I thank Deputy Smith for raising this matter. He has championed this issue for many years to try to get to the truth of what happened. The bombing of Belturbet on 28 December 1972 was an appalling and callous act of violence that claimed the lives of two innocent young people - Geraldine O'Reilly and Patrick Stanley - and injured many others. The dreadful effects of this attack last to this day. The suffering of those who have lost what was most precious to them goes on, and the fact that the perpetrators of this a…

I again thank Deputy Smith for raising this very important matter. As he rightly pointed out, it is coming up to almost half a century since the bombings in Belturbet, but the pain is still very real for those families - the O'Reillys and Stanleys - who lost their loved ones, and the suffering continues for those families whose loved ones were injured in the horrific bombing. The Garda has not given up. If anybody has information on this, it will be investigated. It is never too late to come forward, to tell the tr…

As this is the last debate of the term, I thank the Ceann Comhairle and wish him a happy Christmas. I also wish the staff of the Houses a happy Christmas. We recognise the hard work a lot of people have done during the Covid period but we must recognise the contribution of the staff in the Houses to keeping both the Dáil and the Seanad going through that entire time. I also want to wish a happy Christmas to our front-line staff. In particular, I want to mention the staff under my own Department including An Garda S…

I thank Deputy Connolly for her proposed amendments. I will speak to the three grouped for discussion: amendment No. 5 in respect of reporting around prosecutions in humanitarian assistance, and amendments Nos. 6 and 7 in respect of training and identification. Like Deputy Howlin, I would like to remember the tragic events that unfolded in Wexford 20 years ago yesterday, 8 December - we are gone into the 9th now. Deputy Howlin, on a previous occasion, expressed very eloquently the experience that day. The Deputy wa…

I thank Senator Crowe for raising this very important matter relating to antisocial behaviour throughout Ireland but specifically in Eyre Square. Senator Crowe has been raising concerns not only here in the Chamber but also behind the scenes with the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána. I understand how important it is to him to ensure members of the public and his local community are safe in his city. I have been to Eyre Square many times and the warm welcome received by domestic and international tourists…

Community safety is a core priority of the Department of Justice and for the Government in terms of the different programmes it is bringing forward. The deployment of gardaí throughout the country is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner. Once gardaí are deployed to the various divisions, it is a matter for the chief superintendents whether they are deployed as community gardaí, in high visibility situations or in other settings within An Garda Síochána as needed. I agree that with the additional recruit…

I thank Senator Ruane for putting forward very cogent amendments. I certainly heard her very strong arguments in regard to the purpose of the amendments. I will not be accepting the amendments and I will set out why. I note amendments Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, have been taken together. Amendments Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive, provide for the further amendment of sentencing provisions in the Firearms Acts 1925 and 1964, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 and the Criminal Justice Act 20…

I do not have the rationale to hand for the Senator but all the aspects of minimum sentencing could be examined when the review is being carried out.

Everybody in this House is coming from the same perspective, which is that of trying to protect the lives of those people who are so desperate for a better life that they are prepared to pay somebody to smuggle them into another country, a country they see as providing a better opportunity. We have seen that those people have lost their lives. We saw it only last week, and we saw it in my county of Wexford as well in the past. We see it on our television screens regularly. These are real people, with families, frie…

That is not what I implied-----

I should not need to clarify that. I did not use any language that even implied anything like that.

The Deputy should not be disingenuous

I agree with Deputy Howlin. What we are looking at here is a net issue. As I have said, this matter has been carefully considered in the Seanad. We are carefully considering it in the Dáil today. This is the second time we have considered it, and if we have to come back again, we will consider it again. This is Committee Stage and the issue is being given detailed consideration. The argument that it is not being teased out or considered in detail does not stand up. The guillotine procedure has not been applied to t…

This is getting into where the burden lies, and the Commission never got into that. We are saying that this means an exemption for humanitarian assistance. Although I do not believe such a situation would realistically happen, if a person ended up being prosecuted and was about to be convicted, because the prosecution met the burden beyond reasonable doubt of the elements of the offence, then the exemption kicks in where he or she would raise the defence. If there is a defence on the balance of probabilities, the e…

The exemption comes after-----

It gives an exemption if the prosecution has reached the criteria to prove the elements of the defence beyond reasonable doubt. One does not need an exemption until that arises. That is when the exemption comes in.

Can I just finish on this point? France has been raised several times here. France provides for a humanitarian assistance exemption under the offence of facilitation of unauthorised residents only. While France has an exemption, it is in exceptionally limited circumstances. I do not want it left out there that France has a broad exemption.

The person would be entitled to use that as a defence and be entitled to an acquittal. What the Deputy is proposing is that the status quo remains. While the Bill provides not even a risk of someone who may be acting for humanitarian reasons being prosecuted, the Deputy's amendment would maintain the situation where there is no risk to smugglers being prosecuted. Our priority here is not to increase penalties on smugglers. Our priority is to protect the vulnerable people who are exploited by smugglers, and the way …

No. We have a DPP who is independent and who makes an assessment on whether or not to bring a prosecution. There is no "will". There is nothing definite going to happen, quite the opposite. We have an independent DPP who has to make that assessment as to whether it is reasonable. Among a lot of other criteria, the DPP takes into consideration whether there is a reasonable possibility of a conviction.

The DPP does not bring the charge.