I bring apologies from Deputy Carthy, who is unable to attend. I commend the Minister and Minister of State. This is the first time that I have spoken in their presence and I congratulate them on their appointments. Sinn Féin recognises the importance of this legislation and welcomes that the Government is seeking to address the existential crisis facing the forestry industry. The challenge the sector is facing is one that can now be measured in weeks. We in Sinn Féin have played our part in helping to bring this l…

This statutory instrument has been debated in this House many times and we are back here again. The reality is this Government is doing exactly the same as the last Government did. It is ignoring rural and coastal communities and it is destroying them. People often wonder what fishermen stand for and when ordinary workers from all over the country look at fishermen they see people who risk everything to go out and try to survive. This statutory instrument says that this Government is once again going to back the bi…

The school bus transport problems in rural Ireland are diabolical. Constituents based in various parts of the country have contacted me because they cannot go to work, as they must bring their children to school. Many other people have been keeping their children home from school because there is no school bus available. There was a lack of organisation to deal with the problems caused by Covid. Initially, people could not get tickets. When they did get tickets, there was no space for them on the bus. They were the…

I thank the Minister of State and compliment him because it is the first time we have had him before the House as a new junior Minister in the Department of Justice and Equality. I wish him all the very best in that post. This legislation emanates from a 2018 European Parliament directive, which I understand we are a little late in bringing into vogue in Ireland. However, better late than never. Many people around the country have, unfortunately, borne the brunt of this issue. The manner in which the banks handle s…

I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 198, the Bills which lapsed on the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil, and are set out in the Schedule to this motion, shall be restored to the Order Paper at the stage specified in the Schedule below.

I submitted a similar Topical Issue matter on anti-mask protestors this morning but it was not selected. The truth is that these people are not protestors but agitators. They are Ireland's version of the National Front. What took place on the streets of Dublin last Saturday and on previous occasions is very disturbing. I know Izzy Kamikaze very well. She lives near to me. She is a tremendous, brave person and a wonderful human being who stands up for others. For her to be attacked in that manner is absolutely disgr…

Will the Minister for Justice tell us when funding will be made available to the Garda Síochána to set up the regional cybercrime units that have been planned since 2016? Will she make a statement on the matter and bring clarity to this issue?

The issue here is that the gardaí and the Commissioner have made it clear they need these units now. There has been criticism for many years through the Courts Service and indeed many judges have criticised the huge delays and shortage of resources and staff in regard to this. This is really at the core of this. The main issue at stake here is child sex abuse imagery and how that can be tackled, which is a growing problem not just in Ireland, but across the world. It is something most people hope that we would be u…

We are on the same page. However, I do not understand, and what the public does not understand when it looks on, is that when An Garda Síochána or any other body needs money for something vital and applies for it, that can take years to be processed. The Minister said, of course, that all kinds of systems must be gone through and there must be due diligence. We know that. It would be useful, however, if the Minister could outline the timescale around when An Garda Síochána applies to the Department for funding for …

In my hand I have the briefing note for the pre-legislative scrutiny for the general scheme of the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which was passed just before the recess. That makes no mention of Chapter 3 relating to the admissibility of business documents in civil cases. Was it the Minister's decision to omit that and to subsequently mislead the House and the Deputies here?

It is not the norm for this to happen; it is totally unusual for legislation to go through without pre-legislative scrutiny. It is not normal and should not be normal. The Minister made the point that nobody attempted to deceive anyone or to sneak anything in. I do not understand how she can say no attempt was made when that is exactly what was done. We were asked to waive pre-legislative scrutiny on the basis of the briefing note we received. That briefing note did not mention Part 3, Chapter 3, as the Minister ha…

The Minister was here when the debate took place. No speaker from the Government or the Opposition spoke in favour of Chapter 3. Everybody said it should be deferred. Everybody in the legal profession to whom I spoke said there was no urgency with this particular issue. Despite this, it was included in the Bill. I want to know who decided to do that because, quite frankly, somebody in the Department of Justice and Equality, under the Minister's watch, had to have decided to do it and to slip it in without her notic…

Has the Minister for Justice and Equality contacted the Garda Commissioner about the burning out of a car that was held as evidence by An Garda Síochána as part of an investigation into the abduction of a person in order to ascertain why this occurred? Will she make a statement on the matter? This is a serious incident. For many years, Garda evidence used to go missing. I had hoped, however, that the Garda reforms we have had recently would have ensured that this would not happen any more. This happened in the past…

For many years we came across situations in which video evidence was "lost" or evidence was destroyed or went missing. Down the years we have had whistleblowers come forward with various such examples. A lot of reform and work was done, in fairness, to try to move things forward and move that culture to one side to ensure that this stopped happening. I fully appreciate and understand that this is a live case before the courts and that it would not be appropriate to go into the detail of it. The incident has occurre…

I wrote to the Garda on this and asked if there were any other incidents where evidence of this nature went missing or vehicles were burned while in Garda pounds or under Garda custody. I did not receive any reply, which was disappointing. The thing that struck me about it was that it is not something that happens. If a file was shredded, it is likely there is at times a process where files are shredded and the wrong file could get mixed up and be accidentally shredded. However, cars or vehicles are not being burne…

I am glad to speak on this issue because across the country, thousands of people are doing their best to try to protect society and everybody around them. In general, people have bought into this because of the danger they have seen and the number of people in hospital and who have unfortunately lost their lives because of this Covid-19 virus. At the same time, however, they hear all these mixed messages coming from Government. One of the things we seem to be falling down on all the time, which is clearly the case …

Three or four weeks ago, I attended a meeting at the Bush Hotel with a group of vintners. There was a large turnout, with 25 or 30 publicans from all over Sligo and Leitrim in attendance as well as three out of the four Deputies, including me, who represent the Sligo-Leitrim constituency. The main message I got that day was that publicans want to get back behind the counter and to reopen their businesses in a responsible way. They pointed out that many of them have family members who are vulnerable to Covid and the…

Most publicans would be lucky to have that many customers.

I was going to make the same point. I understand these regulations are to be published. We need a commitment from the Minister that this will happen immediately. We are dealing with legislation that may be quite appropriate for most cases but there is a difficulty where the actual offences are not clearly stated. Everybody would have a difficulty in this regard and common sense should apply. The regulations should be published before we move past considering the Bill.

On that point, it seems that since we came to the Convention Centre, we do not get copies of ministerial speeches. It would be appropriate if a note was sent from the Office of the Ceann Comhairle or the Leas Ceann Comhairle to all Ministers suggesting that this should happen. As the Minister noted, the issue at stake is the very small minority of premises that have acted outside the restrictions, which they have flouted. They are very much in the minority. The vast majority of licensed premises have acted very res…