I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide comprehensive solidarity to Ukraine in the face of the unlawful war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation with the support of Belarus, to provide for criminal and civil liability in respect of the crime of aggression and related wrongs and for the recognition of qualifications of displaced persons, to make provision with extra-territorial effect in accordance with Article 29.8 of the Constitution and to provide for related matters.…

If whoever is in that office has an opportunity to consider it, it would be very worthwhile that Ireland would make the crime of aggression a crime in Irish law.

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I commend the Minister of State on managing to get this complex and complicated legislation onto the floor of the Dáil. He will recall that in opposition between the years 2016 and 2020, on numerous occasions, Fianna Fáil put forward proposals seeking reform of the legislation governing gambling. Regrettably, we did so without success, notwithstanding the fact we brought legislation before the House in 2018. The Minister of State, the Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport a…

I wish to raise the associated issue of what I will refer to as the recruitment crisis in An Garda Síochána. At present, we have approximately 14,300 attested members of An Garda Síochána. In my opinion, that is not enough and we need closer to 16,000. The reason I say that is not simply because of the ever-increasing population in this country, but also because of the ever-increasing number of crimes that are being created as a result of laws being made by this House. Sometimes, Members of the Oireachtas do not re…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. As regards the statistics he provided, he said that 369 recruits were attested this year. I am conscious that the Minister of State is not at the Department of Justice. My understanding is that many of the gardaí who were attested this year were recruited last year. There can be little doubt that we need to get the numbers up in An Garda Síochána. The Minister of State made the point that approximately 11,000 people expressed interest and he stated that they should get t…

I thought I had seven minutes.

Okay. Perhaps Deputy Flaherty wishes to continue.

I thank Deputy Flaherty. It is no problem.

It is very beneficial that the Oireachtas is giving considerable time to this debate. It is an important piece of legislation. The Minister and Department have spent considerable time in preparing it; similarly, this House should give it detailed consideration. Much legislation goes through this House that most of us are confident will not be subjected to much judicial scrutiny. However, anyone who has spoken on this Bill will know the strong likelihood that in the not too distant future judges in the superior cour…

This time last year, the Garda Commissioner published his strategy on the Garda Reserve. It was a long-awaited strategy and it arose as a result of a recommendation in the report of the commission on the future of policing into the Garda Reserve. Can the Minister of State give an update to the House as to what is happening in respect of the Garda Reserve? Many Members in this House believe that it is a valuable resource, but it is not being used enough and it could play a significant role in policing our community.

I think we all agree that the Garda Reserve is a very valuable resource and we should be using it more. One of the concerns that I have, as do many other Members of the House, is that the numbers of the reserve are supposed to be in the region of 450. Yet, this time last year, we had only 200 members working within the reserve. The Minister of State identified correctly the first priority in order to maximise the use of the reserve, which is recruitment. We have a problem recruiting persons to An Garda Síochána. Th…

If the difficulty in recruitment is overcome, the next issue is to determine what strategic role the Garda Reserve should have. The statutory power to decide what role it should play is provided to the Commissioner, who can decide that in consultation with the Policing Authority. We need to see the Garda Reserve taking on broader functions and roles. There is sometimes tension between An Garda Síochána and the Garda Reserve. There is nothing unusual about that. It happens throughout the world wherever there is a re…

I commend the Minister on bringing this important and interesting legislation before the House. It contains a variety of measures that will be particularly helpful to those unfortunate enough to find themselves victims of crime. If we look at Part 2 of this Bill, I believe it introduces a measure I had sought previously that will impose a tougher sentence on those found guilty of conspiracy to murder. In March 2019, I introduced legislation here entitled the Criminal Justice (Conspiracy to Murder) Bill 2019. This s…

The budget last week was a very good one, from the Minister's Department's point of view. I commend the Minister and the Government on increasing funding for the Department. As has been mentioned previously by both Deputies Richmond and Griffin, one of the most positive aspects of that was the increase in capital funding by €35 million, bringing the total capital fund up to €176 million. Noting what the Minister stated in his previous answer, what does he regard as a priority when it comes to investment in capital …

I thank the Minister for his answer. I am pleased to hear that there is to be significant investment in capital projects for the Naval Service. As the Minister is aware and as commentary has indicated, it has always been viewed a bit as the Cinderella of the Defence Forces. I like the fact that the Minister may be coming as the Prince Charming to give more money to the Naval Service. As other Deputies, including Deputy Brady, mentioned, we cannot ignore what happened with the Nord Stream pipelines in the recent pas…

The Minister is echoing the point, in many respects, that was made by the Commission on the Defence Forces in its recent report. It noted that the Naval Service currently does not have the capabilities required to closely monitor activity below the waves. Obviously, that report came out before what appears to have been a malicious attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. We need to be vigilant and prepared because attacks on cables coming across the Atlantic would have a significant impact not only on the defence of th…

It is now nearly 20 years since the legislation that established the Personal Injuries Assessment Board was enacted by the Houses of the Oireachtas. If we look back to 2002 and 2003, we can see there were three reasons the Houses of the Oireachtas decided we wanted to establish a new statutory body to assess personal injuries. At that time, there was a great desire to have insurance reform. There was very significant concern about the high cost of premiums, particularly in respect of road traffic insurance. The Gov…

A conviction for a serious criminal offence is a very public event. If a person is convicted of murder, manslaughter or rape, they will be tried in public and the conviction will be announced in public. However, the public is dependent of a member of the press being in court in order to become aware of it. Taking into account Article 10 of the general data protection regulation, GDPR, has consideration been given to establishing a register of those convicted of serious crimes of violence?

I do not suggest a register of persons convicted of minor or summary offences, or for other than violent criminal offences. What I suggest arises from the fact that I, like the Minister, recently met Jason Poole, whose sister Jennifer was brutally murdered a year ago by a man who had a conviction for stabbing another partner of his. The point Jason Poole made to me and many others was that, had she been aware of his violent past, she would not have commenced or continued a relationship with him. We need to look at …