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Departmental Policies

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 December 2021

Wednesday, 15 December 2021

Ceisteanna (166)

Christopher O'Sullivan

Ceist:

166. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Justice the main policy achievements and initiatives undertaken by her Department during 2021; and her main priorities for 2022. [62199/21]

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Freagraí scríofa

In February 2021 I published Justice Plan 2021, the first in a series of annual plans outlining actions to drive reforms across the Justice sector to build a justice system that works for everyone. These actions reflect my priorities as Minister for Justice, in line with the various commitments set out in the Programme for Government. The various actions are aligned with the Department's five strategic goals, which are to:

- Tackle crime, enhance national security and transform policing

- Improve access to justice and modernise the courts system

- Strengthen community safety, reduce reoffending, support victims and combat domestic, sexual and gender based violence

- Deliver a fair immigration system for a digital age

- Accelerate innovation, digital transformation and climate action across the justice sector.

The full Justice Plan 2021 is available to view at: www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Department_of_Justice_Action_Plan_2021.pdf/Files/Department_of_Justice_Action_Plan_2021.pdf

In line with my commitment to report biannually on progress under the Justice Plan, I published a mid-year report in August this year. This is available at: www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Justice-Plan-2021-Mid-Year-Progress-Report.pdf/Files/Justice-Plan-2021-Mid-Year-Progress-Report.pdf

I am now reviewing the overall progress made under Justice Plan 2021 with my officials to develop the next iteration for 2022 which will set out my priorities for next year in line with our strategic goals and Programme for Government commitments. Justice Plan 2022 will be published in the New Year, alongside the end of year progress report on Justice Plan 2021.

Notwithstanding the above, I am pleased to set out for the Deputy some of the key policy and legislative developments and achievements to date in 2021.

My Department has made substantial progress on delivering reforms recommended by the Commission on the Future of Policing, including publication of the landmark General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill.

Further key actions delivered to tackle crime include the publication of the General Scheme of the Hate Crime Bill; the publication of the Hamilton Review and implementation plan to tackle white collar crime; Ireland’s successful connection to Schengen Information System (SIS II) leading to an increased number of arrests; and enactment of the Criminal Procedure Act 2021 which will improve efficiencies in the criminal trial process, by introducing preliminary trial hearings.

In terms of improving access to justice, the Peter Kelly Report, Reform of Civil Justice in the State has been published, an implementation group has been established and an implementation plan has been prepared for submission to Government in the coming weeks.

We are also progressing work to reform the family justice system. Last September, I published the General Scheme of the Family Court Bill which will restructure the family justice system to enable jurisdictions in appropriate Courts. Drafting of the Bill is ongoing while we await pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme, with a view to publication of the Bill by the end of February 2022. In parallel, the Family Justice Oversight Group are working to develop a new family justice system.

We have also published the General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill which will replace the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board with a new Commission, and established a Judicial Planning Working Group to work on judicial numbers over the medium term.

The General Scheme of the Gambling Regulation Bill was published recently, bringing us closer to the establishment of a Gambling Regulator.

We have introduced strong measures to tackle the cost of insurance, including bringing into operation new personal injuries guidelines and enacting the Perjury Bill to establish a statutory criminal offence for perjury.

Strengthening the safety of all communities is a cross-Government priority. We have established three pilot Local Community Safety Partnerships (in Dublin’s North Inner City, Longford and Waterford) which will inform the roll-out of the new Community Safety model nationwide. We have also established an implementation plan and Board to deliver on the recommendations of the Drogheda Scoping Report, to improve community safety and wellbeing in Drogheda.

We are making strides in providing greater supports to victims of crime, and combating domestic, sexual and gender based violence. We are driving implementation of Supporting a Victim’s Journey, our plan to implement the recommendations of the O’Malley Review.

We are currently drafting legislation to put the recently published revised National Referral Mechanism for victims of human trafficking on a statutory footing. We have put in place additional practical supports for victims including additional grant supports for relevant NGOs. The Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Bill was also enacted which strengthens the laws around human trafficking.

We have enacted Coco’s Law, the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act, and published draft legislation to strengthen the post-release monitoring and management of sex offenders.

We have established the new statutory parole board and commenced the parole act, which increases the time for those serving life sentences from 7 years to 12 years before they are eligible to be considered for parole.

To support young people and divert them away from crime, a new Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 was launched and is being implemented; we have established an Anti-Social Behaviour Forum to bring forward proposals to tackle the issue of anti-social behaviour (including subgroups examining the misuse of scramblers and quadbikes, and knife crime) and have published the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Exploitation of Children in the Commission of Offences) Bill.

In terms of developments in the immigration area, an end-to-end review of relevant international protection processes by a multi-disciplinary team from my Department has been completed and published. This is part of the work ongoing to reduce processing times for international protection applications.

As the Deputy will be aware, I recently announced a landmark scheme to regularise the immigration status of thousands of long-term undocumented migrants and their families who are living in Ireland.

Of course it is important to note that all the above mentioned milestones and achievements are just a snapshot of the substantial programme of work being delivered on by my Department. We continue to work with our agencies and partners across the sector to receive feedback, ensure that the targets set out in the Plan are met and to inform the development of future Justice Plans.

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