Housing Provision
Dail Éireann — 2023-04-19
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Leo Varadkar (FG), Dublin West

I thank the Deputies. On Deputy Bacik's question, I join with her in commending the work of An Garda Síochána, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the courts. As the Deputy said, it is five years since there has been a murder in Ireland linked to a feud involving serious organised crime gangs. Please God, this will continue. I am aware the gardaí have done phenomenal work in that regard as have the prosecutors and the court. Two convictions have been secured this week. There was one acquittal, which was not the outcome the State wanted, but it proves the Special Criminal Court is a place where people get a fair trial. It underlines the case for retaining the court. It is particularly important that we all understand it is one of the reasons we have the two Special Criminal Courts. It is because it allows trials to happen without a jury and it enables us to put some really bad people away who would otherwise intimidate a jury and their family members and make it impossible for there to be a trial at all.
With regard to the independent review, which is being headed up by former Mr. Justice Michael Peart, this is the review of the Offences Against the State Acts. I have not received it and it has not gone to the Government yet. I do not know whether the Minister for Justice has it but I will find out. Ideally, we would like to have it published and debated before June when we will have the vote on the continuation of the Special Criminal Court.
With regard to a citizens' assembly on neutrality and security policy, there was no proposal or draft proposal put to the Government on that. When he was the Taoiseach, I believe the Tánaiste suggested it as an option for consideration but there was never a proposal made to the Government. He gave it further consideration and came up with a different proposal, which was then put to the Cabinet and was agreed. This is the one he is proceeding with at the moment.
On collective bargaining, if my recollection is correct, the commitment we made around legislating for collective bargaining derives from the EU directive on minimum wages and collective bargaining.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-04-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-04-19