Nobody is for a second disputing the problem this legislation is trying to solve. The reality is electronic evidence now forms part of almost every criminal investigation, whether organised crime, fraud, child exploitation, trafficking or terrorism. The days when investigations were confined to physical evidence and paper trails are long gone. The need for international co-operation is real, as is the need to modernise how evidence is gathered, but good intentions do not automatically make good legislation. What co…

It is an extraordinary attempt at an Irish solution to tell us that the game of football the Irish national team is going to play against a country the Irish State believes is committing genocide against its people will now take place at a neutral venue and expect that to be some form of compromise. The Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, referenced that the Taoiseach himself believes that Israel's actions against the Palestinian people and people in Gaza amounts to genocide. The Irish State has aligned itself t…

I acknowledge the work done in this area across the Chamber, in particular by my colleague, Deputy Rice. The provisions related to disregarding historical convictions are not only welcome, they are overdue. It is sometimes easy to talk about progress as though it is inevitable and Ireland simply arrived at a more equal place by accident. The reality is those rights were hard fought for. They were won by grit, determination, hurt and harm and by those who chose to believe in better. It is not some distant chapter of…

I will keep it brief because I do not want to reiterate the points that have already been made. The Minister might be able to answer me: is he still open to making amendments at the Seanad stage in regard to improving some aspects of the Bill?

He is. I thank the Minister.

I did not intend to come back in but the Minister said something I profoundly disagree with. On the idea of having the cut-off at 1922 because the State should not be responsible for what happened when it was a colony, the Minister began his contributions earlier on by talking about how he inherited this system from the UK. It is not like we radically transformed the system right afterwards. What we did was maintain it, enforce it and became part of it. The idea might be that we must have a cut-off time because we …

-----but we also maintained the system. A person who was imprisoned in 1921 for what were homosexual offences at the time would still have been in prison in 1922 or potentially in 1923. We have become custodians of our own history. We cannot just draw a line. If the Government is not going to apologise, we can find the means by which we can honour, acknowledge, respect and say that we became complicit because it was not like we changed tack. We had this system right up until 1993, so I think we could find a way of …

On what basis is the Minister making the assumption that the scheme would be improved? Nobody else but the Minister seems to believe it. The Law Society and the Bar Council do not believe it. I have not seen any research that points to it. In fact, the evidence that those in the system would have says that we will have to develop another two-tier criminal system where those who can afford to pay will get better treatment, and because the system is no longer not only profitable but also, realistically, workable, peo…

There is not a lot of time left. This is an issue of such importance that I am going to concede my time, if it is okay with the Minister, so that we can have a vote on this particular issue. That might require the Minister to allow a vote to happen. I think that is fair.

We will not have time to finish, though.

Yes, just to allow the vote to happen because once-----

One of the most lamentable things I have heard over the last couple of weeks and months as we talk about whether Ireland should fulfil its fixture against a country we believe is enacting a genocide against another is when people say, "But sure Ireland might lose six points". Ireland might lose six points in a Nations League division 2 game and potentially be put down into division 3, but so what? What do we actually lose even more of if we do fulfil a fixture? A couple of years ago Ireland aligned itself to South …

I want to talk about the erosion of a community service. I am conscious the Minister of State may be taking this on behalf a different Minister. I have to be honest - the Minister of State is an Independent who is not part of the same party as the Minister with responsibility for the matter and I am not sure what role the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has in relation to the loss of a postal service. I am quite frustrated. Myself and Deputy Hearne are both here at 11.10 p.m.…

I will speak to the Minister of State in his own capacity. He is an Independent who represents the constituency of Galway West. When he envisioned himself becoming a Minister of State, did he imagine he would be standing in the Chamber defending the closure of local postal services? I appreciate that my constituency and his are very different, but I imagine some of the community needs are the same. The older population in my community of Drumcondra and Glasnevin rely on their post office. When I am told that An Pos…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. Dublin City Council's phase 3 bag-free streets programme will end plastic bag collection in Stoneybatter, Phibsborough, Broadstone, and other parts of the north-west inner city. It might feel like a good thing that we are removing plastic bags from rubbish collection. There have been incidents of seagulls opening bags which inevitably leads to rubbish being scattered and various related issues. There is going to be a significant problem in that specific part of …

The State does set the regulatory framework that underpins the transition here. It is important that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, understands the consequences for people in my area in Stoneybatter, Broadstone and Phibsborough, who are being forced to enter into a free-for-all between different private operators on streets that are wholly unsuitable for the services they provide. Imagine the situation where two or three days a week where small residential streets where there will be bins preventing people from gett…

Of course, we will support this motion as we supported the extension the numerous times it was brought to us before. I again say what many Members, including Deputy Smith, just said, namely, that we cannot keep coming here repeatedly as we have done over the last number years, doing the same thing and being told this will be the last time. Everybody agrees this should be permanent. Why are we still extending it every six months? We all agree that outdoor dining works. Those in opposition, in government, councillors…

Hear, hear.

It is absolutely not shallow rhetoric or sloganeering to say the Irish State should adhere to our obligations under the prevention of genocide Act, which we signed willingly. If you recognise a genocide is happening to the people of Gaza inflicted by the State of Israel, why are we still debating whether it is just services or goods? It should be everything in our power to prevent that but if this is what we have in our possession, let us do it to the maximum. We need a debate on that in this House this week.

I would not expect the Taoiseach to be aware of every incident of vandalism that takes place in a particular playground or play facility across the country but the north inner city task force is run by his Department. Diamond Park is a playground right in the heart of the community and it is well used. If you go into it, most days you will see what happens in any other playground - families sitting together and children playing. That playground was burned over the weekend. It was torched and set alight. It is not t…