
170. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will indicate if and when consideration of eligibility for residency/naturalisation will be concluded in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24989/13]
View answerI am advised that the person mentioned by the Deputy that the person mentioned was registered in the State on 22 March 2006 as a student until 4 August 2012. All non-EEA students resident in the State are subject to the student immigration rules set out under the "new immigration regime for full time non-EEA students which was published in September 2010 and has been in effect since 1 January 2011. These rules stipulate that non-EEA nationals may reside in Ireland as students, subject to the provisions of the new regime, for a maximum period of seven years.
As this person arrived in the State in 2006 she is now classified as a timed-out student. In this particular case, the person has made submissions seeking to remain in the State as the parent of an Irish citizen child. This application is under consideration and the person concerned has been asked to provide proof in this regard.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
171. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current position in regard to renewal of Stamp 4 in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24990/13]
View answerThe person concerned was initially granted leave to remain in the State for the three year period ending 27 May 2010. This was subsequently renewed for a further three years to 28 May, 2013. The latter decision was conveyed in writing to the person concerned by letter dated 26 May 2010. The person concerned is required to apply in writing for the renewal of this permission. As my Department's records show no evidence of such a renewal application having been made to date, it is recommended that the person concerned should do so without further delay.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
172. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress made to date in examination and determination of eligibility in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 1; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24991/13]
View answerThe person concerned is a failed asylum aplicant. Arising from the refusal of his asylum application, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), the person concerned was notified, by letter dated 21 March, 2006, that the then Minister proposed to make a Deportation Order in respect of him. He was given the options, to be exercised within 15 working days, of leaving the State voluntarily, of consenting to the making of a Deportation Order or of making representations to the Minister setting out the reasons why a Deportation Order should not be made against him. Representations have been submitted on behalf of the person concerned. The position in the State of the person concerned will now be decided by reference to the provisions of Section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended) and Section 5 of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) on the prohibition of refoulement. All representations submitted will be considered before a final decision is made. Once a decision has been made, this decision, and the consequences of the decision, will be conveyed in writing to the person concerned. Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
173. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which the full appraisal of application for residency/naturalisation has been undertaken to date in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24992/13]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware, from previous Dáil replies in this matter, that the person referred to by the Deputy has no application pending for residency. The person concerned was granted permission to remain for a period of five years on 12 January, 2010 on the basis of being the spouse of an EU citizen, who was residing in the State and was exercising his EU Treaty Rights. The grounds under which she was granted permission to remain in the State no longer apply, as her EU spouse is no longer residing in this State. Therefore, the permission to remain which was granted under the provisions of Directive 2004/38/EC and European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2006 and 2008 has now been revoked. The person concerned was notified of this decision on 6 October 2011. Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
174. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current or likely status of a stamp 4 application in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24993/13]
View answerI am informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service that the person mentioned by the Deputy was registered in the State on 30 July 2008 as a student. A reply issued to this person's email query on 15 April 2013 setting out the position with regard to the guidelines for non EEA national students registered in the State before 1 January 2011. This information is available on the INIS website at www.inis.gov.ie. This person was also granted an extension of her student permission up to 31 May 2013 as an exceptional measure. As a student in the State this person does not qualify for a stamp 4 immigration status. Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
175. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the current position in the matter of determination of eligibility for residency/naturalisation in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24994/13]
View answerThe person concerned has permission to remain in the State until 29th March, 2015. This position was notified to him by letter dated 19 April, 2012. The person concerned submitted an application for a Certificate of Naturalisation in September 2011. I decided to defer making my final decision on the application for a period of 18 months, until November 2014, in order that I might be satisfied that the person concerned continues to be of good character. The person concerned was notified of this decision by letter dated 9 May 2013. Processing of the application will resume in 2014. Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from the INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
