Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West

I ask Deputy Kelly to withdraw this amendment for a number of reasons. We are giving out about things being added onto this Bill. Here is another important issue being added on at this Stage.
I do not agree with the amendment. As much of a nuisance as it is going in and out of this Dáil on many an occasion, I do not agree we should curb civil liberties and the right to protest late at night without proper discussion in this Dáil. This would introduce something that would remove any form of intimidation which can be interpreted in lots of ways.
We are here in a disgraceful situation - and it is not the Deputy’s fault, it is the Minister’s fault – where there are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the Gallery tonight. They have been campaigning for a year and have spoken to the justice committee. I was told by the Taoiseach earlier today that they would have their issues heard. He said extra time had been added on but it added on extra time to other issues but not this issue. There are very important issues under discussion here, and I am not blaming any Deputy for raising them, but we are going to be in a situation that, unless the Minister agrees now to extend this debate, survivors will leave this Chamber with this Bill rammed through without any of their amendments heard, without the Rape Crisis Centre’s amendments heard and lots of other issues. I think that is an absolute shame and it would send a horrifically bad message out about how this Government treats the issue of gender-based violence. I need to jump in now and support the call for the Order of Business to be changed. This is an absolute disgrace. I have never seen anything like it in my years in the Dáil.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10