Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 June 2021
212. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if she will publish and or provide details of, or copies of all emails and hard correspondence received from an association (details supplied) seeking a statutory instrument to enable its annual conference to proceed; and if she was acting Minister or the Minister who discussed this SI with the Garda Commissioner in advance or post sign off on it. [32173/21]
View answer222. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice if she will provide all documents relating to lobbying or contact with her Department and An Garda Síochána in respect of a conference by an association (details supplied) including hard copies and text and or messages via an application. [32254/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 212 and 222 together.
As the Deputy will be aware from my response to question 667 of 18 May, the Statutory Regulations that govern the operation of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) provide that the Annual Delegate Conference (ADC) must take place not later than May in any year.
The ADC of the GRA could not be held in the usual in-person format before the end of May 2020 due to the public health guidelines which were introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The GRA communicated with my Department during the course of 2020 in relation to the possibility of holding an ADC during the year, and the requirement for supporting Regulatory changes.
On foot of this, and in accordance with section 122 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Síochána (Associations) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 605/2020) were made by Minister McEntee on 8 December 2020 in light of appropriate consultation between the Department of Justice and the Garda authorities.
As I informed the Deputy in my response to question 502 of 25 May, the correspondence between the GRA and my Department in this matter has been made available to the Deputy on 21 May. The specific form of messages the Deputy refers to were also included in these documents.
