Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration


The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. The department's mission is to maintain and enhance community security and to promote a fairer society in Ireland.

Departmental team

  • Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: Jim O'Callaghan, TD
  • *Minister of State for International law, law reform and youth justice: Niall Collins, TD
  • *Minister of State for Migration: Colm Brophy, TD
  • Secretary General of the Department: Oonagh McPhillips

    Overview

The mission of the Department of Justice is to maintain and enhance community security through the development of a range of policies and high-quality services which underpin:
  • The protection and assertion of human rights and fundamental freedoms consistent with the common good
  • The security of the State
  • An effective and balanced approach to tackling crime
In July 2014 the department embarked on a comprehensive programme of change, including the recruitment of a new secretary-general following an independent review.
The official headquarters and ministerial offices of the department are on St Stephen's Green, Dublin.

Responsibilities

The department's main areas of responsibility include:
  • Implementing government policy on crime and protecting the security of the State.
  • Providing policy advice in relation to the criminal justice system and supporting the operation of this system.
  • Continuing reform of criminal law and certain areas of civil law.
  • Playing a central part in the implementation of core elements in the Good Friday Agreement.
  • Co-operating in relevant EU and international matters and promoting the Republic of Ireland's interests within the associated areas of responsibility.
  • Implementing the Government's asylum strategy and further developing national immigration policy.

    Immigration Service Delivery

Immigration Service Delivery is an office of the department, previously named the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, was established in 2005 to deal with access to asylum, immigration, citizenship and visas. ISD is responsible for administering the administrative functions of the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration in relation to asylum, immigration and citizenship matters. ISD also facilitates a whole of government approach to immigration and asylum issues which enables a more efficient service to be provided in these areas. It also works with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment on the issuing of work permits.
The Service is structured around a number of key areas: asylum, visa, immigration and citizenship processing, asylum and immigration policy, repatriation and reception and integration. The agency also maintains close contact with the Garda National Immigration Bureau in relation to many aspects of its work including, deportations and illegal immigration. Members of the Garda Síochána of Detective rank, also carrying the seal of Immigration Officers operate on a full-time basis within the head office in Burgh Quay. A Garda Immigration office is also maintained at all Airports and main ports and at all Garda District Headquarters outside the Dublin Region.
Previously the responsibilities were shared between the Department of Justice and the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is located at 13/14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2.
The Border Management Unit is ISD's uniformed, front-line service providing Immigration Control at Dublin Airport. It was established as part of the Department of Justice's move to civilianize aspects of immigration management. The BMU gradually took over all front-line immigration control services from GNIB at Dublin Airport and is now solely responsible for these matters, with limited GNIB resources left at the airport for criminal investigations, detention services and removals of persons from the State. It is planned that the BMU will expand to take over front-line immigration at all Ports of Entry in the State.

Executive agencies

The department has executive agencies, which legally are integral parts of the department but which are managed separately:
  • Forensic Science Ireland
  • Probation Service
  • Irish Prison Service

    Affiliated bodies

Among the state agencies and other bodies affiliated to the department in some way are:
  • Courts Service
  • Garda Síochána
  • Fiosrú – the Office of the Police Ombudsman
  • Legal Aid Board
  • State Pathologist's Office
  • National Disability Authority
  • Office of the Data Protection Commissioner
  • Irish Film Classification Office
  • International Protection Office
  • International Protection Appeals Tribunal
  • National Cyber Security Centre
  • Policing and Community Safety Authority
  • Private Security Authority
No state-sponsored bodies report to the department.

History

In the revolutionary period, the office was known as the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924, passed soon after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, provided it with a statutory basis and renamed it as the Department of Justice. This act provided it with:
The schedule assigned it with the following bodies:
The name and functions of the department have changed by means of statutory instruments.
DateEffect
2 June 1924Establishment of the Department of Justice
1 January 1983Transfer of Adoption to the Department of Health
3 February 1993Transfer of Civil law reform, civil legal aid and the family mediation service to the Department of Equality and Law Reform
8 July 1997Transfer of Equality and Law Reform from the Department of Equality and Law Reform
9 July 1997Renamed as the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
27 July 2001Transfer of Charities to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs
1 June 2010Transfer of Equality, Integration, Disability and Human Rights to the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
2 June 2010Renamed as the Department of Justice and Law Reform
1 April 2011Transfer of Equality, Integration, Disability and Human Rights from the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs
2 April 2011Renamed as the Department of Justice and Equality
1 May 2011Transfer of Charities from the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs
1 January 2013Transfer of Equality Tribunal to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
19 June 2013Transfer of Censorship of Publications to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
10 March 2015Transfer of Censorship of Publications from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
1 January 2016Transfer of Ordnance Survey Ireland from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
1 January 2016Transfer of the Valuation Office from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
26 July 2017Transfer of Charities to the Department of Rural and Community Development
1 January 2018Transfer of Ordnance Survey Ireland to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
1 January 2018Transfer of Property Registration Authority to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
1 January 2018Transfer of Valuation Office to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
14 October 2020Transfer of Youth justice from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs
14 October 2020Transfer of Disability, equality, human rights, integration and reception to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs
1 November 2020Renamed as the Department of Justice
1 May 2025Transfer of Integration and reception from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
1 June 2025Transfer of Cyber security from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
5 June 2025Renamed as the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration
1 August 2025Transfer of Property Services to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
1 August 2025Transfer of Censorship of films and publications to the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport