The Deputy is speaking as part of the Social Democrats slot and she has ten minutes left.

We now move back to the Government speaking slot. I do not see anybody offering.

No, this is the balance of the Social Democrats slot. The Deputy's slot is yet to come.

We are now moving to the Sinn Féin speaking slot and I call Deputy Tully who has three minutes.

As there is no Sinn Féin speaker offering, I move on to Solidarity-People Before Profit. Deputy Boyd Barrett has 20 minutes.

I have a short five minutes to respond to the Minister of State in relation to this motion. As the Minister of State said, we had a long debate on the legislation when it was enacted. This is simply a roll-over for it, as it were. I think it appropriate to use the phrase "sunset clause", since we are talking about outdoor dining as we head into the winter. The sun has well set on outdoor dining. Obviously, this is a Covid-related issue. I am sure the Minister of State will recall that when the proposal was first su…

I welcome this legislation. In recent years, we have come to a much better understanding of the nature of and enormous damage done by sex offenders. After decades of weak or ineffective legislation, we have incrementally moved to strengthen our laws and to develop supports for victims. It is an ongoing process as our understanding and knowledge deepens and we still have a long way to go, particularly in providing proper supports. Building a legal framework is critically important, but building community support is …

I was going to just rise to support the amendment. Others are talking about various issues, but the net issue atá soiléir dúinn ná go bhfuil dualgas orainne san Oireachtas áiseanna a chur ar bun chun go mbeadh sé ar chumas saoránach ar fud na tíre an teanga Gaelainne a úsáid más mian. We talk a lot about the use of the Irish language, and we pass laws, but I am not sure we really mean it. That is the point that is at the core of it in terms of so many different State organisations. It is not convenient to provide s…

It does not work.

Excuses.

I move: That, in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform pursuant to Standing Order 118A(2)( b ), a Special Committee on Gender Equality is hereby established, with Orders of Reference as contained in the report of the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform entitled ‘Special Committee on Gender Equality: Orders of Reference’, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 8th November, 2021.

Once again, I begin a contribution on a justice matter by having to refer to the time lag between an EU or international legal instrument being adopted and mandated on Ireland and our accepting it, and legislation being presented to this House to transpose it into domestic law. The two European Council directives we are dealing with in this legislation date back to 2002 and the UN protocol dates back to 2000. The Department has acted to transpose the directives because not doing so means Ireland will no longer have…

As the Taoiseach indicated in his commentary, there was a multifaceted agenda before the European Council on 21 and 22 October, including the ongoing and worrying issue of Covid across Europe, digital transformation, energy prices, migration and external relations. In the five minutes allotted to me, I have very limited time to address these extensive issues, so I will only deal with a couple of them. The issue of energy prices is the most urgent to be dealt with right now because hundreds of thousands of people in…

Last night, a commentator described this budget as a "scoreless draw" in which there was no significant advance for anyone but no goals let in either. That is now the strategy in regard to budget-making. As there are too many vocal lobbies to satisfy, the goal must be to give something to as many as possible, minimise criticism and if the budget is out of the news cycle in 48 hours, it is job done and a great success. It was not always thus. Once upon a time, the annual budget was the opportunity for Government to …

What about the campus in Wexford?

I strongly welcome the opportunity to speak on the youth justice strategy. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, who addressed the House earlier. I also pay tribute to the early and ground-breaking commitment of Deputy Stanton when he was a Minister of State. As a former teacher, I know that early intervention is critical for positive outcomes - for education certainly, but equally for other societal outcomes. It is often said that early childhood t…

I have a technical question for the Minister of State. He is proposing the deletion of section 6( b ). How stands then the lettering of the other sections 6( a ), ( c ) and ( d )? Will they be renumbered or relettered? How does that work?

Is that the way it works?

We do not need any further amendments on that section.

What exactly is the import of the decision of the Supreme Court in terms of the existing law?