The Senator will be aware that under Standing Order 168, the Minister will be required to provide a report on the publishing of this Bill. As indicated, a full and extensive review of the personal insolvency regime is also being completed this year. On the specific statistics sought by the Senator, relevant statistics will be included in the post-enactment report on the implementation of the Bill. I am not in a position to say that I can give them to the Senator at this stage, as the Department would need to engage…

I am pleased to have this opportunity to update the Seanad on progress made by my Department to establish an independent gambling regulator for Ireland focused on public safety and well-being. As Senators will be aware, gambling reform has been in development for some time. The industry is large and complex. It is continuously evolving through technological development and many of our current arrangements are well outdated. Effective reform, therefore, requires fundamental and significant change. To date, much good…

I thank all Senators for their contributions. The House is very much united in attacking the scourge of gambling and gambling addiction. Senator O'Loughlin rightly pointed out that a key difference with this addiction compared with others that are every bit as devastating is that we can see the downward trend in people who have a drug or drink addiction. With gambling, the first time people often know that a partner or a loved one in the family has this addiction is when the sheriff is at the door, when there is a …

I thank all Deputies who contributed to this debate. I thank Senator McDowell for putting forward his Bill and Deputy O'Callaghan who had put forward a similar Bill. As the Minister of State with responsibility for youth justice I am particularly pleased to support this Bill in the House today. There have been a number of proceedings in the courts since the Court of Appeal decision in the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and EC v. The Irish Times and others, which involved very tragic circumstances where famil…

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McEntee, I thank Deputy Naughten for introducing the Bill on behalf of the Regional Group of Deputies. Insurance reform is a key priority for the Government. This is reflected in the programme for Government, in the Government's action plan for insurance reform, which was launched last December, and in the Justice Plan 2021, which the Minister, Deputy McEntee, published recently. I very much appreciate that the objective of the Bill is to deal with the issue of fr…

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, who very much regrets that she is unable to be in the House today, I am pleased to have this opportunity to introduce the Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Bill 2020. The Bill's purpose is to make several urgent amendments to the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 which 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 …

I will try to address a number of the points and we will have a greater opportunity on Committee Stage to get into more detail. Senator Ward raised a number of points. There were extensive consultations both with the Department of Finance and with the Central Bank and at no stage was any objection raised but I hear the Senator’s concerns on whether there could be an unintended consequence or negative effect on young people being able to avail of a mortgage. The scheme of the Personal Insolvency (Amendment) (No. 2) …

I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

I thank Deputies for supporting the Bill. The contributions made and points raised have been very useful and I am grateful for the consideration Deputies have given the matter. The Bill, while short and technical, is important legislation that will enable Ireland to give full effect to the directive on the fight against fraud on the European Union's financial interests by means of criminal law. Fraud against the EU's financial interests affects everyone and the Bill reflects an important update of Ireland's already…

Now.

I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

I thank the Deputies for raising this very important matter. I am acutely aware of the impact that open drug dealing and the associated intimidation is having on communities across the country. Organised criminal activity, including drug dealing, represents a serious threat to community safety but it is also important to remember that drug-related intimidation and open drug dealing cause sustained and significant damage to communities over time, contributing to a lower quality of life for local residents and an ero…

I reject the statement that gardaí are doing nothing and are simply letting things happen. That is not an acceptable statement to make about An Garda Síochána and about what its members are doing on the front line, especially during the Covid pandemic of the last year. I understand the Deputies' justifiable concerns around drug dealing throughout our communities. The principal aim of the Department of Justice, An Garda Síochána and everybody under them is that we have safe communities. There are serious concerns ar…

We discussed this area in detail on previous Stages, so I will speak on it briefly. I have carefully considered the debate and the cross-party support Senator McDowell's amendment received. The approach we are proposing in the amendment is in a similar spirit. Senators will be aware that section 37(12) already provides for guidance to be issued to competent authorities in respect of the definition of "prominent public function". These amendments insert a subsection (13) to provide that guidance may be issued more g…

There were a number of points. I hope common sense will prevail and that these regulations will not be needed. The anti-money-laundering aspects were actually handled by ECOFIN rather than by the Justice and Home Affairs Council, so I will bring that matter to the attention of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and his Department with a view to having it put on the agenda of the next ECOFIN meeting. Senator Bacik raised the issue of the Union of Students in Ireland, USI. I will discuss this with the Departme…

This is a technical amendment. I thank Senator Ward for identifying the issue within the legislation. The proposed amendment is to improve the clarity of the relevant subsection. While we could not accept the precise formulation that Senator Ward used in the Committee Stage amendments as the phrase was used elsewhere in the Bill, this amendment achieves the same result.

I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to present the Counterfeiting Bill 2020 to the House. According to the European Central Bank, ECB, there are 25 billion euro bank notes in circulation with a value of more than €1.4 trillion. EU authorities and all member states share a responsibility to protect the currency against counterfeiting. This is achieved through a comprehensive package of technical, administrative and criminal law measures which have been very successful to date…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. This is an important Bill while it is technical in nature. There are 25 billion euro banknotes in circulation throughout the European Union, with a value of more than €1.4 trillion. As I stated earlier, the chances of a note being counterfeited in 2020 was only 17 in 1 million. Most counterfeit bank notes are very low quality and thankfully quickly detected. Much of this is down to the new security measures in current bank notes. Nevertheless, we must keep vigilant. We …

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