I thank all the Senators for their contributions and support. It is unusual in this business of politics to go into any House and receive universal support for a piece of legislation. I thank all Senators for their support. As they know, I have made a couple of amendments and, therefore, the Bill must go back to the Dáil. That will happen on the week beginning 13 July. Hopefully, the legislation will pass all Stages of the Houses by 15 July. Obviously, it will then go the President to be signed. I commend David, Ve…

I thank Senators Harmon and Cosgrove for putting forward both of these amendments. The purpose of the amendments is to try to ensure that the person who is referred to in the judgment that is published is identifiable. If we look at how things operate at present, it can be quite instructive as to how we should approach this. Part of the reason I am introducing this legislation is because people can be convicted of serious indictable offences in the Circuit Criminal Court or the Central Criminal Court yet nobody is …

I thank Senator Ruane for putting down the amendment. Consideration has obviously been given to the extent to which the address of the offender, the convicted person, should be published. That is why it is contained within a separate subsection, namely the proposed section 40A(6). As the Senator can see, the court is to be given a discretionary power to omit the residential address. The factor to be taken into account in determining whether to include or omit the residential address is the interests of justice. On …

I thank Senator Tully for her amendment. Obviously this is new legislation. It is a departure from what was there previously. When you are introducing new and novel legislation you have to proceed, as I am sure the Senator can appreciate, with caution at the outset. The advantage of establishing this as a statutory provision, and it being a principle in our legal system that there is such a statute available, is that we can review it and look at it and see how it is developing after it is enacted and we see its ope…

I thank Senator Harmon for the amendment. Again, it is worthwhile to examine the situation currently because it is unquestionably the case that, at present, a person can be incorrectly identified as the person referred to in a judgment. There are very many reserved written judgments on the website www.courts.ie at present. We have judgments of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the High Court. There is the odd one from the Circuit Court. The reason this legislation is necessary is that where there is trial …

I thank the Senator for these three amendments. As she said, they seek to broaden the scope of the legislation to include a number of other offences that would trigger potential disclosure on the register of judgments. The other offences that she said should be included are assault where it is committed against an intimate partner, a breach of a protective order granted under the Domestic Violence Act and the recording, distributing or publishing of an intimate image without consent contrary to section 3 of the har…

I thank the Senator for this very useful amendment because it leads to an important discussion. It is clearly the case that, if somebody's name is not on the register, it does not therefore mean that there is no potential issue at all about a person with whom someone is in a relationship. Unfortunately, it is the case that most people who abuse women in Ireland after the enactment of this legislation will not be on the register because a lot it will happen for the first time. Obviously, it may be the case as well t…

I thank Senator Tully for the amendment. In many respects, the Senator's amendment is similar to the amendment that was put forward earlier by Senator Ruane, on which we had a decent debate. As Senator Tully will be aware, the legislation provides the court with the discretion to order the inclusion of a judgment on the register. When considering whether to make an order or not, the judge will weigh up all the factors of the particular case. This will necessarily include the circumstances of the convicted person an…

I thank Senators for the manner in which they have dealt with this legislation. I again commend Jason Poole on really being the catalyst and driver of this legislation so that we can get this law, Jennie's law, through the Houses of the Oireachtas. As I stated on the amendments that were discussed, it is a novel piece of legislation. I start from a premise that justice in Ireland is to be administered in public. People should have information available in respect of criminal convictions that happen in our courts. W…

These amendments concern the International Criminal Court Act 2006. They are minor and very technical amendments. Amendments Nos. 24 to 26, inclusive, ensure the definition of the crime of aggression for the purposes of co-operating with the International Criminal Court, ICC, shall not include any additional acts contained in a subsequent amendment to Article 8 of the ICC's Rome Statute in the absence of new primary legislation or a Government order made pursuant to the proposed section 64A of the 2006 Act. Similar…

I thank Senator Harmon for the amendments and at the outset I acknowledge her role in ensuring this provision is within this miscellaneous provisions Bill. The reason for that is because last year, Senator Harmon introduced legislation in this House seeking to outlaw sex for rent. At the time I agreed with it and said I would try to bring it forward, which is what I am doing in section 45. The real advantage of a miscellaneous provisions Bill is that you can get provisions enacted and onto the Statute Book very pro…

I thank the Senators for their proposed amendment. The amendment concerns Part 14 of the Bill which relates to outdoor seating areas for licensed premises. Colleagues will be aware that since 2020, Ministers for justice have come to the Houses of the Oireachtas every six months, looking for the extension of these measures that were introduced during Covid-19. It is sensible that we keep them on a permanent basis as it does improve the quality of life and enjoyment that people can have to be able to sit outside on t…

I also want to speak on Part 15 of the Bill. This is an important part of the legislation that we are putting through the House today on Committee Stage. This is the part that deals with the disregard of certain historical convictions and other determinations. I also welcome Karl Hayden to the Gallery and recognise the work done by Kieran Rose, Brian Sheehan and others over the years in respect of this scheme. Similarly, many Members of the Oireachtas have been pushing this for many years. Again, I decided that I w…

As amendment No. 33 is the only amendment to this important part of this legislation, I might respond to it. As Senator Harmon has said, the amendment concerns section 53(1)(d), which provides that where there is no immediate family member willing or able to apply for a disregard in respect of a relevant person who is deceased, another relative may make such an application provided there is no objection from an immediate family member. The proposed amendment suggests that we provide that in addition to a relative, …

I thank Deputy Ward for raising this issue. It is appropriate that he raises it during Pride week. Part of the reason we have Pride week is not just for the purpose of people being able openly to celebrate their sexuality, but also to recognise that historically people who were gay were suppressed and were not able to express their sexuality within society in the way that other people could do. It is therefore very appropriate that Deputy Ward has raised this issue. I should also inform the House that I have just c…

I thank the Deputy. It is worthwhile having this debate and discussion. My own view, as Minister for justice, is that An Garda Síochána, which is responsible for investigating the types of criminal offences to which the Deputy referred, is vigilant and aware of ensuring thorough investigations in respect of crimes that are motivated by hate. We see that in respect of people who are gay. We see it in respect of people because of their race. Once somebody assaults another person or commits a crime against that person…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: "Dáil Éireann resolves that the Civil Liability (Child Sexual Abuse Proceedings Against Unincorporated Bodies of Persons) Bill 2025 be deemed to be read a second time this day six months, to allow for the consideration of the legal and policy implications of the Bill's provisions to be undertaken.". I thank Deputy Bacik for introducing this Bill. Like her I welcome to the Public Gallery William Gorry, David Ryan and Deirdre Kenny…

I apologise, as I had to step out for a number of minutes to meet a group that I had a long-standing arrangement with. I thank Deputy Bacik again for putting forward this legislation. As I indicated earlier on, it is important legislation that aligns with Government policy but there are areas in respect of it that I need to give consideration to. I also want to speak in general about how we get justice. It is important from the point of view of survivors that we emphasise and recognise that justice in Ireland can o…

I am pleased to introduce the Bill to the Seanad this afternoon. This Bill upholds a fundamental principle that those convicted of the most serious crimes should not retain automatic legal authority over the children left behind. The Bill delivers on the programme for Government commitment to examine proposals to remove guardianship rights from those convicted of killing their partners or a parent of their child. As I said in the Dáil, the Bill is not about additional punishment for a crime, rather it is about the …

I thank Senators for their considered contributions. I thank all those Senators who welcomed the Bill, which I think was universally the case. I will take on board the suggestions that were advanced. Senator Gallagher welcomed the Bill. He, like everyone else, echoed the legitimate and genuine recognition that everyone in this House and the other House wants to give to the French family for the work they have done, particularly David French. I wish to start my comments by echoing that. Senator Keogan said that, lik…