It is for beneficiaries of international protection. It is setting out the rights to which they are entitled once they have been granted protection under the Bill. Amendment No. 269 simply deletes, “and the same social welfare”, and substitutes, “, social welfare”, so there is no significant alteration in respect of what is being proposed there.

They are still entitled to the same social welfare. If we look at section 144, it talks about the extension to beneficiaries of international protection of certain rights. These include rights in terms of conditions applicable to Irish citizens, including "the same medical care and the same social welfare benefits".

The words, "social welfare" will remain, and "the same" is being removed.

I thank Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black for the amendment It is important to recall that the amendment is seeking to amend what is still a provision within section 2, which is the definition section. The definition the proposed amendment seeks to deal with is the definition of "immigration officer" and the Bill, at present, simply states "immigration officer” has the meaning it has in the Act of 2004. That should be the case. It should be the case that there is consistency in our legislation. It would look very u…

I will consider the issue about the production of the warrant within the Department. Irrespective of that, the definitions section is the wrong place to put it. I will consider it and discuss it with my officials. If it is deemed necessary, I will bring forward an amendment at Report Stage. I am not going into operational detail now as to who would be the immigration officers as it would not be appropriate. We are setting out the architecture of the legislation. No matter who the immigration officers are or what th…

I thank Senators P.J. Murphy, Duffy and Kennelly for bringing forward this important legislation. It is also very useful to hear of the direct experience of Senator Murphy arising from his work as a joiner. Sometimes people do not realise the direct experience Members of the Seanad and Dáil have and it is very important we hear Senator Murphy's direct experience given that he has worked in that area for so long. We all know the theft of tools and work equipment has serious repercussions. For many tradespeople, whet…

I thank Deputy Ardagh for raising this important issue. I am aware of the outstanding work Ballyfermot Youth Service does. I know it from talking to the Deputy and other representatives and from my own general knowledge in respect of it. I want to see that excellent work continue. Before I came in here this morning, I had a look at the website for Ballyfermot Youth Service and I could see the extent of the outstanding work it does for youths in the community. The Deputy's concern is about funding that previously ca…

I agree with the Deputy. It is an essential part of ensuring we get youth diversion from criminal activity that we put in place facilities and services for young people. We had a very important discussion in this Chamber recently about scramblers and how young men and boys were using them, but we need to try to provide alternative avenues and opportunities for people to engage in certain types of activities of interest to them. I fully appreciate the skate park is something Ballyfermot Youth Services wants to see c…

I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh. I am very pleased I have temporary responsibility for the issue of commemorations in the Department of culture. I agree with the Deputy that it is important that we should celebrate the great rescue by the Catalpa and how it carried out the rescue of the six military Fenians. The 150th anniversary of that important event is approaching in April this year and I commend the Deputy for raising this issue in the House this morning. Obviously, the State gets involved in many official commemora…

I agree with Deputy Ó Snodaigh. The rescue by the Catalpa is a fantastic story. Irrespective of the prejudices Deputy Ó Snodaigh and I have, and that other people have, for preferring certain commemorations over others, it is objectively a fascinating story that deserves to be reported and promoted. In a way, it is a bit like the story of the Invincibles in the aftermath of the Phoenix Park killings and what happened there. Deputy Ó Snodaigh emphasised, as I did, that the State does not have to be the one driving e…

I echo and confirm my support for the apology made by the Taoiseach today on behalf of the Government. I also endorse the words of the Tánaiste and the Minister for education. I share my colleagues' deep sense of regret for the pain and suffering experienced by those who experienced detention in industrial schools. I now want to make an official statement, as Minister for justice, in respect of people detained in industrial schools. I know that this is an important official statement for Mary, Mary, Miriam and Maur…

Can I start by making a political point? The debate on amendment No. 15 has been an unusual one. The reason it has been unusual is not just because it has gone over for over 2.5 hours but obviously, a very concerted decision was made by TDs from Sinn Féin to speak, in many respects from scripted statements, in respect of this amendment. There were 11 Sinn Féin contributors to this motion. All of them spoke about the same issues in terms of IPAS. I agree there are many issues of concern in respect of IPAS but the st…

I will start by saying that, contrary to what Deputy Cullinane said about there being no transparency in the area of international protection accommodation services, there is in fact a very high degree of transparency. My Department publishes figures detailing the numbers of residents and centres, with a breakdown of numbers of emergency accommodation centres, on a weekly basis. There is full transparency from my Department in regard to providers who receive payments, with details of all payments over €20,000 and t…

-----in order to get accommodation for individuals who are applicants. I am pleased to say that the State has been increasing the amount of accommodation that is State-owned. When I took over responsibility here on 1 May 2025, we only had 900 spaces owned by the State. We now have 4,000. I want to get to a situation where we have 14,000. A large part of that is going to be achieved through the State buying units, which we can then use for the State for the purpose of accommodation. If the State is required because …

I thank the Deputy.

They are contracting with companies.

I did not say that.

I thank Deputies Gannon and Kelly for putting down this amendment. It is important to put it in context. What we are discussing here is chapter 2 of the provision that entitles me as Minister to designate a certain centre as a screening centre. That is provided for in section 21 of the legislation. The next section we are dealing with, which is under discussion here, is the obligation to travel to a screening centre. There are provisions set out in this section 22 that place an obligation on a person applying for i…

I want to respond to Deputy Kelly's point. I listened very carefully to what Deputies Kelly, Gannon and Gibney had to say. I take it seriously and I am fully aware of what political objective they are seeking through these amendments. They are perfectly legitimate, and I respect them. We are talking about an amendment to section 22. It is headlined, "Obligation to travel to screening centre". I have not designated any areas as screening centres yet but if, following enactment, I designate Citywest, which is a well-…

However, I do sometimes consider legislation from the point of view of how it will be determined if it is before a court or a judge. The amendment the Deputy wants to insert relates to an applicant who is a presumed or identified victim of trafficking. I am not trying to make a legal point, but I need to know, and a court would need to know with precision how the Minister knows if somebody is a presumed victim of trafficking, or how he knows if they are an identified victim of trafficking. Deputy Gibney may disagre…