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- New independent Commission will select and recommend candidates for all judicial offices in Ireland and in EU and international courts.
- A new application and interview process will apply to all judicial vacancies.
- Candidates will be required to undergo continuous professional development.
Legislation providing for the establishment of the Judicial Appointments Commission on 1st January 2025 has commenced today. This marks the most substantial reform in the way judges are chosen for appointment in almost thirty years. The Judicial Appointments Commission Act establishes a new, independent Judicial Appointments Commission to select and recommend persons for all judicial offices in Ireland; in the EU and International courts.
The new reforms provided for, include:
- Reduction in the number of recommendations: 3 candidates to be recommended for a vacancy and an additional 2 recommendations for a second and additional vacancies. For example, this would mean 7 recommendations for 3 vacancies.
- Only candidates recommended by the Judicial Appointments Commission to be nominated by the Government for appointment by the President.
- All judicial posts, whether a first appointment or a promotion from another court will be governed by the procedure.
- Interviews: For the first time, all nominees will have been interviewed.
- Diversity: The Commission will have the objective that membership of the judiciary should reflect the diversity of the population as a whole.
- Continuous Professional Development: Candidates will be required to show they have undertaken judicial training or continuous professional development.
- The Judicial Appointments Commission will set out best practice selection procedures including interviews and the knowledge, skills and attributes required of judges.
Commission Membership. Membership of the Judicial Appointments Commission, which will be chaired by Chief Justice, The Hon. Mr. Justice Donal O’Donnell and will include:- The Hon. Ms. Justice Caroline Costello, (President of the Court of Appeal). Attorney General Rossa Fanning (SC). The Hon. Ms. Justice Mary Rose Gearty, (High Court). Judge Alan Mitchell, (District Court). Ms. Bernie Gray, (Human Resources and Governance expert). Dr. Eleanor O’Higgins, (Adjunct Associate Professor, College of Business, University College Dublin and Associate, London School of Economics and Political Science). Dr. Rónán Kennedy, (Associate Professor in the School of Law, University of Galway). Dr. Terrence McWade, (Former CEO of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland).
The Judicial Appointments Commission will be established from January 1st, 2025.
- Mr Justin Kelly, Assistant Commissioner, (Organised & Serious Crime), appointed new Deputy Garda Commissioner.
The Government yesterday approved the appointment of a new Deputy Commissioner to An Garda Síochána, with immediate effect.
Following a recent open competition, run by Public Jobs on behalf of the Policing Authority, the appointment of Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly was announced.
Mr Kelly has previously led the fight against organised and serious crime, as Assistant Commissioner. In this role, he has led the further development of An Garda Síochána’s capabilities and international partnerships in tackling drugs and organised crime, cyber and economic crime, as well as prioritising and combatting crimes against vulnerable people and responding to the needs of victims.
His career is marked by achievement and results and he is expected to bring his vast experience, skill and huge personal commitment to this new important senior role. This skill is crucial in the effective day to day management and strategic direction of An Garda Síochána; as well as supporting the current Garda Commissioner, in leading the implementation of the organisation’s ongoing programme of reform.
Garda Commissioner Mr Drew Harris and the Chairperson of the Policing Authority, Dr Elaine Byrne, have both publically welcomed the appointment.
The wife of a man, latter jailed for eight years for the rape of another woman in a Dublin hotel, is now seeking a High Court order preventing him from unlawfully taking control of the company in which they are both currently shareholders.
Mrs Fiona Brett claims that Mr Dermot Brett, sole director and 80% shareholder in Pharmafoods Ltd of Clonmel, Co Tipperary, operating from his prison cell, is behaving in a manner oppressive to her, as a 20% shareholder in the same firm.
Last November, at the Central Criminal Court, the fifty seven year old Mr Brett, with an address at Sweet Auburn, Carrickbeg, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, received a jail sentence having been convicted on one count of rape at the InterContinental Hotel on January 11th, 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the victim consented to him being named following his conviction.
The court had heard that friends of the 20-year-old woman, who was a university student, had got a taxi for her, after she was asked to leave a pub because of her intoxicated state.
It is understood that she had exited the taxi without the knowledge of her friends and then met with Brett, who claimed he was concerned for her welfare because there were a number of other men in the vicinity who were showing an interest in her.
The university student had no recollection of meeting Mr Brett or indeed getting out of the taxi. This was confirmed by CCTV footage at the hotel where they arrived which showed that the individual raped was unable to stand upright on the night in question.
Mrs Brett claims that her husbands conviction and the subsequent reporting and naming post-trial, has cast a devastating impact on their business, resulting in the loss of all of their key customers and suppliers.
The company was once family owned and engaged in supplying food processing equipment and operating from Ivowen Retail Park, in Clonmel.
Mr Justice Brian Cregan granted counsel permission to serve the proceedings at short notice on the respondent and said the case can come back before the court next week.
- A record year for CAB in its goal of denying and depriving criminals of the proceeds of crime
- Almost €10m seized from criminals
The Criminal Assets Bureau’s (CAB) Annual Report for 2023, has been published, showing a record year for CAB in its goal of denying and depriving criminals of the proceeds of committed crime.
In 2023, the value of assets under proceeds of crime cases commenced by CAB ranged in value from €10,915 to €1,456,887. Proceeds of crime actions, together with actions carried out under Revenue and Social Protection provisions, yielded in excess of €8.6 million to the Irish Exchequer in 2023.
Using the ill-gotten gains collected by CAB, the Department of Justice established the Community Safety Fund. This fund has been developed to reinvest the value of proceeds of crime, seized by CAB, directly back into local communities, which are negatively affected by crime.
€3.75 million in funding is available for local initiatives under this year’s Community Safety fund with applications closed since late July. Officials within the Department of Justice are currently processing current applications and the recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.
It is intended to support the expansion of CAB by 45% over the next 2 years, as part of the plan to tackle organised crime. The CAB Strategic Plan 2024-2027 will expand CAB’s intelligence gathering and enforcement activities.
In addition, new legislation is being brought forward in the coming weeks to strengthen CAB, with the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2023, seen as improving CAB’s ability to carry out its work.
Measures include:
- The reduction from seven years to two years in the time between an order being made that assets are the proceeds of crime and a final disposal order being available in respect of those assets.
- Provision for immediate and automatic appointment of a receiver to deprive respondents of the benefit of the assets.
- The limitation of respondent’s ability to reopen the question of whether assets are proceeds of crime at the point of a disposal order being sought.
- Enhanced restraint and asset detention powers prior to the High Court process.
- Improved domestic and international information exchange powers.
Eradicating organised crime is central to building safer, stronger communities and expanding CAB is seen as key to this goal.
- Funding secured to support safer communities and modernised immigration system.
- €2.5 billion for An Garda Síochána – over half a billion euro increase on 2020.
- DSGBV funding trebled.
- €3.2m to support Youth Justice Strategy including two new Youth Diversion Programmes.
A record €3.61 billion for current expenditure and €310 million for capital investment was allocated in the budget yesterday, for the Justice sector, which will be targeted to enhance public safety, improve crime prevention, ensure safe prisons, and drive end-to-end modernisation across Ireland’s immigration systems.
The major investment of almost €4 billion across the Justice Sector, will equip front-line Gardaí with the necessary tools and resources to strengthen crime prevention and detection; support the rollout of 36 Community Safety Partnerships nationwide; and strengthen efforts under the Zero Tolerance Strategy to combat domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence (DSGBV). In addition, significant funding is allocated for targeted road safety initiatives and to recruit additional prison staff and alleviate the acute pressures of overcrowding within our prisons.
A key focus in this Budget is on the reforming of family law. Over €11m has been allocated to increase staff and improve our Courts Service. An additional €3m will enable the use of expert reports as outlined in the Family Justice Strategy to ensure the voice of each child impacted by family break ups can be heard and to safeguard their needs within the justice system. Through the enactment of the Family Courts Bill, the Minister will move to establish the Family District Court, the Family Circuit Court and the Family High Court, in order to transform our family justice system and make it more user friendly for families.
Budget Highlights
An Garda Síochána.
- Garda funding has increased by over €500m (up 27% since 2020), bringing the total budget to €2.48 billion.
- This will provide funding to recruit between 800 and 1,000 new Gardaí, along with 150 Garda staff and move towards 1,000 Garda reserves.
- Garda overtime has been boosted by 13%, rising to €150 million, to enhance high-visibility policing efforts and serious crime investigation.
- The Garda trainee allowance will have almost doubled to €354 per week, effective from 1st October 2024 (up from €184 in 2023).
- €1.5 million has been allocated for Garda workforce wellbeing measures, including medical expenses.
- €5m to be provided for Public Order Units including two new water cannons, crowd control barriers, expansion of the dog unit and more body armour for frontline Gardaí.
- €9 million in additional funding to enhance road safety.
Capital Investments.
- €100m of funding for ICT to equip Gardaí with the necessary tools to enhance crime prevention and detection, including Body-Worn cameras and the development of a digital evidence management system which will facilitate the nationwide roll-out of body worn cameras and the introduction of facial recognition technology.
- €62m investment in the Garda estate across the country with major projects progressed in 2025 including Portlaoise, Macroom, Clonmel and Newcastlewest.
- Fleet upgrades, including new public order vehicles and investment in a range of specialist vehicles to support modern policing.
- The delivery of a new helicopter in Q1 2025 for the important work of the Garda Air Support Unit.
Domestic, Sexual, and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) & Community Safety.
- DSGBV funding is increasing to €70m. This is more than treble the funding for DSGBV services when Minister McEntee first became Minister for Justice, and a further significant increase for 2025.
- Increased funding for Cuan to €67m including additional resources to support the implementation of the Zero Tolerance strategy, with funding for 80 additional refuge spaces.
- €800k for Cuan will provide for research and data analytics to develop an impact-led approach for evidence and knowledge development to achieve effective DSGBV prevention, protection, prosecution, and policy co-ordination.
- A further targeted open call will be launched in 2025 to allow services to come forward with proposals.
- €9.5 million allocated for nationwide Community Safety Partnerships and the establishment of a National Office for Community Safety and the Community Safety Innovation Fund.
- An expanded Youth Justice Strategy with an increase of total funding by €3.2m and 10.8% bringing the total to €33 million.
Prisons and Probation.
- Record funding of €525m has been secured to increase prison capacity and tackle overcrowding. This is an increase of €79m or 18%.
- Recruitment of 150 Prison Officers in addition to the 240 Prison Officers recruited in 2024.
- An additional €6.2 million to fund 130,000 additional staff hours in our Prisons.
- €53m in Capital Funding which will provide for the completion of 155 new prison spaces by the end of 2024 as part of a programme of works.
- The Probation Service will receive an additional €4 million bringing the total budget to over €60m to expand crime diversion programmes, support step down facilities, restorative justice, and community-based alternatives to imprisonment.
Immigration Modernisation.
- €25m package for end-to-end investment in the immigration system including Service Delivery, International Protection Office, International Protection Appeals Tribunal and the Legal Aid Board. €2m is provided for ICT capital expenditure.
- Significant additional resources will be directed to streamline the international protection process, with approximately 400 further staff to be recruited. This will provide for over 25,000 IPO decisions compared to over 14,000 cases in 2024.
- Included in the package is €5m in increased investment in digital systems to modernise immigration systems, reduce processing times, increase removals (including with a new charter plane service), and strengthen border security.
- Readiness work for the introduction of the EU Asylum and Migration Pact requirements in 2026.
Courts.
- €11.1m to Courts Service which will include 50 additional staff to support the expanding Judiciary bringing its budget to over €195m.
- This funding will help reduce backlogs and ensure quicker administration of justice.
- It includes €2m to support modernisation measures including outsourced jury minding to free up thousands of Garda hours for frontline policing services.
- Separately, an additional funding of €3m is to provide a pilot project to support the voice of children in family justice proceedings, including the recruitment of 8 staff as well as other services to assist in these proceedings.
- The budget for criminal legal aid will increase in 2025 by over €9m which will include an 8% increase in fees from 1 January 2025. This is in addition to the 10% increase in fees secured in Budget 2024.
Funding the Transformation resulting from the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024.
- A total funding package of €28m provided for new bodies including Fiosrú (replacing GSOC), the Policing and Community Safety Authority, and the Office of the Independent Examiner.
- Together with 36 Community Safety Partnerships nationwide and the National Office of Community Safety will strengthen effective cross-agency working in partnership with local communities on public safety.
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