Under the Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, we are obliged to approve formally any European Defence Agency, EDA, projects and that is why we are debating this motion. I am not a member of the select committee, but I read the report of the debate on Committee Stage. Some of the issues just raised were not raised at that time, certainly not in those terms. My understanding is that we must be very careful in measuring our involvement in any EDA project, and that is why it requires the approval of the Dáil. …

No, there is general agreement on them.

I welcome this amendment and thank the Minister for taking on board people's concerns in this House and in the Upper House. The Bill is striking a balance between what we want, namely, the disclosure of the name of a deceased child where it is in the interests of the family and public for that to happen while at the same time not removing the discretion of a court to make a determination in circumstances where that might not be the case. In the three instances outlined by the Minister, she struck a fair and good ba…

On a point of order, I think there is a new regime that we have to request formally a copy of a ministerial speech. It would just be helpful if we actually had a copy if there is one available.

I asked about this last week. I was told they are available but not distributed unless one asks for them.

I only have five minutes. I always complain about the time given to live up to the commitments we made to have proper scrutiny of European Council meetings. The Taoiseach left the Chamber before the first contribution was made. I know he is very busy but we need to take our responsibility to deal with the European Council seriously. I will briefly deal with three issues. As I said last week, the most important issue by far to be addressed by the European Council was Covid-19. I refer in particular to the failures i…

I always make the comment that five minutes is very short to make any meaningful contribution on European Council meetings. I have noticed the European Commission has, most unusually for that institution, been belligerent and noisy in advance of this week's Council meeting. The reason for that is obvious. A new wave of Covid infections has erupted and the roll-out of vaccines remains painfully slow across the European Union. Here, we look at our nearest neighbour where more vaccines were administered each day last …

As the Minister of State outlined, this is a short technical Bill that has garnered support across the House. However, as it relates to a very narrow set of circumstances, as was recognised during the debate, I believe we need wider legislation to deal with matters outside the remit of the Bill.

Most people in the House would be supportive of the intentions of the movers of this amendment. We were all deeply concerned at trials in the past, both here and in our neighbouring jurisdiction, where issues were raised at trial that most of us would regard as entirely extraneous and unacceptable to be raised in the conduct of a trial. This particular legislation deals with trying to streamline the procedures of trials in order that as many technical and legal issues as possible can be resolved in advance of a jur…

This is an important amendment. As an Oireachtas, over the past number of years we have looked very carefully at pre-legislative scrutiny. We put new procedures in place. We have a memorandum of understanding between the Oireachtas and Government on the processes to be carried out for Bills to be in order before they are published and go through Second and Committee Stages and so on. I do not think we have been as proactive in respect of post-enactment scrutiny. We are about to amend the Children Act 2001. The outw…

I always listen carefully to Deputy Carroll MacNeill because she has great legal experience to bring to our debates, but it is a fact that we as an Oireachtas do not have a real focus on legislation once it has been enacted. We are the legislators; it is not somebody else's job. The statute law revision programme, which she referred to, was an ad hoc process I instituted at the request of the now Mr. Justice Humphreys. It was done on an ad hoc basis with the co-operation of the then Attorney General to get rid of s…

No amendments are tabled by this House. There are amendments accepted by the Minister in the Seanad. I do not believe anybody here would have difficulties with any of them.

May I raise a point of order? The Minister's speech was quite technical. Is there a copy of it available for us before we make contributions?

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this short but important piece of legislation. I was a member of the committee that worked on the Children Act in 2000. As I recall, that legislation took a year to go through the Houses. There was very detailed committee consideration and nobody around the table envisaged that section 252 would be interpreted in the way it has been. The president of the Court of Appeal made the point abundantly clear that on reading the section in plain English, one would have …

Can I raise an issue about the speakers?

I just wanted to make that point.

I know the Labour Party thought long and hard about tabling this motion. There is almost a weariness in this House, as there is across the nation, about this terrible disease that has taken such a terrible toll on all of us. We have had a shockingly dreadful January, particularly for those who have lost loved ones. There has been a terrible rate of infection and death. We must ask questions and provide some answers as to why, after ten months of the pandemic, we arrived at our lowest and most devastating point. In …

I warmly welcome the nomination of Ms Deirdre Malone by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission as a member of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority. Quite clearly, Ms Malone is most qualified to fulfil that role. I agree with Deputy Daly that the Legal Services Regulatory Authority was long overdue in being established. I am delighted to see it functioning. It still has a very demanding agenda of work to be completed. The structure of the authority is a balance between representatives of the legal profess…

Again, I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on yet another justice Bill. I should say by way of introductory comment that it is interesting that we are now dealing with a succession of single issue justice Bills, some of which have been around for a while. I have just been to a justice briefing in advance of this debate on another Bill which is on its way which deals with a Supreme Court decision. The Bill has been in preparation since last May. It seems that many justice Bills are being taken off the shelf a…

As a society, we give enormous powers over our very liberty to our police force, An Garda Síochána. A requirement of democratic society, therefore, is to have robust and effective oversight bodies to ensure these powers are always used proportionately and properly and as is expected by the Legislature. I campaigned to have a Garda ombudsman established since my involvement in the noughties with events concerning policing in Donegal and issues relating to the McBrearty case. It was crystal clear to me from that poin…