I am Looking forward to working together to enhance the relationship between our two countries

We discussed protecting the common travel area and ensuring our immigration laws are robust and enforced. Looking forward to working together to enhance the relationship between our two countries. UK-Ireland Summit.

The Justice Minister also said he knows one of the victims.
MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Jim O’Callaghan has commended the gardaí who responded to what he called “an awful, random attack” in the Stoneybatter area of Dublin yesterday. 

Speaking to RTÉ Radio this morning, O’Callaghan said: “This could have been a lot worse, and I want to commend the gardaí, particularly the guard who arrived there first and apprehended and disarmed the individual concerned.”

He said that if gardaí had not responded as quickly as they did, “I fear we could have been talking about something much worse this morning, rather than the three serious injuries that took place”. 

Yesterday afternoon, a man attacked people with a blade in Stoneybatter, leaving three men in hospital. Two of them are being treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries, while one was admitted with less serious injuries.

A man in his 20s has been arrested and detained at a Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

O’Callaghan said the assailant, who it’s understood was homeless and originally from South America, had no history of violent attacks that gardaí were aware of and that the three men were attacked at random. 

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan this week attended a two-day meeting with his counterparts in Warsaw to discuss migration, preparing for and responding to new and emerging threats, security and access to justice.

The Minister also availed of the opportunity to hold a bilateral meeting with the EU’s Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, to discuss Ireland’s views on a new proposal to improve the EU’s mechanism for returning migrants who have been refused international protection.

Minister O’Callaghan also met with the Spanish Minister for Justice and agreed to work with Spain and other like-minded countries to strengthen the new EU Directive on combatting child sexual abuse. He also hosted a meeting with his Lithuanian and Greek counterparts to discuss shared priorities and ambitions for the Irish, Lithuanian and Greek Presidencies of the European Union, which will span an 18-month period from July 2026 to December 2027.

Minister O’Callaghan agreed with his counterparts that the Union needs to see sustainable progress on addressing irregular migration, including through better cooperation on returns and readmissions. In addressing this, Minister O’Callaghan urged the Commission to bring forward a new measure that increases the effectiveness of returns in the EU. Responding to points made about the exploitation of refugee law by criminal groups engaged in people smuggling, Minister O’Callaghan said:

“The exploitation of human-beings, putting lives at risk, is unacceptable. We need to ensure our criminal justice systems can adequately respond to evolving threats posed by migrant smuggler networks. I welcome the agreement to map high-risk criminal networks to ensure we have an improved EU wide intelligence picture of groups that are fuelling migrant smuggling and other organised crime.”

When discussing how the EU might better prepare for new and emerging threats, Minister O’Callaghan took the opportunity to thank his counterparts for sending crews and equipment to assist reconnection efforts in Ireland in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.

Among the key issues raised for inclusion in the EUs new Internal Security Strategy Minister O’Callaghan highlighted the threat posed by organised crime, the spread of disinformation, and cyber and hybrid threats. Encouraging all Member States to work together to address such threats, Minister O’Callaghan said:

“The cross-cutting nature of internal security in today’s increasingly geopolitical environment makes it even more important that Member States work together to ensure our collective security. We must take an all-encompassing approach, including by prioritising security in our engagement with partners and stakeholders and embedding an effective response to security challenges in developing policy.”

The Minister also engaged in a discussion on how Member States should work together to protect the integrity of the Unions’ approach to justice and fundamental rights, and to ensure access to justice for all and discussed ongoing work to gather evidence to ensure accountability for crimes committed in the context of Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.

TD Jim O’ Callaghan (FF) reacts to the latest removal of asylum seekers to alternative accommodation

Listen on RTÉ

On RTÉ Radio 1 with Tom McEnaney, Media Consultant & Founder of Effective Aid Ukraine // Jim O’Callaghan, Fianna Fail TD for Dublin Bay South and party spokesman for justice // James Waterhouse, BBC Ukraine correspondent.

Listen on RTÉ

In a recent statement, Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan has drawn attention to the precarious conditions prevailing on Mount Street, labeling them as both perilous and intolerable. O’Callaghan’s remarks highlight a pressing need for proactive measures to rectify the situation, stressing the imperative for relevant authorities to step in and address the burgeoning concerns. Urgency is paramount, he asserts, in safeguarding the welfare and security of the local community.

Read more at breakingnews.ie.

Picture credit: breakingnews.ie

McEntee rejects claim, saying committee worked on plan for ‘some time’

NEW legislation will introduce tougher sentences for knife crimes as a ‘preventative measure’, the justice minister has said. Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal from Justice Minister Helen McEntee to increase sentences for knife-related crimes after Taoiseach Simon Harris pledged to focus on law and order.

These include possessing a knife with intent to unlawfully cause injury, trespassing with a knife and producing a knife to unlawfully intimidate, from a maximum sentence of five to seven years.

The penalty for importing and selling knives is to be increased from seven to ten years. Crediting her colleague James Browne for his work with the Anti-Social Behaviour Forum and its subgroups, which resulted in these proposals, Minister McEntee said: ‘Knives are extremely dangerous and knife crime must carry significant consequences.”

However, Jim O’Callaghan, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokes-man, has complained that legislation he introduced to the Dáil a number of years ago sat in cold storage until Simon Harris confirmed Complaint: Jim O’Callaghan that new legislation would be brought forward on the issue when he became leader.

Ms McEntee said: ‘I think what’s clear from today’s Minister Browne is that he has actually been working on this for some time. This is a recommendation from a committee that he has been chairing since
the beginning of this Government.

“The committee has looked at a number of different issues in our community and the ways in which we can respond to them effectively. Knife crime is the next issue that they have been looking at as Minister
Browne has alluded to.

‘What they’ve done is actually taken the proposals by deputy O’Callaghan and, obviously, engaged with An Garda Síochána and with other community groups to see what was most appropriate here. That’s how we work. We are working collectively as a government. She added: “This is his Government colleague bringing forward ‘Preventative measures’ this recommendation, so I certainly don’t see it as a u-turn. I
see this as a positive step.”

There were 2,146 knives seized in 2019, 2,260 in 2020 and 2,186 in 2023, according to garda figures.
Asked whether she expected knife-related crime to decrease as a result of this change, she said: ‘What we always need to do is try and put in place preventative measures.

“Thankfully, we’re not in a situation where we potentially are in London or Glasgow, where we have particular gangs where knife crime is a really serious issue. “We have seen a small and incremental problem here in Ireland, and we need to make sure that it doesn’t get any worse.

‘So this is about making sure the punishment matches the crime at the moment. Simple possession for a knife is five years, possession with intent is also five years. So what is happening here is we’re increasing the sentence to match the crime committed.’ She said the measures were based on recommendations from the Anti-Social Behaviour Forum, to increase penalties on possessing or producing knives.

By Brian Mahon