This is an amendment to the Economic and Monetary Union Act 1998 to provide for the recovery of costs by the Central Bank of Ireland for the functions carried out relating to euro coins and, in particular, relating to the protection of the euro against counterfeiting. As he was required to do under Council decision 98/415/EC, the Minister for Finance requested an opinion from the European Central Bank, ECB, on the Counterfeiting Bill. This opinion was supportive of the Bill in general, stating that the ECB welcomed…

I can get the answer for the Deputy.

I do not have the technical answer at the moment, but I will get it for him.

I know what the Senator is seeking to do with this amendment. The concern is that evidence given at a preliminary hearing might somehow be inconsistent with the evidence given at a trial and, therefore, there should be a facility for the court to allow these inconsistencies to be brought into the open and challenged and interrogated. Clearly, such situations can arise from time to time, whether at a preliminary hearing or in various scenarios that already exist in trials at present. Let us say, for example, that an…

I will speak to amendment No. 4b. The Senators' intention with this amendment may be to try to adjust the wording to reflect whether the evidence is in fact compelling enough to meet the threshold that is undetermined at the point of going to appeal. I believe that this addition is unnecessary. Furthermore, I have a real concern that, in reality, the wording proposed would have the unintended effect of changing the threshold for permitting these appeals under section 7 of the Bill, so that appeals could now lie whe…

The wording mirrors almost identically that in section 23 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2010. This has worked effectively, so far, but we will certainly keep it under review. If there were any change in this Bill, it could impact those cases also. If it were to be changed, it would need to be very carefully considered. I take the Senator's point.

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I can tell the Senator that the current wording is intentional. The provision was considered very carefully in drafting, taking into account the views of the Attorney General and the Parliamentary Counsel as to the nature of the decision or appeal and the best wording to achieve that. In effect, if the appeal is successful, it is remitted to the trial court to take into account what has been stated. The trial court will then have to attend to the matter, rather than the appeal court…

The Senators raise a very important point. I thank Senator Ward for bringing this amendment forward. It proposes quite a substantial change but it is a very important and helpful proposal. He spoke about writing things out in longhand. The accuracy of auto-transcription software on mobile phones now is phenomenal. This proposal must be assessed from a legal and policy perspective and I ask the Senator to engage with the Department of Justice and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and Deputy McEntee when she returns, o…

Section 12 of the Bill implements a recommendation, as Senator Martin pointed out, from the Law Reform Commission's 2013 report on jury service to the effect that the types of information already available under section 57 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 would be extended to other trials on indictment and that a trial judge may order that copies of any or all certain documents can be given to a jury in the form that the judge considers appropriate. That includes a transcript of the openi…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to have this opportunity to move Second Stage of the Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020. The main purpose of the Bill is to make a number of urgent amendments to the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 which will make it easier for insolvent persons, including those in financial difficulties arising from the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, to avail of the legislation effectively. A person is insolvent under the Act if he or she is unable to p…

This is a very important Bill. I acknowledge the Minister, Deputy McEntee, who introduced the Bill. I thank Deputies for their contributions and engagement. I welcome their comments and will consider carefully the various important points that have been raised. Families and individuals do not enter into insolvency lightly. It is a very difficult situation and a difficult and challenging decision for anyone to take. When people enter into that process, we have to ensure they do not face undue hardship. We should all…

I thank Deputies for their valuable contributions to the debate on this short but very important Bill. We all recall what happened on North Frederick Street and in other repossession cases. We understand the risks involved in having unregulated security personnel getting involved in repossessions. We do not want to see those kinds of incidents repeated. That is our motivation in bringing forward this legislation. These situations give rise to serious flashpoints, cause distress to people and may hurt their dignity.…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to introduce the Private Security Services (Amendment) Bill 2021 in this House, and I look forward to our discussion of its provisions here today. The principal objective of this Bill is to include a new category of "enforcement guard" in the list of private security services licensed by the Private Security Authority under the 2004 Act. Many of us will recall the removal of persons from a private property on North Frederick Street in September 2018 on…

I appreciate that the amendment has been withdrawn, but I do hear the Senator's concerns. Obviously, any certificates should be looked at and closely examined. I outlined on the previous occasion our concerns about accepting such an amendment. Those concerns still remain.

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2016/794, as regards Europ…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. There were some important and technical issues raised and I will try to get answers for the Deputies on some of those points. We all agree that co-operation with Europol makes sense. The threats that we face are continuing to evolve. Criminals will always be ready to exploit the advantages that they can gain from new situations and technologies and I am thinking about the Internet and how fast this is changing in our everyday lives. Globalisation and increased mobility …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill 2021 is a relatively short but significant item of legislation. I am very pleased to introduce it to the House. The purpose of the Bill is to provide for the repeal of the second or subsequent mandatory sentences in the areas of firearms and misuse of drugs. It also addresses similar mandatory type offences in older legislation dealing with the concealment of stolen goods, illicit distillation and licensing laws. The Supreme Co…

The content of this Bill is not being referred to-----

I thank everyone who made a contribution to the debate on this Bill. As Deputies will have noted, the Bill is limited in scope and is designed to rectify the constitutional infirmity identified by the Supreme Court with regard to repealing second or subsequent mandatory sentences, mainly in the area of firearms and misuse of drugs. As I noted in my introductory remarks, the Supreme Court ruling does not affect provisions in the statute which provide for presumptive minimum sentences where there is judicial discreti…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 181(1).