So you are the victim.

The Minister of State indicated that the Bill provides that there will be no change to the Civil Service status of existing Garda civilian staff until an order is made by the Minister and that the making of such an order will be subject to engagement with any trade union or staff association concerned and consideration of any representations made by them. He went on to state: I stress that the commencement of the legislation will have no automatic effect on the current position of existing civilian staff. As I said…

I have already congratulated the Minister for State on her efforts in this regard. The former Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, also did work in this space. This is one of the most important debates we are going to have in the House. It would be only fair for me to acknowledge the efforts of the Green Party in the discussions on the programme for Government to make sure there was a commitment to establish a citizens' assembly. I also acknowledge the Trojan work done by my colleague from the Green Party, Deputy Hou…

We need a realistic debate. Many people from all sorts of professions, different parts of the country and various age groups are taking drugs, but we treat people from disadvantaged backgrounds differently. If you go into any court in the country, you will find it stuffed full of poor, sick people who do not belong there. Our thesis, which I think is replicated across this House, is that we can have an exclusively health-led approach to those in addiction and get rid of the criminalisation and criminal justice appr…

Like a 30% tax rate.

So it is a mini-budget.

It is a short-term budget.

The Labour Party acknowledges the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, in bringing forward a memo to Government on the establishment of a citizens' assembly on drugs. Deputies and Senators from different political groups feel strongly about the citizens' assembly being a real force for change. We want the voice of the service user, the drug user, to be central to the deliberations of the citizens' assembly on drugs. As a matter of course, a special committee will be set up following the deliberations of …

I ask the Minister the reason students who have previously sat a year in a different course were excluded from the €1,000 discount on third levels fees when they are subject to the same cost of living pressures as everyone else.

I very much appreciate the comments of the Minister on the former Minister, Niamh Breathnach. I know her family will as well. One of the radical things she did as Minister for Education was to abolish fees, something from which I benefited, as did many of my colleagues and friends. The debate was lost over the previous 25 years when registration fees crept up. People are now spending thousands of euro a year on fees. Be that as it may, we are talking about a small cohort of students. It was a welcome measure. I kno…

Over a period we want to achieve, at all levels of education, be it primary, secondary, third level and further education, a situation whereby nobody has to consider costs when it comes to furthering their education journey. It should never come into the conversation. It is depressing that people always have to think about the cost of education to a family when it should instead be about trying to fulfil their potential. However, when there is a price tag attached and question marks over whether a family or individ…

It would be remiss of me not to mention today that we laid to rest a former Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreathnach, who spent many years teaching children from the Oliver Bond flat complex in the north-west inner city. This inspired her to go into politics. She became Minister for Education and delivered radical reforms in that space and inspired people like me to turn to politics. Probably Deputy Nash and I were afforded the opportunity to go to third level because of her radical abolition of fees at that time.…

Hear, hear.

Has the Tánaiste seen the protests?

It is not working. They are finding out before we are.

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister for his presentation. The Labour Party is broadly supportive of the idea of body cams for gardaí. However, we want to make a few points on this Stage. I was not a member of the justice committee, although I am now, when this Bill underwent pre-legislative scrutiny. I understand there was no reference to facial recognition technology at that time. I will return to the issue of facial recognition technology shortly but, as a matter of process, it is less than desirable that on this Stage a new el…

He is still a Fine Gael Deputy.

It is not the case.

The Taoiseach should answer the question about Deputy English.