I ask the Minister the reason that funding for the drug-related intimidation liaison role at the Whitechurch addiction service was not renewed this year; and the specific alternative supports that will be in its place to ensure victims and families facing organised crime and drug-related intimidation will continue to receive equivalent specialist assistance without interruption.

That is probably part of the issue. I have raised drug-related intimidation with the Minister on numerous occasions. I am not sure, in terms of this particular project, if it availed of the community safety fund. I suspect it did, which is why that is not being renewed, given the requirement for a project to be something new that has not been funded previously. Therefore, it would not be eligible. I am also very conscious of drug-related intimidation being seen as something that is a scourge on communities the leng…

I am taking this on my own. I think this is my third time today speaking about scrambler bikes. I spoke initially with the Taoiseach today, I spoke with the Minister in committee and now I have the opportunity to raise it as a Topical Issue. The reason it is topical is because of the tragedy that occurred in Finglas two nights ago when a 16-year-old lost her life in a manner that was despicable and heart-wrenching. Yesterday, we all watched a mother, who had to place her grief and her devastation alongside courage …

I know it has always been an offence to drive scramblers dangerously in a public environment. I also know that in a public place, there is absolutely no safe way to drive a scrambler. That is what the difference is. There is no safe way to drive a scrambler in an urban environment. I trust the Minister on the enactment of regulation that will bring through the provision. I would like a sense of the timeframe from the Minister because we all watched Siobhán Lynch last night. The pain in that mother's voice is an abs…

That is fair.

All of us on the justice committee know this is a wide-ranging Bill. It is a fair reflection of how the Government is currently approaching the justice system. The Minister is often talked about in media circles as a Minister in a hurry. This Bill demonstrates that it is all hurry and very little pace because buried in these 33 sections are, admittedly, glimpses of what Ireland's judicial system could be - a country that treats survivors with dignity, with prisons that rehabilitate and that understands that housing…

I am stepping in for my colleagues, Deputies Liam Quaide and Pádraig Rice, who are both asking about the task force for Cork. I caution my colleagues and the other Deputies around the Chamber who are asking similar questions. We have the report from the Dublin task force, which was released in October 2024 - a full year after it was announced by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, to great fanfare - and there still has not been a button given over from this Government to those plans. Dublin City Council is doi…

The money.

Of course, the Social Democrats are going to support this Bill, but I first want to commend Deputy Mark Ward on having the diligence to bring forth such a comprehensive Bill. I also commend the heart he brings to this issue. We are supporting this Bill because quite clearly nitrous oxide misuse has become visible in too many communities because of the current free-for-all around access, particularly for children and teenagers. It is quite simply not good enough and is actually worse than not good enough. It is also…

The family is homeless.

Deputy Brophy should be ashamed of himself. The family is homeless.

Where is the response? Where is your press release?

If it was a deportation flight, you would be out. The family has been made homeless and nobody has talked to them. There has been nothing in this Chamber about it.

This week's Grok scandal tells us something important about artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is never neutral. It takes the values of the people who build it and the people who control it. What we saw this week was one of the most powerful AI tools aligned to a social media company in the hands of a creepy little slimeball who has shown again and again that he does not care about harm. Under Elon Musk, the platform X has rolled out an artificial intelligence tool that could be used to undress, sexua…

It is great to have the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy in the Chamber again today. It follows on from the conversation that was initiated by my colleague, Deputy Hearne, earlier. The Ceann Comhairle was not in the Chair herself but there was quite a furore in the Chamber earlier. My colleague was speaking on behalf of a constituent of his, Amanda Uwase, who was in the Gallery at the time. Over Christmas, Amanda's family experienced an absolutely terrifying ordeal very few of us could even comprehend, when their h…

I will speak more broadly. I will not even refer to the fact that a woman in Clondalkin opened her door to be smeared with petrol and set on fire also. There have been 2,500 incidents of drug-related intimidation since 2001. Of these, over 150 were arson attacks linked to drug-related intimidation. Arson attacks connected to drug crime rose sharply, from just 13 in 2022 to about 50 last year. Despite more arrests, only 4% of cases have led to prosecutions. Recorded incidence of drug-related intimidation overall has…

I went back and read Deputy Hearne's contribution as the Minister of State was speaking. His contribution was targeted at the Department of justice and the Minister responsible. We do not doubt for a second the work of the Garda, given the supports available to it. It is not the Garda itself that leaves police stations understaffed or undermanned. That is the responsibility of those who allocate budgets, which is the Government. I find it quite insulting to the Garda that because we have an exchange in the Chamber …

At yesterday’s justice committee meeting the chief inspector of prisons, Mr. Mark Kelly, gave the most extraordinary testimony in relation to conditions in prisons in Ireland. He described them as an affront to dignity and later said what is happening in our prison system is almost tantamount to torture. I understand when we talk about improving prison conditions it is often not easy. Many people in prison may have done immense harms in communities. We also have recidivism rates in this country of seven out of ten.…

It is the lack of consistency from the Taoiseach that often bothers me most. He referenced the fact that the majority of applications by those seeking international protection are turned down, yet the measures announced today and yesterday in the media are specifically targeted at those who have succeeded. Family reunification, which is factored into the Geneva Convention and the UN refugee convention, was only available to fewer than 600 people who came here last year, either to be with their wife or husband or as…

I am in the Dáil for Questions on Policy or Legislation. Will the Taoiseach answer the question?