Mary Lou McDonald
Question:120. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will provide a breakdown of his Department’s 2021 estimate for a specialised sexual offences unit. [31368/20]
View answerTuesday, 20 October 2020
Questions (120)
Written answers
As the Deputy will be aware, Section 2 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974 explicitly provides that the Director of Public Prosecution shall be independent in the performance of her functions. One of the ways effect is given to this independence is that funding for the Director’s Office is provided through a separate Vote; Vote 5 – Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. While I have a role in presenting Estimates for the DPP’s Vote to the Oireachtas annually, neither I nor my officials exercise any control in relation to how the Director discharges her functions.
I understand that in 2019 the Director of Public Prosecutions proposed to create a Specialised Sexual Offences Unit within her Office as work being undertaken in Ireland, and the experience of neighbouring jurisdictions, pointed to better outcomes being delivered for victims when sexual offences are dealt with by the prosecution service in specialised sexual offences units. The Director recognised that a dedicated unit would produce better outcomes for victims, and that it would involve additional costs.
The Director’s officials engaged in discussions with officials of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with regard to the additional funding required. The cost of the 10 additional staff sought by the Director to create the unit was €800,000 a year. It was agreed to provide funding for these additional staff in two phases. €300,000 was provided in the 2020 Estimates to enable the unit to be established and a commitment was given that the remaining funding of €500,000 be provided in the 2021 Estimates. I can confirm for the Deputy that in the 2021 Estimates for the DPP’s Office, published recently, the additional €500,00 committed to in 2019 has been provided. Therefore, the 2021 Estimates for the DPP’s Office contains provision of €800,000 to fully meet the salary costs of the 10 additional staff sought by the Director for the Sexual Offences Unit.