Irrespective of one's views on this legislation, and we have heard many views expressed today, it is a remarkable achievement for the Minister and for his departmental officials to put together legislation that runs to 709 pages, contains 541 sections and is divided into 22 Parts. The purpose of the legislation is to try to consolidate our law in respect of planning and development. When one looks at its length and complexity, it indicates the extent to which the Oireachtas regulates this area. It is an enormously …

For the past 18 months, my colleagues and I have been raising issues concerning the increasing levels of lawlessness and criminality in inner-city Dublin. The reason I have been raising that is that I am a TD who represents the constituency of the south-east inner city and my constituents have been raising the issue with me. Neither I nor, I am sure, any other person in this House thought we would be standing here, however, speaking in response to the stabbing of schoolchildren in the inner city. There are many rea…

When the Tánaiste announced last April that he was establishing a consultative forum on international security, there was a fairly alarmed response from many Members of this House and outside the House. There was a view that this was a devious and covert attempt by the Government to jettison Ireland's well-served and popular policy of neutrality. Then, when it was announced that this forum was going to be chaired by Louise Richardson, an Irishwoman and a distinguished academic, it was pointed out that she was a per…

I welcome this amendment. The Minister will recall that I tabled an amendment on Committee Stage which sought to deal with some of the issues he has highlighted. In particular, I had been contacted, as I know other Deputies were, by medical practitioners who were concerned the Revenue Commissioners were going to alter their policy and introduce a new policy as and from January next that would have the effect, as the Minister has said, that income received under the GMS scheme by medical practitioners working in a p…

At present, the world is a very dangerous place. There is a serious risk this could escalate further beyond the regional dispute we see in the Middle East. I know people may say it was a dangerous place 50 years ago or 100 years ago or further back, but in fact when we look at what is happening now, there seems to be an inability on the part of people to recognise that we have to share the planet together. What has also had a significant impact and differentiates this and current disputes from historical disputes i…

I will share time with Deputy Lawless. I welcome the O'Farrell family to the Chamber this evening, and I also commend them, in particular Lucia and Jim, on the tireless work they have done in exposing failings in the criminal justice system. The failings they exposed were not simply failings in respect of the tragic death of Shane but they are also more general failings in the system as a whole. As Deputy McGuinness mentioned, I was the Deputy who moved the motion back in 2018 that got the approval of this House to…

I am sure like many Deputies in this House, the Ceann Comhairle had difficulty getting in to Leinster House on budget day. That was because the Garda had erected cordons all around Leinster House because they feared there would be very large protests here about the budget. As it turned out, there were no protests. I think that says it all in respect of the budget. Maybe in future years, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform might look at giving the budget to…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I think Deputy Lawless will be coming. I welcome this legislation and I commend the Ministers, Deputies James Browne and McEntee, for introducing it into the House today. I have a limited amount of time, but I want to speak in respect of a number of sections in the Bill. In particular, I refer to section 7 of the Bill because it contains quite a significant change to the law in respect of rape as it operates in this country. That is a change that we need to inform the public about. It i…

Ireland has a very centralised political system, as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle well knows. When we look at it, a huge amount of political power in this country is vested in Dáil Éireann. Dáil Éireann makes the decision, through the election of a Taoiseach and a government, to transfer very many powers executively to the government and to Ministers. Then, when Ministers go into Departments, to a large extent they are very much circumscribed by what parameters are set for them by senior civil servants. Therefore, alth…

I welcome the Taoiseach's reply and the publication by the Attorney General of the principles. I also welcome that the Government has adopted them. This issue entered the public domain relatively recently because of the nursing home charges issue. There is a lack of awareness, and more information needs to be provided to the public, as to how the State conducts itself in litigation. Obviously, there will be significant State involvement in litigation, given that it is sued more than most other legal entities. Somet…

What steps or proposals, if any, does the Government have to regulate AI? I know the State generally does not stick its nose into technological advancements. However, because this is such a precarious and dangerous form of technology that needs to be carefully managed, I would like to know whether there are proposals within the EU or this State to regulate it.

I welcome the fact that there is such work being done in the Department on this issue. It is appropriate that it is being regulated on a European-wide basis as it would be ineffective if we were just dealing with it domestically. As the Minister of State is aware, technology has had significant benefits for this country and the global economy and nobody is suggesting that we should stop the march of technology but when you look at the potential consequences of AI, it is important that we recognise that this is a fo…

To follow on from what Deputy O’Reilly said about the threat to employment, it could have vast consequences for all types of employment. For example, in the case of lawyers who draft contracts, this could be done completely by AI in the future. People may think that it is a good development. However, it will have societal consequences we need to keep on top of. My concern is that it will result globally in the concentration of wealth in a smaller group of people as the necessity for labour to create capital is brok…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motions. I know we have this debate annually and contributions can sometimes be repetitive but, notwithstanding that, it is a worthwhile debate. We have it annually because, after the Omagh bombing in 1998, the Oireachtas decided that as it was introducing 12 significant new sections through the Offences against the State (Amendment) Act, those sections should be reviewed annually. Of them, five relate to offences, but there are other provisions within the Act which were an…

First, I commend the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on developing the youth justice strategy. I also commend him on chairing the steering group that is extremely important in putting forward proposals as to how we deal with this hugely important issue of responding to youth justice issues. We spend a lot of time in this House talking about issues in respect of which the outcome may not be that great, even if we get it right, but when we look at the issue of youth justice, if a person gets caught up in the …

The purpose of the Bill is to provide a remedy for litigants who, through no fault of their own, find themselves involved in proceedings that do not conclude within a reasonable time. This is a sensible proposal from the Government. It is also a necessary proposal. The House may be aware that there have been a series of cases against Ireland over the past ten to 15 years that have gone to the European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, and have highlighted what has been referred to as a systemic issue in the Irish legal …

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I commend the Minister and the Government on the decision to establish a consultative forum on international security and defence policy. Given what has happened in the world over the past 18 months and the technological advancements that have taken place over the past ten years or so, it is appropriate that Ireland gives consideration to how we will deal with security and defence in the years ahead. Some Members are concerned about the establishment of a forum…

As everyone in this House knows, being a Member of the Oireachtas is a great privilege but with that privilege comes a great responsibility. The reason it is a privilege and there is such a responsibility is we are the people who make laws for everyone in this country. Coming with that, there is a requirement on us to be aware, when we enact laws and debate, that what we are doing is correct. We need information to do that. If we want to combat any particular type of criminal activity, it is essential that we have …

I commend the Minister of State on bringing this complex and complicated legislation before the House. The Department also deserves to be commended. Sometimes the transposition of European law into Irish law can take very many years. In fact, I have seen legislation that has sought to transpose directives which were made some six or seven years previously. Obviously, with this legislation we are not transposing a directive but giving full effect to an EU regulation. In fairness to the Department and the Minister of…

In the limited time I have available, I commend Deputy Whitmore and the Joint Committee on International Surrogacy. Just in case people think this is politicians backslapping each other, it is also important to point out that last month, Mr. Justice Hogan of the Supreme Court referred to the joint committee's report on international surrogacy as a thoughtful and reflective parliamentary report. Therefore it is not just members of the legislature who think it is a good piece of work; people looking at it objectively…