When was the Minister's colleague, Deputy McEntee, first informed that there would be an obligation to inform her under section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005? Did the Minister or, indeed, the acting Minister for Justice or the Garda Commissioner receive any protected disclosures in regard to the cancellation of these calls? If there were protected disclosures, what happened to them? When the issue was reported in The Sunday Times in late 2020, what precisely was communicated? Was it communicated through the pre…

I asked the Minister about protected disclosures. She might come back to me on that very specifically. It appears to me that there is certainly an issue with the credibility of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau. Would the Minister accept that is the case? Not only were large numbers of 999 calls cancelled, in areas where people were very definitely at risk, that continued even after that issue had been notified and was in the public domain. Has the Minister communicated anything in regard to that direct…

Have there been any? How many have there been? How have they been dealt with?

I join with the sympathies and sentiments that have been expressed on the deaths of Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Brendan Kennelly, Paddy Moloney and Tony MacMahon. The announcement today on the lifting of the restrictions was yet another startling display of confusion, incoherence and chaos from the Government. With just three days to go before many businesses that have been closed for nearly two years are due to open, the rules are being rewritten. We all accept that the rates of Covid transmission can surge very quickly …

I wish to raise the issue of this virus being airborne. An expert committee was in place but nothing seemed to come from it in terms of advice. We know that the virus is airborne. What guidance has been given to the sectors that remain closed and what guidance does the Taoiseach anticipate the Government will give them or will it be exclusively for them to find out for themselves? We all accept that it is late in the day and people are saying that they need some degree of certainty. I listened to an advertisement d…

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I express our sincere sympathies to the Amess family on what is a huge personal tragedy for them. The murder of David Amess is also an attack on democracy just as the murder of Jo Cox was. There is no doubt that we live in a much more divided and unequal world and that there has been a coarsening of political discourse, which has made politics all the more toxic. A line has been crossed here. We cannot go looking for excuses because there are no excuses for what happened to David …

This motion forms part of the European Commission's new suite of proposals to reform anti-money laundering efforts at EU level. It will extend across to our national centralised bank account register, allowing it to be accessed through a single access point developed and operated by the European Commission. All designated authorities across the EU which are responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences will be able to access this registry. Access to the registry will a…

Yesterday the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform framed their speeches in the context of the global pandemic. While Covid is still very much with us, the development of vaccines and the vaccination programme has thankfully dramatically changed things for the better. During the first lockdown, it became all too obvious who our essential workers were. It also became obvious what the shortfalls were in our public services. Our healthcare workers were battling the pandemic with a system that was fu…

The previous speaker stated that smokers do not interfere with anyone other than themselves but that is not the case. If the Deputy meets representatives of the Irish Heart Foundation, they will tell him that the single most important health initiative that would make a difference in terms of heart health and stroke is people giving up cigarettes. There is a wider benefit. It is not down to an individual. If we can encourage people to give up cigarettes, that has a wider benefit than the individual and the benefits…

I broadly welcome the National Youth Justice Strategy and commend the work of the expert steering group in putting it together, as well as the work that went into it at ministerial and departmental level. There is a very welcome focus on children's rights throughout the document. The strategy places an emphasis on early intervention, prevention and diversion, with the use of detention acknowledged as a last resort and we would all agree with that. A lot of work has gone into the development of this strategy. If ena…

Four days before the previous general election, the current Minister with responsibility for energy went public about wind energy development and the significant development that was needed before data centres were built. I refer to the following article that appeared on Extra.ie : Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said he will push for massive offshore wind power capacity to be developed before any more data centres are built if his party re-enters government after the general election. Speaking to Extra.ie , Mr R…

For decades we have been known as a low-tax economy. Our 12.5% corporate tax rate has been the most identifiable thing about our industrial policy, the one constant that multinationals could rely on and a rate that was retained when the country went bust and had to be bailed out. However, the OECD will turn our 12.5% north star into a supernova. We all know change is coming with the global minimum corporate tax rate. There is an inevitability about this. The evolving language of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the …

There is an inevitability. It will not-----

There is an inevitability about the OECD and a minimum rate, and I noted the Taoiseach's comments last week. I am very aware of Intel's investment in Ireland because I live in the town where Intel is located. That was in the late 1980s and early 1990s before the facility was up and running. There was not the housing crisis there is now.

There were not some of the cost-of-living issues that there are now. It would be short-sighted not to look at a unique selling point that factors in some of the issues, for example, the deficit in energy. Data centres are an issue in that regard. We tend to have quite a short-sighted approach to crises. We are very good at crisis management when we get there, but planning to make sure we do not have those crises is where we are not good. I want to know what alternative industrial policy is being considered-----

-----that would be a unique selling point other than the corporation tax rate.

Obviously, this new operational model for An Garda Síochána is a very big restructuring and modernisation for the force. Modernisation is sorely needed, and an increased focus on integrated community policing is incredibly welcome. The removal of Garda districts under the divisional model is done with the understanding that it will allow for a more efficient distribution of human resources and will allow for greater specialisation within the force. I have had several experiences of this over my political lifetime s…

It is Ní Mhurchú, probably. The deadline relating to this is this Friday, 24 September. We have been informed that there should not be vote in this House because of that deadline. I do not believe anyone will disagree with the passing of this motion. I do not anticipate that people will call for a vote. As a number of previous speakers indicated, however, this is not the way to do things. There is no doubt the exchange of this data is critically important to the UK, Ireland and the wider EU law enforcement communit…

I welcome this debate. Simply put, we do not currently have an effective means of preventing, investigating and prosecuting corruption. There is no overarching or consolidated approach to combating corruption in the private sector or the public sector. A look at the State's anti-corruption website gives us a clear picture of the fragmented approach, with 16 bodies listed as responsible for tackling corruption. Our anti-corruption response is incredibly fragmented by international standards. A 2020 survey conducted …

The Minister, Deputy Coveney's, botched appointment of Katherine Zappone was a scandal for many reasons, one of which was his inconsistent and contradictory statements to the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee. This necessitated two visits to the committee by the Minister so that he could clarify and expand on remarks he had made. It seems that Ministers giving incorrect information to Oireachtas Members is a theme of this Government. On 24 June, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Dar…