I will finish on this point. In October 2020, it was confirmed by the Minister for Health that none of those resources have been rolled out. The State said that survivors must join the back of the queue after Covid so why would survivors trust the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when they have not even been afforded counselling for which they asked back in December 2018?

Will the Minister comment on the announcement and findings by the Data Protection Commission regarding the application of GDPR to the archive? The commission observed that, apart from a database which is being sent to the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, the records will be sealed for the next three decades. The Data Protection Commission provided a number of observations on this. According to an article in The Irish Examiner , Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle stated that "the 2018 Data Protection Act, itself drafte…

I echo the point made by Senator Bacik on the relevance of the data protection commissioner's intervention on the Bill. When did the commissioner make those observations and did the Attorney General read those observations? If that happened, why would the Attorney General not recommend wording such as that in amendment No. 11 to make a correction to the Bill? It is directly related to the Bill. The House needs to know when the data protection commission made the observations, if they were made available to the Atto…

This week we will discuss the emergency legislation for the second lockdown. Today we have woken up to lockdown No. 2. Up to 150,000 people now have no jobs to go to. Others are returning to working from home in less than ideal conditions. While of course the lockdown is necessary and the ratio of spread of the virus is deeply concerning, our contact tracing system collapsed over the weekend under the volume of cases. This is simply not good enough. The WHO has repeatedly said that lockdowns are a mechanism to stop…

I will not need a minute as Senator Craughwell has covered all bases. I was also going to second his proposal. I take the opportunity to ask Members of the House that before we debate the Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020 this afternoon that they go outside to the front of this House and meet some of the survivors. They are standing outside and ask this House not to pass the Bill, not to put their documents away and not to prevent …

I ask Members to go outside and explain to the survivors - to their faces - why they are going to seal their documents away for 30 years.

Has Senator Seery Kearney spoken to the survivors?

On a point of order, we have spoken to them and they are happy-----

-----with a delay of 28 days if it deals with the substantial issues.

We have consulted the organisations, specifically because we initially thought like Senator Seery Kearney that an extension to the deadline would give to the survivors with one hand and take back with the other. We consulted them and they told us to do what we have to do to stop the Bill and they will live with a 28-day delay if it means they can deal with the substantial issues. We have spent the past two hours listening to people speak about the intricacies of this file. The survivors are telling us to do what we…

I also want to speak to the amendment to delete section 2 in its entirety. Senator Ó Donnghaile cannot be here because he is self-isolating, but he would like to speak on this Bill which is incredibly important to him. Having listened to the Minister, I welcome that he is taking on board some of the concerns that Members of this House have raised with him, but once again I point to the process. Senator McDowell is completely right. If the Minister is to introduce an amendment dealing with the commission consulting …

It is important that I put on record that the Sinn Féin Senators are deeply uncomfortable with section 6 being shoehorned into such a sensitive Bill. There are two points. First, it is bad practice and reflective of the chaotic nature of the current Government. We have seen this in the context of special advisers and vulture funds but particularly here where we are putting the issue of a judge not fulfilling their duties by a timeline into a Bill that is focused on survivors getting information on their life testim…

I welcome the Minister. First and foremost, all of us in this House should acknowledge that the speed and pace with which this legislation is being dealt is, as proven by the volume of emails we have received, unnecessarily re-traumatising the survivors of mother and baby homes. In fact, this entire Bill is unnecessary. The Commission of Investigation Act 2004 was never the appropriate legislation on which to base an inquiry into grave and systemic human rights abuse because of its provisions around confidentiality…

Yesterday, the Future of Media Commission was established. It is something that both the National Union of Journalists and I have sought for a very long time. Fully independent and sustainable media that hold those in powerful positions to account are vital to any functioning democracy and recently we have seen that important role played out in golfgate. I welcome the establishment of the commission as a first step but I have some concerns regarding some of its terms of reference and some glaring omissions. There i…

I have not even come in on this amendment.

I wish to make two points. If the Minister of State is saying that 28 days is an ample period of time, that is one thing. It is another thing, however, to accept that the Minister has the powers to reduce that period to 14 days. Most people would say that 14 days is a short period of time, especially given that it can take up to six weeks to get access to information, as my colleagues have pointed out. We are concerned that the combination of all of these points is putting in place a barrier to getting access to an…

I move amendment No. 29: In page 5, line 26, after “appeal.” to insert the following: “Any such directions have to be consistent with providing for fairness of procedures and in providing wide access to the review mechanism of the Forestry Appeals Committee.”.

Senator Higgins has laid out the key concerns and rationale behind amendments Nos. 34 and 35. Earlier, we pointed to the restrictions relating to the time and the 28-day period, as well as to the ability of the Minister of State to reduce the period to 14 days. We pointed to how it may take up to six weeks for people to get the information they require. Now, however, there is a barrier in their way. If they wish to submit appeals, they must have all the information to hand. As Senator Higgins pointed out, informati…

On the point the Minister of State made, I want to make sure she is correct. My understanding is that when a decision is made, only the headline information is made available to the person who has made an observation and such persons are then directed by the Department to make an access of information request for the further details. Is the Minister of State saying that is not the case? My understanding is from people who have made observations and then had to go on to appeal. They knew the Department has the infor…

The Senator is not speaking to an amendment. This is a point of order.