It arises from our discussion earlier when I suggested that SIPO should be able to access the list of beneficial owners-----

That would be a useful measure in terms of transparency, given the concerns around some of the opaqueness of the legislation.

I have tabled an amendment to the motion that would also set a date of February. It is identical to the amendment tabled by Sinn Féin and when Sinn Féin presses its amendment I will support it. I want to be clear, because there have been a diversity of reasons put forward on this, that my reasons may be different from those of others in the House, including Senator McDowell. I do not propose a date of February because I believe that by any stretch we will have dealt with the Covid-19 crisis by February. We are faci…

Like others, I welcome the motion and the opportunity to discuss the biodiversity crisis. It is a crisis we discussed at some length in this House in various debates over the course of the previous Oireachtas, including on the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill and the Heritage Act, because it cuts across so much of our policy in Ireland. It is always useful at the beginning of any discussion on biodiversity to reflect on how extraordinarily fortunate we are to be living on the only known planet with life. It is a planet on…

While I agree with Senator Byrne on some issues, I would query one thing he said, which was the ultimate priority is still for people to own their own homes. That is one priority but the core priority of the State must be for people to have security in their homes rather than ownership. This goes right back to Davitt. Security of tenure allows people to plan their lives, decide what school their children will attend while knowing they will live near it, plan for work, have a life and know where they will live. Even…

A number of similar amendments are grouped together. I support Senator Moynihan's amendment. She has offered a useful and pragmatic insight into how housing, family units and support structures work and was one of the key champions of the bubbling mechanism which has been taken on board. She has form for offering useful proposals. My amendments Nos. 7 and 9 are being discussed in this grouping. They are a more modest version of Senator Moynihan's proposal in that they specifically try to address the question of the…

There are wider concerns but everybody has shown admirable restraint in that Senators have not put all our good ideas around the Residential Tenancies Bill into amendments. This grouping is specifically around creating space and time for that proper debate. The amendments do not seek to change everything about residential tenancies but to give us enough space during a time of restricted movement in terms of a six-month period to address these issues. Primary and secondary legislation were mentioned, so I will clari…

With absolute respect, Minister, there is a large number of amendments.

I wanted to check, in terms of time.

No, commentary is useful.

I thank the Minister. I am going to speak to his amendments and to my amendments to his amendments, which are grouped together. Given the time constraints, I am going to speak specifically to issues in these groupings but I reiterate that the manner, the timing and the sense of disempowerment that has accompanied this entire legislative process has been extraordinarily unfortunate and has been very traumatising for many people. I acknowledge that when we were previously debating this Bill in the Seanad, four or fiv…

I would like to add-----

I am raising a point of order.

On a point of order, there is a practice in this House whereby Members do not refer to persons or organisations outside the House in a way that makes them identifiable. In terms of specific campaigns run by specific organisations, I feel we have strayed into that type of thing. Several Members have expressed concern about whether the amendments they have put forward will be reached in the time available. We need to have a really clear focus on the amendments at hand.

It is not an exception but a restriction. That is a very important clarification given that the word "prohibition" was misused earlier.

I have an amendment within this grouping. I completely agree with the points made by Senator Doherty. It is, and remains, the nub. The Minister has described a process that he will put in place but there is also a process of the data protection impact assessment, DPIA, where the Minister needs to look to how he as data controller, not the commission, will deal with the documents. The Minister is the data controller of these documents, not the commission, the information within which belongs to the persons. The impa…

The Minister stated that information relating to criminal acts was brought to the attention of the relevant authorities at the time. In that case, I am surprised that we have not seen a raft of prosecutions. It seems clear from what we have heard that large numbers of illegal acts have taken place. I acknowledge that the Minister will be engaging with the Garda when the final report comes through but it would be useful to know when illegal acts have been identified. Might we anticipate prosecutions and legal procee…

What about the Minister's amendments? I have amendments in this group. I can be brief.

I recognise that the Minister has listened to my comments but there is an issue that has been raised by others, and my amendments for this group would simply allow the Minister, under the same section he has introduced, to oblige the commission to offer people a copy of their testimony along with the obligation on the commission in the legislation to consult people on the question of redaction. It is appropriate and, as others have said, it makes no sense not to do this. If the Minister accepts the amendment, it wo…

I will try to be brief, given that every Bill today is being rushed through all Stages. They will all have been guillotined before a full debate could happen, even in the compressed form of debate that has been allowed when Bills are pushed through all Stages. There will have been five guillotines in two days. These practices, as Senator Hoey noted, are not just disrespectful but damaging to democracy. The Minister of State, along with Ministers or other Ministers of State who appear before the House later, may ple…