I will be brief. Is the two-night limit designed to make sure that people will not access-----

That is fair enough. The Minister mentioned it himself, and that is why I asked. The other thing is that the Minister has not answered my question, which is "Why?".

I move amendment No. 10: In page 10, to delete line 20. We are again coming to the issue of being habitually resident. Amendments Nos. 10 and 11 delete the definitions of habitually resident and lawfully resident that would be inserted into the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act as a consequence of section 12 of the Bill. Section 12 inserts residency requirements for social housing support. We do not believe this section is necessary. It would be useful if the Minister would provide the reasoning for the inclus…

We have the key of it there. The Minister referred to "public and political scrutiny". This is performative. It is already the case that those who are not meeting long-term residency requirements are not getting social housing. Despite memes you might see online or messages that tell you they are, they are not. That has already been the policy. We are now saying it again. It seems that it is a response to messaging. "Public and political scrutiny" was the Minister's rationale. Is the concern that the Government wil…

Can the Minister confirm that victims of trafficking and domestic violence who seek emergency housing supports will not be excluded from such supports on the basis of their residency status? I am genuinely asking.

The Minister did not actually address the specifics of emergency housing. He addressed the other supports that are there, and absolutely people should be looking for those supports, but I want to be clear on what they can access. Regarding the other issue, the point still stands that this is addressing a situation that already existed. The Minister has confirmed public and political scrutiny is part of the motivation for inserting these measures, even though it was already the case that legal residency was a requir…

I move amendment No. 11: In page 10, to delete line 27.

I will speak to the section as my amendment was ruled out of order.

I would like to have clarity on this issue, which was the subject of an amendment that was ruled out of order, unfortunately. I genuinely do not understand why this is the case. In the legislation as set out, the Minister mentioned on a number of occasions that children are excluded from the requirements. In the residency requirements section, it states that each member of the household needs to be “lawfully resident” in the State. Children are excluded from the requirement for each member of the household to be la…

With respect, family reunification may be a formal process, but it can also be an informal process. There is a formal process for seeking family reunification, but another version of it is that someone is reunited with a family member. Is this reference intentional or inadvertent? Can it be monitored to ensure that no unforeseen issues arise? There is a reason that the Bill sets out a different set of criteria for “lawfully resident” and “habitually resident”. It is looking for both of those standards to be met. It…

In September 2025, the European Union signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with Indonesia. It is an agreement with an estimated value of €27 billion in trade between the European Union and Indonesia. I want to raise with the Minister of State a concern regarding the issue of West Papua. West Papua comprises the western half of the island of New Guinea, and it borders Papua New Guinea to the east. It has been governed by Indonesia since it was invaded in the 1960s, with over 500,000 people killed …

What is missing from the Minister of State's response, with respect, is any reference to West Papua. There was reference to NGOs. I have described the fact that this is a place where there is no journalism and where anybody who takes any political activism is killed or disappeared. They are not coming to meetings in Jakarta on human rights ideals or issues in Indonesia because Indonesia is occupying and repressing them. It is like putting it on Gazan NGOs. The obligation is not on civil societies to put in complain…

It would be much easier to take action now when a unanimous vote is required for this to pass. That is particularly the case when we consider the situation in which we find ourselves whereby we need a unanimous vote to get out of the agreement we have with Israel. Let us get it right before we get into it. This is the point of leverage right now.

We can know it is July and nearly the end of term because we are seeing a planning and development Bill rushed through. It happens every single year. Others have spoken about how this is a bad way to produce legislation and how proper scrutiny is needed. Every time, we hear it is time-sensitive and urgent. It is not, because this happens every single year. It is because I had the feeling that I have been here every July looking at a massive planning Bill being pushed through that I went back and checked. Over the p…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 10, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “ “biometric identification” means the automated recognition of physical, physiological, behavioural, or psychological human features for the purpose of establishing the identity of a natural person by comparing biometric data of that individual to biometric data of individuals stored in a database;”. This amendment seeks to insert a definition of biometric identification in the Bill, using the same language that is used in the AI A…

I am glad that the Minister of State will engage because, with respect, this cannot be left to that Minister. She is the Minister of State with responsibility for this. This is the AI Act. That definition should be included and made explicit in this legislation. If it is not in this national legislation, it shall be interpreted as matching the EU definition except for where there is another context, then we have the diluted idea about if the context has been that the Minister for justice does not want to. We will c…

I will withdraw it. I will re-enter it on Report Stage. Is this Committee and Report Stage or just Committee Stage?

I will be returning on Report Stage with that amendment.

I am going to speak to amendments Nos. 8, 11 and 15 in this group. Amendments Nos. 8 and 11 seek to remove the provisions in the Bill regarding the establishment of the board, and appointments to the board, of the AI office and replace them with more suitable provisions. As was outlined by Senator Stephenson, they are in place for other statutory bodies. The amendments take the format from the IHREC and adapt it for appropriate use in the case of the AI office. This is an established way of working and operating. W…

I will be brief on that same point. The Seanad has the EU scrutiny committee to try to ensure that statutory instruments are published six months in advance so that there can be an input process. Similarly, we should be looking at this legislation many more months in advance so that we can have the best process. When we are putting in place something so new, it is extra important to have that done. There is a level of poor timing, whereby it is coming at such a late stage. I appreciate that the Minister of State is…