I second the amendment.

Tomorrow, at 10:30 a.m.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to deal with this matter. The sewerage system in Dublin, particularly in south Dublin, is Victorian. When I say "south Dublin", I refer to an area of Dublin around Dún Laoghaire, Blackrock and further south that experienced extraordinary development during the Victorian era. The sewerage system built at that time still services that area. They can just about cope with what is there at the moment but any increase in the system causes problems. At the moment, all of the sewera…

I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge he is deputising for another Minister but that is a real pro forma answer. Talking about identifying bathing spots and when people use them by 24 March 2025 is a little bit of a nonsense. If Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council wants help identifying the places people are swimming, I will tell the council now. As to when people are swimming, the answer is "Every day". I go to the Forty Foot regularly. Every day there are people there at all hours. During daylight, there…

I welcome the Bill. It is overdue. We did not need to wait until the High Court told us last month that this needed to be done. I drafted a Bill that came before the House in March 2023, namely the Criminal Justice (Juvenile Offenders) Bill, Bill No. 30 of 2023, which sought to do the same thing in a different way and went slightly further. The idea behind this Bill is simple. The notion that somebody can commit an offence as a child but be treated as an adult when it comes to being tried and sentenced for that off…

Now.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1990 2. The Act of 1990 is amended by the substitution of the following for section 2: “Sentence for treason and murder 2. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a person convicted of treason or murder shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life. (2) Where a person is convicted of treason or murder and the offence for which that person has been convicted occurred before he or she had reached the age of 18 …

That senior counsel was clearly not practising criminal law because given the state of the fees in criminal law nobody complains about them. I hear what the Minister of State is saying. I do not agree but so be it. I do not propose to press the amendment.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "Amendment of Children Act 2001 4. The Children Act 2001 is amended, in section 151, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3): "(3) Subject to subsection (4), the Court shall specify, in its absolute discretion, which portion of a period for which a detention and supervision order is in force shall be spent by the child in detention in a children detention school and which portion under supervision in the …

I move amendment No. 3: In page 3, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "Application of section 99 of Criminal Justice Act 2006 4. The provisions of section 99 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 (as amended) shall apply to criminal proceedings involving a person who, at the time the offence was committed, had not reached the age of 18 years, as if the term "imprisonment" were "detention".". This amendment proposes to amend section 99 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006. It is one of the most vexed pieces of…

There is a temptation to press the amendment to see how the vote goes.

Now.

Now.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. The issue I wish to raise today relates to the foreign birth registry. This is in respect of children who are de facto Irish by dint of their parentage but who are born outside the island of Ireland. Specifically, I refer to grandchildren of Irish-born grandparents or the children of parents who were Irish at the time of their birth. It does not apply to children whose parents were born on the island of Ireland, because they automatically can apply for a passport. If, for example, your …

I thank the Minister of State. I agree with what he said in acknowledging the excellence of the Passport Office. I would never doubt that and it does exceptional work. I also acknowledge the fact the number of applications under the scheme has increased greatly, as the Minister of State said, from about 5,000 to about 35,000 per annum, a massive increase. It is not enough to say, however, that the processing time after Covid was up to two years. We are no longer in that situation. There may be a backlog, but the ap…

I move amendment No. 3: In page 14, line 3, to delete “a primary” and substitute “the paramount”. This amendment relates to section 8 of the Bill, which sets out the guiding principles for Part 2. In section 8(2), it refers to the principle in subsection (1) and section 8(2)(a) refers to "proceedings of which the welfare of a child is involved or likely to be affected by the outcome ensuring that the best interests of the child are of primary consideration in the conduct of proceedings.". That is all very well but,…

I have heard what the Minister has said and I am conscious of the other amendments she has made, so in the circumstances I will withdraw it.

The Acting Chairperson acknowledged Deputy Coveney, who is in the Gallery. I would like to do so too. I also acknowledge Councillor Jack White from Carrigaline, who is a councillor on Cork County Council. I know he has done great work recently with regard to the occupied territories Bill which is before this House at the moment. He may have been forgiven for coming into the Chamber thinking it was story time with Senator Maria Byrne for the last 20 minutes, but I am glad we are moving on to discuss some of the issu…

I noted my opposition to section 68. The proposed section 68 within the Bill at the moment relates to family law proceedings where concurrent jurisdictions are conferred on the family High Court, family Circuit Court and family District Court. It restricts an application from commencing family law proceedings in the High Court, unless there is a special reason for doing so. I am also conscious of what the Minister said with regard to amendments that are coming on Report Stage. I will not labour the point, but the i…

I will be brief. Section 69 essentially confers an unlimited jurisdiction, monetarily, on the District Court. It specifically states that where there is consent, that is, where the court is satisfied that an agreement has been reached between the parties and they have consented to proceedings being in the District Court, the family District Court, without limit as to monetary jurisdiction, can deal with the matter. My difficulty with this is that it presupposes that if the matter is agreed, it is, therefore, simple…