Acting Chairman, do your job.

Acting Chairman, do your job.

Do your job, Acting Chairman.

I will share time with my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith. I commend and thank my friend and colleague, Deputy Nash, for crafting this motion, which addresses the most serious and fundamental issue facing Irish society and our economy. I would have thought it would have united this House in collectively trying to find solutions to the real hardship that affects people. It is disconcerting there are still Members here who want to make political capital rather than try to solve real issues that affect all our citizens…

In the few minutes I have, I wish to cover two topics. The first is the growing threat to peace in Europe posed by the massing of Russian troops, tanks and military equipment on the Ukrainian border. Nobody can look into the mind of President Putin but, if his utterances and those of his Government are to be taken at face value, it appears he wants to turn back the political, economic and geographical clock of Europe to the time immediately following the Second World War. He apparently wishes to re-establish a Russ…

This is clearly a timely and important motion for the House to debate and for every Member to have an opportunity to comment on. I commend Sinn Féin on using its Private Members' time to give us all a platform to speak tonight. On rare occasions in our nation's history, an event happens that stops people in their tracks. One such occasion clearly happened on Wednesday last in County Offaly. The murder of Ashling Murphy jolted every one of us out of whatever we were doing at the moment we heard about it. It demanded…

I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.” I am grateful for your presence here, Acting Chairman, and for the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Browne. I am very conscious that this is the last item of business in a very busy schedule, a unique schedule in many ways. It is important that individual Members still have the right to bring forward legislation and it is with great pride that I present a Bill that enjoyed cross-party support when I introduced it on First Stage. I believe it is an importan…

That sounds great.

I am not sure what anniversary it is.

I was co-opted to Wexford Corporation. That might be it. I have had many anniversaries since and I have served in many positions. I thank the Minister of State for recalling whatever anniversary it is. It gives me another cause for celebration tonight. I thank the Minister of State for his very detailed response to the Bill. It is modelled on how the Government in 1996, of which I was a member - another anniversary - looked at doing something that was very radical at the time, namely, instituting CAB, so that we co…

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak briefly on this matter. The vast bulk of members of An Garda Síochána, whom we are very fortunate to have, have been the line of defence of our State over several turbulent decades, but there have been several issues. There will always be issues that require an investigation independent of the police because society and the Oireachtas provide extraordinary powers to those we make guardians of the peace. We give powers to arrest, detain, prosecute and so on. We must have pr…

The stormy clock. I have a mere five minutes which is always something I complain about. After a referendum on a European treaty, we were given a firm commitment that we would debate in advance of and afterwards European Council meetings. I do not wish to use up my time, but we really need better than this. I wish to deal with a few of the agenda items that the Taoiseach is facing. I welcome the fact that the issue of energy prices is on the agenda again, but it cannot be generalisms and tokenisms. Gas and electric…

I, too, will try to be brief. This is important and timely legislation. Members may not be aware of it, but today, 8 December, is the 20th anniversary of the finding of a container in Wexford, my home town, wherein Kurds and Turkish men, women and children were entombed, five of whom died. There was a memorial service this morning, at which the chairman of Wexford County Council laid a wreath. We need robust legislation to tackle those responsible, who make money from the misery of human trafficking, but this has t…

I welcome the opportunity to return to this issue. We were stuck for time on the last occasion. To precis the issue as I see it, maybe the Minister of State will just focus on the net issue, because there are very few people if any, probably no Members in this House, who oppose the principles of this Bill. To ensure that in the context of the dreadful, vile and awful trade with consequences, as described as Deputy Connolly, on thousands of individuals, and those smugglers of human beings who profit from their miser…

This is Committee Stage of the Bill, and we have as much time as we need to tease out what we need to in exactly the same way as a committee.

No, but the net issues are very clear, in my judgment. Deputy Durkan made an important point. People say Europe has done this or that but it is member states which are taking the actions. When we had what was described as a migrant crisis in 2015, when 1 million people were moving across Europe, member states, one after another, under pressure from their own populations, built barriers. I hope we would be humanitarian but if 1 million people arrived on our shores together, what would the reaction of our people be? …

It is an defence, not an exemption.

How many prosecutions failed on that basis?

It is very important we discuss this matter, even if the debate is very limited. There are very few issues that unite most if not all in this House, but this is one of them. I do not doubt the bona fides of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, on this issue but I wish in the few minutes I have to deal with three specific issues. First, I add my voice to the issue that is now current and immediate, that is, Israel's designation of six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organisations. That is a clear and absolute assault on demo…

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for their presentations, which contain very useful information. In the time I have, I want to make a brief contribution on the issue of vaccination, in particular on the booster jab. We have to underscore again and again that all vaccines are amazingly effective, particularly at preventing serious disease and death. I want to advocate for a vulnerable group who I believe, through nobody's fault, have been short-changed in the programme, and that is the 60- to 69-year-o…