I move: That Dáil Éireann, noting that the Government agreed on 12th January, 2021, to propose, for the approval of Dáil Éireann, the appointment of Deirdre Malone to be a member of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, and pursuant to sections 9 and 10 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, approves the appointment of Deirdre Malone, with effect from 1st October, 2020, by the Government to be a member of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority in accordance with that Act, such appointment being for a period…

I thank my colleagues throughout the House for their contributions in support of today's motion to approve the appointment of Ms Deirdre Malone to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority. She has been put forward as a statutory nominee of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. This will enable a similar motion to be brought before the Seanad for consideration and approval. As I have said, Ms Malone's appointment, if so approved, will complete the current membership of the authority while also bringing her …

I thank Senator Ward for the amendments that he has tabled. I agree with the principle and intention behind them. As someone who has practised as a barrister for 14 years, I know the difficulty for ordinary citizens and for practitioners in trying to establish exactly what amendments have been made and where. It impacts on accessibility. When that is compounded with the sister to accessibility, which is the need for greater use of plain language, then we need consolidated Acts and plain language. This is, unfortuna…

I thank Senator Ward. He mentioned this issue on the last Stage. I will give it some consideration and come back to him

This is simply a technical amendment to remove an incorrect cross reference.

I will certainly give consideration to the Senator's proposals.

I thank Senator McDowell and his colleagues for raising this very important point. We had a good discussion on this matter on Second Stage as well. I relayed my experiences of being the chairperson of the board of a primary school which received requests. I find it somewhat interesting that I have accounts with two banks and while one has been quite vigorous on this issue, I have not heard from the other about it at all. One would, therefore, wonder about the different approaches to the issue.

That is possible. The account with the latter institution, even though I use it to this day, was opened when I was a student at Waterford Institute of Technology, so perhaps it still has those details for that account. I might check that. I have a concern, as I previously expressed, about a chilling effect on people going into politics. It is a concern not only at a national level but also at a local level. At the most recent local elections, none of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and the Labour Party had a cont…

Unfortunately, from a technical point of view I am unable to accept this amendment.

These are merely technical amendments.

I thank the Deputies for the support they have expressed for this important Bill. The contributions to the points that have been raised have been very useful and I am grateful for the consideration they have given to it. While this is a relatively short and technical Bill, the importance of this area should not be underestimated. These crimes are not victimless, we all pay for them. Many Deputies raised questions on enforcement resources. I fully agree that legislation cannot be effective unless there are resources…

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

I welcome the opportunity to present the Bill to the House. I am pleased that it received general support on its recent passage through the Dáil. I am hopeful that Senators will be similarly supportive. This legislation transposes the criminal justice elements and several of the non-criminal justice elements of the Fifth EU Anti-money Laundering Directive 2018/843. This directive builds upon the fourth anti-money laundering directive to better equip the Union to prevent the financial system from being used for mone…

I thank the Senators for their constructive and significant contributions, which are welcome. To clarify, the €2 million fine refers to the previous transposition under the fourth directive. So far, we have not been fined under that arrangement or the associated legislation but, nonetheless, we are at risk. In that regard, I appreciate the Senators' facilitation of our trying to pass the Bill as quickly as possible. On the issues concerning politically exposed persons and implementation, implementation is not a mat…

There is absolutely no difficulty with that.

I move: That Dáil Éireann, noting that the Government on 6th January, 2021, nominated Emily Logan and Hugh Hume for appointment by the President to be members of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, recommends, pursuant to section 65(1)( b ) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, that Emily Logan and Hugh Hume be appointed by the President to be members of the Commission. The appointment of members of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, is governed by the provisions of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, which req…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions and their generous support for the Government's nominations to GSOC. I note one Deputy's objection to one of the nominations and the particular reasons for that. It is important to note that these appointments came through an independent PAS process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the gardaí for their commitment to the community, especially during the Covid-19 crisis. They have provided a phenomenal account of themselves and their commitment to the commun…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to present the Bill to the House. The Bill was passed in the Seanad in November 2020 and I am pleased that it received general support from the Members of that House. I am hopeful that the Members of this House will be similarly supportive. It is a relatively short Bill, and its specific and limited purpose is to complete the transposition of EU Directive No. 2017/1371 on the fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests by means …

I am delighted to introduce the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill to the House today, following its approval by the Dáil yesterday. As Senators will be aware, this Bill is a Private Members' Bill, sponsored by Deputy Brendan Howlin, which was heavily based on recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission in its 2016 Report on Harmful Communications and Digital Safety. The report identified areas of the law in relation to harmful communications online that needed to be strengthened to …

I again thank Deputy Howlin and the Labour Party for bringing forward this Bill. The Government has consulted with the Labour Party the entire way through the passage of this Bill. It has been a very positive and constructive engagement and I hope to see more of that happening. I met Jackie Fox numerous times, especially as the Opposition spokesperson for mental health. I first met her outside the gates of Leinster House and then met her several times inside, and had the pleasure to meet with her again a couple of …