Paul Murphy presses Taoiseach on hard border for non-EU migrants

I want to ask the Taoiseach about something I asked a number of times his predecessor about, which is about the issue of the reality of a hard border that exists for non-EU migrants on this island. So, for example, you could be living in the north perfectly legally as a refugee, as a migrant worker, as someone who's married to an Irish or UK national, but you're not able to travel south freely. I wonder, that is something that is entirely within the gift of the Irish government to resolve, to give these people the right to travel. I wonder whether you agree to do that, to get rid of that aspect of the hard border. Then there's another question which relates to the British government, but that would create significant pressure. And secondly, whether you agree that time spent living in the north should contribute towards demonstrating a connection with the Irish state in terms of establishing a right to citizenship. It should be treated the same as time living in the south, this is a shared island, people in the north should be able to apply for passports. And whether you would meet with the North West Migrant Forum on these issues. I want to thank the deputies once again for the questions just in relation to the Shane O'Farrell case and his sad death. I just want to extend my condolences to his family. A scoping exercise was done, I think it was done by a retired judge. I haven't seen the report myself, but I know that Minister Harris is very keen to publish that report as soon as possible. He wants to put the published report out there and we want members to be able to read it for themselves, so that they can make an informed decision as to whether a further inquiry is appropriate having read what is in that report. I understand there have been a number of inquiries already and we are very keen to be fair to the O'Farrell family, but we also need to be fair to those who are being inquired into and many of them have been inquired into already. And we have to bear that in mind, too, and the impact on them and their families. In relation to the common travel area, between Britain and Ireland and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, that only applies to UK and Irish citizens. It does not apply to EU citizens or non-EA citizens and that, of course, causes problems for them. It is something that I have raised in my conversations with Prime Minister Sunak, particularly in the context of the proposal to bring in an ETA, an electronic travel authorisation, which I think would make life hard and unnecessarily hard for EU nationals and, indeed, non-EA nationals who regularly cross the border. That is a particular concern that we have. In relation to the matters raised by the Deputy, I do not know enough about the details of that area. I appreciate you may have raised it with Michal Martin of Cishek before, but I do not want to say something now that may turn out to be incorrect without having a proper understanding of it, but if you want to send me a short note on it or something, I will take a look into it and see if there is something we can do that is practical and helps people to cross the border freely, as they should be allowed to do, but does not have other implications that maybe I have not considered. In relation to the general question of the public service and recruitment and retention, the truth is, across the board at the moment, public bodies and private companies are struggling to recruit and retain staff. It is true in the public sector and the private sector, it is true in almost every sector of the economy, big companies and small well-paid jobs and poorly paid jobs. That is very much a reflection of the fact that we have full employment or close to full employment now in Ireland, which is something we have rarely had in our history. It is very much an employee's market at the moment and there is no sector of our economy or society that is not struggling to recruit and retain staff at the moment. I would certainly rather be in the position we are in now, which is one of close to full employment, than there being 10 or 20 per cent unemployment when things will be much easier in terms of recruitment and retention, but it is a problem nonetheless. The kind of things we are doing particularly when it comes to health and social care is really to dramatically increase the number of places, the number of people we train as nurses, as doctors, as therapists, as health and social care professionals, really recognising that the world has changed, that people change careers, that people travel and just to stand still you probably need to train and recruit more than you would have done in the past and we are adjusting our policies to do exactly that. In many ways the issue of guided recruitment is linked to that. We have funding for 1,000 additional Gardie this year and that should be more than enough to cover retirements and resignations. We hope to see a net increase in the number of Gardie this year, heading towards a target of 15,000. We discussed this with the Gardie Commissioner when I met him before Christmas. Recruitment did slow down a lot in the last two years because of the restrictions related to COVID. He and the Minister are confident that it can increase very significantly over the next couple of months and we will need to see if that happens, but that is the position that they are informing me. I would prefer not to comment on the issue in relation to JD Sports. I am not aware of the incidents that are happening. The first I heard of it was now. It may be the case that there is already labour law or other laws that cover this area and I am not able to comment on that without knowing all the facts or knowing what the current legal position may already be. On district court waiting times, it is a government priority to ensure that the courts are resourced to administer justice efficiently and effectively and that is central to ensuring there is access to justice. The court service works closely with the judiciary to address backlogs and prioritise urgent work. However, a whole-of-system approach is required in order to address systemic challenges. The Minister of Justice is optimistic that both implementation of the recommendations of the Judicial Planning Working Group and the commitment by the court service in its corporate strategic plan to maximise the use of digital technologies to provide a more efficient and user-centred service will need to improve deficiencies and shorter waiting times in due course. The Minister is very much aware of the delays and proceedings on vulnerable victims and it is very important to point out that applications for urgent interim domestic violence orders are prioritised by the courts and applications are heard in the district court on the day of the application is made or at the next court setting. Minister Harris has requested a report on the disparity in waiting times between districts for family law domestic violence applications from the court service. Waging times for other domestic violence applications do vary across districts, but the majority hear these applications at the next setting. Finally, like everyone, I have seen the newspaper reports and the media reports in relation to baby Alicia Kavanagh and I think we all feel for the O'Scully family and the Kavanagh family and what they have endured. Like everyone in this house, it is difficult to comment on any individual case. None of us know all of the details and I think it would take anyone a very long time to be fully across all the details of any medical case of this nature, but certainly when it comes to individual accountability, where it relates to a doctor, that is done through the Medical Council, where it relates to a midwife, that is done through the nursing and midwifery board at the NMBI. Ms. Moving on to the last grouping of questions, beginning with question 11, in the name of Deputy Pat Daly.