An Garda Síochána has a good record when it comes to organised crime. I was at an event last Friday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the murder of Veronica Guerin. If we think about that, in terms of the organised drug gangs in Ireland, many of them have been taken out of action by An Garda Síochána. They went to Spain. They were then chased out of there. They went to the United Arab Emirates and they are being chased out of there. You cannot get away from the consequences of your actions. It is inevitably th…

The Criminal Assets Bureau has a good record. To go back to Veronica Guerin, her murder inspired the enactment of the proceeds of crime legislation and the establishment of CAB. The bureau has a strong record. Other European countries are interested in the fact that one can have a non-conviction based seizure process. People have assets taken from them which are the proceeds of crime, but it is on the balance of probabilities. We do not need to establish in front of a jury. Strong evidence is put forward by a chief…

I have just come from a meeting of the Oireachtas committee on justice. These amendments, in particular amendment No. 19, seek to introduce various amendments to section 3 of the Bill. I will take the opportunity to address amendment No. 19, for which I thank Senator Higgins, which would amend the existing section 6(1)(a)(ii) of the principal Act. This subsection of the principal Act currently provides that a person is guilty of an offence under the Act if he or she attempts to engage in terrorist activity or terro…

I thank Senator Higgins for coming back in to talk about amendments Nos. 13 and 14. At the outset, I assure the Senator that the types of examples she gave on the floor of this House as potential prosecutable offences are not offences. I do not see any circumstance as to how they could apply or come within the terms of section 3 of the legislation. However, I have a problem with provisions going into criminal statutes that begin by stating, “For the avoidance of doubt”, and then go on to specify what is not covered…

In the first instance, we need to recognise that interpretation of this legislation when somebody is being prosecuted for an offence under section 4A of the principal Act is the function of the Judiciary. No matter what the Senator or I say, we are not the interpreters. However, I do have a responsibility to set out the clear intention of the legislation. When the court comes to examine the offence and consider the section, it will primarily rely upon the wording we have put into the legislation. The Senator mentio…

I thank Senator Higgins for her amendment. We are discussing amendments Nos. 20 to 24, inclusive, and the first, in particular, seeks to amend what is section 6(5) of the 2005 Act. The first amendment put forward by Senator Higgins is to remove the words “of itself” from the new definition going into subsection (5). It is important to point out that the new subsection (5) does not differ that much from the old subsection (5) in what is section 6 of the legislation, and if we look at what we are dealing with in term…

It is instructive to us to look at how the 2005 legislation has operated since it was commenced 20 years ago. Many of the issues the Senator highlighted are contained within the 2005 legislation and we have not seen the types of prosecutions the Senator is concerned about, and that neither she nor I wants to see. The reason for her removing the words "of itself" must mean that she wants other factors to be permissible in terms of the actions of the person concerned. The whole purpose of section 6(5) is to set out t…

Obviously, in order for anything to reach the threshold of terrorist activity, it has to come within the definition of what is terrorist activity. That is set out in section 2 of the Bill, which talks about if it is committed. Let us look at Part 1 of Schedule 2. The Senator highlighted criminal damage. We can see that the rest of the Schedule is focusing on very serious criminal offences and as regards criminal damage, which is what we are talking about, it is clearly considering issues such as arson and where pro…

Is that in Germany?

In different legal systems, with different laws.

I am not concerned about that. I am sorry, I am not going to repeat myself. I do not see that happening.

We live in a situation where information systems cyberattacks can be imposed upon countries as part of terrorist activities. It is that type of offence that is envisaged here.

I would like to thank Senators for their engagement on this legislation. We have had terrorist offences legislation in place since 2005. This is updating it to take into account the serious terrorist threat that the State can face. Fortunately it is not as significant as previously, but we need to ensure that our laws are up to date and vigilant. The primary purpose of this legislation is to transpose the new directive in respect of terrorist activities. Regrettably, we have seen some appalling terrorist activities…

I welcome David French and his family to the Gallery. Like colleagues, I commend them on their campaigning in this area. I also thank Senator Keogan for the amendments she has put down. It is obvious that a lot of work went into them and I commend her on that. I similarly commend Senator McCormack and Sinn Féin on their amendments. I also thank Senator Stephenson for her contribution. I recognise that all of the amendments being put down are motivated by what the Senators believe is in the best interests of the chi…

Yes, absolutely. There is a requirement on me, as the Senator knows, to do a post-enactment report a year after enactment, I think. The Department of justice does that. I will certainly take it into account. The provisions in this are retrospective as well. It may be the case that there are family members who will contact Tusla to say they would like it to bring an application, notwithstanding the fact that the conviction predates the commencement of the legislation. That will all be part of the review. That will b…

I am sure if somebody writes to Tusla and says they would like it to bring an application in respect of a conviction which took place, either retrospectively or one which happens after the commencement of the Act, and asks for it to take an application, as they are entitled to, I would think that in most scenarios Tusla will write a reply and give an explanation. It may not be necessary for it to withhold information. However, there must unquestionably be times where Tusla, having considered what is in the best int…

I give a quick response if the Senator would like me to.

I thank the Senator. Senator McCormack's amendment proposes to do two things. One is to change the six-month period in the legislation to three months. That is not necessary because there is already a statutory provision in the Bill that requires an application to be made as soon as practicable. The Bill says "as soon as practicable but not later than 6 months after the conviction". Senator McCormack wants to reduce that to "not later than 3 months". My concern about changing it to three months is that it will take…

The first four amendments in this grouping are minor drafting corrections to correct the wording in four places so the Bill reads consistently. They do not make any change to the substance or effect of the Bill. The fifth amendment, amendment No. 12, is again a technical amendment. It is to ensure we apply the provisions of the Act of 1991 relating to the appointment of a guardian ad litem to proceedings heard under the new Part. The only substantive change is that the new drafting ensures a guardian ad litem can b…

The purpose of these amendments is to set out which courts shall have responsibility for applications under this section. In particular, amendment No. 15 sets out under the new Family Courts Act, which District Court will have responsibility. It will be the family District Court and it applies to the other courts as well. It will apply to the Circuit Court, which is to be construed as a reference to the family Circuit Court and a judge of the District Court shall be a judge of the family District Court. Senators wi…