I thank Members for their contributions. Several important points have been raised, for which I thank them. These will all be taken into consideration. I look forward to further debate on this Bill on Committee Stage. At its heart, this legislation does two things. It places on a formal, statutory footing the right to trial within a reasonable time and it establishes a simple and accessible means of vindicating that right. I look forward to the legislation passing.

This group covers a number of amendments dealing with administrative, technical and typographical matters. Amendment No. 2 is a grammatical correction amending the word "who" to "whom". Amendment No. 5 deletes the words "in that state" in section 10(d) of the 2003 Act. This amendment arises from a decision of the High Court in the case of the Minister for Justice and Equality v . Gustas in 2021, which was the subject of an Article 26 reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union. In that case, surrender w…

This amendment relates to section 6 and provides that where a person is arrested on foot of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement arrest warrant issued by the United Kingdom, they are to be advised of their right to legal advice in the United Kingdom for the purpose of assisting their legal representatives here.

Amendment No. 7 transposes Articles 18 and 19 of the European arrest warrant framework decision, and the comparable provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. It provides a mechanism whereby a person who is to be heard by a judicial authority in the issuing state may either be temporarily transferred to that state or heard in Ireland by a court assisted by a person nominated by that state. The amendment also clarifies the availability of video link under similar circumstances. Given the development of the t…

Amendments Nos. 11, 12, 23 and 24 deal with situations where surrender does not take place due to force majeure . These amendments provide for amendment to section 9, which amends section 15(5)(b) of the 2003 Act, and for amendment to section 10, which amends section 16(5)(b) of the 2003 Act. The amendments address a technical issue and clarify that it is the court rather than the central authority that must be satisfied that the force majeure circumstances continue to exist. Where a member state is unable to surre…

I move amendment No. 1 to Seanad amendment No. 13: To insert after “finalised and,”, “on conclusion of those proceedings and”.

Amendments Nos. 27 to 32, inclusive, amend section 11 of the Bill, which inserts a new section 16A into the 2003 Act. The new section 16A provides that where the prescribed time limits are not met, that failure does not constitute a ground to refuse surrender, does not prejudice the requirement for the court to make a decision as to whether to endorse an arrest warrant for execution and does not preclude the continued detention of the person under the 2003 Act. Following legal advice, the provisions that provide th…

Amendment No. 33 addresses a limitation of the provisions in respect of outward temporary surrender in section 19 of the 2003 Act. This arises where a person has been sentenced in the State for a separate offence, but their surrender is sought by the issuing state. The court has a discretion to allow their temporary surrender for the purpose of being tried in the other state, and determines the applicable conditions. This is being extended to allow for service of a sentence in the other state. This is in line with …

Amendment No. 34 relates to section 15 of the Bill. Where a person has been surrendered to an issuing state, and the issuing state wishes to prosecute the person for other offences, the consent of the High Court is required. If the conditions of the EAW framework decision are met and no grounds for non-execution apply, the High Court is obliged to give its consent. Section 15(a) of the Bill substitutes section 22(7) of the 2023 Act to provide for this obligation. Amendment No. 35 would substitute section 16 of the …

This amendment transposes a provision of Schengen information system regulation in the field of police co-operation and judicial co-operation in criminal matters, which requires that prior authorisation to make an alert temporarily unavailable be granted by "the competent judicial authority". The amendment sets out a procedure to do this.

I thank Senators Gallagher, Boyhan, Ahearn and Wall for their contributions. I will address a couple of issues. No occupations are prohibited. Ireland has the discretion to add or remove vacancies that suit our particular economic needs, but it is important to point out that these occupations will be kept under review. While the EU talent pool will primarily facilitate the offer of a job, which is an essential prerequisite in order to apply for an employment permit and immigration permission, all of the other thres…

I send my gratitude to my colleagues in both Houses who supported the progress of this important Bill. The widespread support has been very welcome and very important. The contributions to date have demonstrated a robust backing for the objectives of this Bill. It is clear that we are united in seeking to mitigate against the very real threat of children being exploited to be engaged in criminal activity. We now have legislation that enables the Garda and other authorities to intervene at an early stage in the groo…

I thank the Acting Chair. All of these are technical amendments. Amendment No. 1 is a grammatical correction and I thank Senator Ward for bringing this to our attention. With regard to amendments Nos. 2, 3, 8 and 9, section 21A of the Act is being repealed and references to it, including references to the provision by which it was originally asserted, are being removed accordingly. Amendments Nos. 4 and 10 clarify the application of section 15(5)( a ) and section 16(5)( a ) which deal with situation where surrender…

Amendments Nos. 5 and 12 also deal with situations where surrender does not take place due to force majeure. These amendments address a technical issue with the amendments made to sections 15(5)( b ) and section 16(5)( b ) to clarify that it is the court rather than the central authority that must be satisfied that the force majeure circumstances continue to exist.

Amendments Nos. 6 and 13 clarify the obligations for the consideration of an appeal or an Article 40 application, prevents the determination of surrender proceedings within the relevant time limit that the court causes the issuing judicial authority on Eurojust to be informed and clarifies the requirement to provide reasons when so doing.

This addresses a limitation of the provisions in respect of temporary surrender in section 19 of the Act. This arises where a person has been sentenced in the State for a separate offence but their surrender is sought by the issuing state. The court has a discretion to allow their temporary surrender to be tried in the other state and determines the applicable conditions. This is being extended to allow service of a sentence in the other state. This is in line with the provisions of the framework decision.

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak to Members of the House today. This is a very serious issue and one that I am glad to be discussing today. I echo what my Department colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, has said. The recent incidents of arson that we have seen are categorically not a legitimate form of protest. These are criminal acts by a small group of people who want to tear communities apart and sow division. There is absolutely no justification for damaging property and risking the lives of innoc…

I thank the Deputy for asking this question. The primary purpose of employment vetting as carried out by the Garda National Vetting Bureau, GNVB, is to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. I am sure the Deputy would agree on the vital importance of this task and the need for it to be carried out thoroughly and correctly. The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016 provide that the vetting system is managed by the Garda National Vetting Bureau. As Minister of State…

To be clear, people seeking social housing are not Garda vetted under the Garda vetting Act or in any other shape or form. The local authority can request information on a particular person in the context of the specified persons provisions under section 15 of the 1997 Act, including An Garda Síochána, or from another local authority, for that matter. There is a very specific set of circumstances where the local authority can seek information on somebody's criminal record if the person is being provided with housin…

I appreciate where the Deputy is coming from. I often hear from the local authority in the area where I live that somebody is being vetted, but it is not Garda vetting as such. Local authorities are using that as a generic term rather than the technical term under the legislation, when what they have done is contact the local superintendent for a particular request relating to a person who has applied for social housing. As I said, I will raise the matter with the Commissioner to see whether there is a way to strea…