I thank the Deputies who have contributed to the debate although much of it was Second Stage debate again. We covered a lot of territory. I wish to be clear that the Labour Party supported the legislation, reluctantly, because it is not normal legislation to provide such significant powers to a Minister, in this case the Minister for Health, to draw up regulations that are penal provisions and are crimes punishable by fines or imprisonment. That is not normal, but we do not live in normal times and for that reason …

I return to the matter of plain English. Section 3(1)(a) refers to "the purposes of giving a direction". What does a "direction" mean? According to the interpretation section, a direction has to be "in relation to a relevant provision". A direction is a direction under the relevant provisions of the Bill. It goes on to specify "whether in relation to a relevant provision or otherwise". That is not in accordance with the definition of direction. The direction in section 3(1)(a) is not a direction under the Bill. I d…

I do not think we can prolong the debate any longer. I do not agree with the Minister. She is right to say that there are other provisions in regulations under the 1947 Act. They are not germane to pubs or licensed premises and they are enforceable under separate legislation under the Act, relating to separate issues. Why does the Minister want to mirror this in this Bill? This Bill is supposedly confined to licensed premises. The notion of having a catch-all "or otherwise" added to it because some other regulation…

Yes.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 6, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “(6) Nothing in this Act prevents a licensee from putting in issue or a court from determining, in subsequent legal proceedings to which the question is or may be relevant— (a) whether the member who gave the direction in respect of the premises concerned had reasonable cause for suspecting the contravention of a relevant provision in respect of those premises, (b) whether the steps which the member directed to be taken were reason…

When an immediate closure order is made by An Garda Síochána, as is clear from the term, it has immediate effect. If somebody feels aggrieved there is no way that the validity or reasonableness of an immediate closure order can be scrutinised by a court because if a premises is closed for the day, by the time a proprietor has any remedy it is obviously too late. We accept that because in circumstances where there is a significant breach of the penal elements of the legislation and the guidelines drafted by the Mini…

I have tried to confine my remarks to my own amendments in each of the contributions I have made and I will do so again. The Minister said that people have the right to appeal. They do not have a right to appeal. As the Minister already outlined in response to Deputy McNamara, there is no appeal mechanism. There is a judicial review mechanism, which for the reasons stated by Deputy McNamara is certainly not one that is open to the vast bulk of publicans either for practical reasons or for financial reasons. The los…

Subparagraph (e) covers everything.

This is a matter of rights. The Minister would have to accept that without specifically stating that these are contestable facts, the overwhelming balance falls to the member of An Garda Síochána who can point to an uncontested emergency closure order against the premises. If we do not state it in the law that because it is an emergency closure order, the facts of the case have never been independently evaluated, that can be looked at subsequently. I think it is required. I am not going to make any further progress…

I do not intend to push to a full vote.

In regard to today's business, as a longstanding Member of this House I want to raise a point of serious concern. Later today, we are to debate a criminal justice Bill which gives new powers of enforcement to An Garda Síochána and penalties for breaches of acts which are now to be criminal acts. This is a Bill that creates penalties for crimes that are not set out in it. It is a very unusual piece of legislation. In other words, it provides for penalties and enforcement procedures for crimes that are not set out. W…

I have a point that may be best directed to the Ceann Comhairle. I thanked the Government for the briefing but those who gave that briefing were not party to the making of the regulations. This is a Department of Justice and Equality Bill and it will be taken by the Minister for Justice and Equality, who has no hand, act or part in the drafting of the regulations in question. The officials told us that. That is my difficulty. It is an unusual piece of criminal law that sets out penalties and enforcement procedures …

There is to be a range of regulations, some of which will be germane to this discussion. Some of them carry penal provisions and some do not. It is not clear what is penal and what is not.

I think this is my first opportunity to congratulate the Minister on her election and her appointment. I am pleased to have the opportunity to deal with this important legislation. This is a criminal justice Bill and we all have to be careful when enacting criminal law. It is an emergency Bill. It has not followed the normal path of legislation for understandable reasons. There is no published explanatory memorandum and there has been no pre-legislative scrutiny. We will have little opportunity to have a Committee …

On a point of order, have Committee Stage amendments been circulated yet? I cannot find them on the website.

I agree with Deputy Martin Kenny that the normal way of dealing with justice legislation is to have a protracted discussion, pre-legislative scrutiny and then a detailed Committee Stage debate. We should not vary from that, except to deal with issues that are absolutely imperative, a point I raised during the briefings. There are number of component parts of this omnibus Bill. I wish to address the part dealing with the existing coroners' law. Legislation on coroners was updated last year on foot of initiatives fro…

Will the Minister be proceeding with the Bill in its entirety?

It is hard to catch the attention of the Acting Chair when I am up in the gods.

I will do my best. I hope we will be in more proximate circumstances after the recess. The amendment suggests the insertion of a sunset clause to this Bill. As I indicated in my contribution on Second Stage, I believe there is a lot in this Bill that should be made permanent, particularly the long-awaited amendments to the Coroners Acts. The two-year waiting period for coroner's inquiries in Dublin is entirely unacceptable. Many of the administrative changes that are proposed in this Bill should be made permanent. …

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "calls on the Government to support the immediate establishment by the House of the Select Committee on Justice and for the first items of business on the agenda to be the taking of Committee Stage of the following Bills: - Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018 [ Seanad ]; and - Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017; and that this should occur no later than 31st October, 2020." This is an unus…