An bhfuil an Seanadóir chun an leasú a bhrú?

Cathain a mbeartaítear Céim na Tuarascála a thógáil?

Cathain a mbeartaítear suí arís?

What I want to say about this Bill is that I do not agree with the substance of it at all, that it is a fundamental mistake, that it is going in the wrong direction and that it will eventually, over time, reduce the amount of residential accommodation available for tenants in this country. I do not agree with the new concept of tenancies of indefinite duration. What we are effectively doing is saying that landlords cannot, in any circumstance, recover possession of a property except on one of the limited grounds wh…

I understand I am now going to breach my undertaking not to contribute any further to the debate but I want to make a focal scoir. I fully understand there is a housing shortage at the moment. I fully understand that people are being gouged for rent. I understand all of that. However, the amendment the Minister of State is proposing to section 5, which I realise I am being slightly disorderly in referring to, is a permanent change to our law. It is not something which will disappear when supply increases, or whatev…

Senator Fiona O'Loughlin has reminded us of the number of days that we are dealing with and the Cathaoirleach has also done so, but today an important opinion has been mentioned in the European Court of Justice process in Luxembourg, which is the advice of the advocate general on the issues raised in the Graham Dwyer prosecution and appeal. I regard what Europe has done in this area as inexcusable. In the pursuit of privacy the EU has seriously damaged the capacity of member states to investigate serious crime.

The court's suggestion that the retention of data should be reserved to national security is not practicable. We have instances of children being abducted and there is an immediate requirement to find out where the abductor's phone is at any given time. That has nothing to do with national security, it has to do with plain humanity. The idea that somehow the privacy or dignity of an individual is improved by saying that the data retention period should be two years rather than six years is laughable. Prior to any o…

Hear, hear.

I hope I am not being disorderly in pointing out-----

-----because I know it is a point close to your heart, a Chathaoirligh, that if we had looked at a certain directive coming from Europe, we might not be in the current difficulty in respect of the Graham Dwyer case.

I warmly welcome the Taoiseach and thank him for coming to the House. I welcome the remarks he made about Seanad reform, starting with a potential role in the scrutiny of European directives. This morning, we had a very clear indication from a court in Brussels, in the context of the opinion of the judge advocate on the Graham Dwyer case, of the implications European directives can have for Ireland. I would dare to suggest that if that directive had been carefully examined in a House of the Oireachtas, the suggesti…

It is not agreed. I was unfortunately not able to participate in the Second Stage debate on the Bill. I would have liked to have said a few words about its general principle. I will take this opportunity on the section to make a few remarks about the Bill. First, in light of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Wayne Ellis v . the Minister for Justice and Equality, I believe the present Government and the present Attorney General have no option but to introduce legislation along these lines. Therefore, I make no cr…

There is nothing that Senator Ward said with which I disagree at all. I know, from having been where he is now and from having served as an Opposition Deputy, a Minister and Attorney General, that there is always a clamour for minimum sentences. It is said that if you hit a Garda, you must go to jail for a year, for example. Minimum sentences go down well with some parts of the media. At the time we were trying to address this matter, we were trying to deal with gangland crime. That was what we were worried about. …

I ask Senators to recall that section 40(a), of the legislation that was passed in 2007, states: The purpose of subsections (10) and (11) is to provide that in view of the harm caused to society by the unlawful possession and use of firearms, a court, in imposing sentence on a person (other than a person under the age of 18 years) for an offence under this section, shall specify as the minimum term of imprisonment to be served by the person a term of not less than 5 years, unless the court determines that by reason…

A couple of things occur to me. First, we face a housing emergency and need to have dynamic and early response reactions to the housing crisis that is happening at the moment. Therefore, I commend the Minister on his hands-on approach. He is confounding some of his critics by the dynamism of his approach and his willingness to address the issues quickly. I must commiserate with the Minister that he is in charge of what is possibly one of the worst Departments. I am sorry if any of his officials here take offence at…

This morning, the draft greater Dublin area transport strategy was published for public consideration, and I have to express a sense of shame that such a document could have been produced. It is vapid and commits us to nothing but the delivery of MetroLink at some point in the ten years following 2031 and of the BusConnects programme. Apart from those two pledges, there is a virtual standstill on Luas developments of any kind, with all of them postponed, under consideration or whatever it is, while the other projec…

I can tell the Senator that he will be waiting too.

I will be worse than retired.

I agree with was said by Senator Buttimer with regard to Taiwan. I support him in that regard. There is a motion on the Order Paper, in my name and that of other Senators, in regard to Richard O'Halloran who is entering another year of captivity in China. I want to emphasise that. Today, I want to raise an issue of volunteerism and, in particular, to ask the Deputy Leader to seek the presence in this House of the Minister for Justice, when available, to discuss the issue of the Garda Reserve. The Garda Reserve is w…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I wish to underline the independent nature of the members of the Independent group to say that there is no unanimity among them, as is obvious already. I fully accept that we are in an emergency and that emergency measures have to be taken. I am one of these people who rejects completely the suggestion of a two-tier society. In my view, the responsible thing to do is to become vaccinated. Maybe there are some people who, for some reason, fear a vaccination or have some hesitatio…