That happens on Committee Stage.

There is no ceremony.

It is welcome that a Bill of this kind has come before the House. I recognise the uncontrolled joy of some of the Green Party members of this House and the other House, that they have had the patience to implement a central plank of their party's policy. I admire their tenacity in doing that. I will say a few things, if I may, about some of the language that is being used about Ireland and Ireland's role in the whole question of environmental sustainability. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, and his colleagues have spoken…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for facilitating this Commencement debate and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, for attending. The building belonging to the Technological University, TU, of Dublin on the Lower Rathmines Road has been vacated because of the university's relocation to the Grangegorman campus. Space is now available to the Department of Education in the substantial buildings and prefabs on the former TU Dublin site. A proposal to temporarily accommodate the Harcourt Terrace Educate Together school with…

I am grateful to the Minister of State for explaining the present situation. I am not suggesting that anything permanent be done in the short term. What is not generally known among the citizens of Dublin is that in the old Rathmines Town Hall there was an auditorium that could accommodate some 2,000 people, which was before fire safety. It was a big concert hall that was used as a cinema and as a public meeting space and the like. Due to constraints in the past 20 years the College of Commerce in Rathmines, or its…

Arising from the remarks which have just been made about the commission in relation to mother and baby homes, I would like to put a few things on the record as my personal opinion on the matter. Firstly, I have had the privilege of reading the letter sent in by the three commissioners in response to the Oireachtas committee's invitation to appear before it. I found that the letter was respectful. It was clear. It set out precisely why, on the basis of the legislative basis for commissions of investigation and the r…

I welcome the Minister to the House and welcome the fact that the Government did examine the points made in this House on the last occasion and realised that it was not simply asking for a six-month extension followed by a three-month extension; it was asking this House to agree that there should be a six-month extension followed by an open-ended series of three-month extensions, virtually forever. When that point was made in this House, the Minister began to see the strength of it. The health committee had made po…

No, that is not ratty. I just want the irony of what the Minister has come in here to complain about made very clear. We wanted to debate these issues in this House. We wanted more time to deal with it. We wanted to make the amendments the Minister wanted to make, but we were refused and told to push it through to one vote and that is it. That is what happened in this House and that is what happened eventually in Dáil Éireann. The Minister said that he can understand those people who believe in no restraints at all…

The Minister has not told us-----

I am not going to hog the time but one can go back to the maps that were shown of outbreaks of Covid. Outbreaks that were six months old were still appearing as clusters on those maps. There have been all sorts of problems and it is not good enough to say, "Here is my Bill; these are my regulations. Give me the powers. Do it my way or face the accusation of being reckless."

I welcome the action of the Government in, at least, facing up to the proposition that it was not going to make this an open-ended emergency in the way that it was-----

If Senator Ward wants to make an intervention during my speech, he is perfectly welcome to do so, but he will only lengthen the matter. I am about-----

Who, may I ask, set an hour for this matter? Who set the guillotine in the Dáil? Who did any of that? All of the Government Senators sheepishly support these guillotine measures. We could have had a vote on the ordering of the business for today and eroded more time. It is about time that the guillotine stopped falling on important measures that affect everybody's daily routine. Most importantly, it is about time that these Houses took back some real degree of scrutiny over laws that are having a huge effect on how…

I welcome the Minister to the House and I endorse the remarks made around the House on his personal achievements as Minister. He has not, as Senator Ward said, been there for years. He has been there for less than a year and during that year he has had a torrid time. Cowardly keyboard warriors have used anonymity in the most vile campaign of abuse against him and I totally dissociate myself from that. I compliment those, including our Oireachtas colleague, Deputy Berry, who are doing the jabbing most efficiently an…

Were they doing any harm?

I move amendment No. 4a: In page 11, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: “7. (1) The court of trial may permit any witness to be cross-examined in relation to evidence given by that witness in the course of any preliminary trial hearing where the court is satisfied that it would be in the interests of justice to do so. (2) The court of trial may permit evidence of matters dealt with at a preliminary trial hearing having to be tendered in rebuttal of any other evidence adduced in the course of the tria…

I understand the point that Senator Ward and the Minister of State are making. What I was worried about, and perhaps I did not express this adequately, is that section 6(14) states that a determination of a point at a preliminary trial hearing shall have binding effect. It is all very well to say that a statement is going to be admissible or inadmissible but if that were interpreted as meaning, for example, that a garda had not made a threat to obtain a statement, it should not be applied as somehow saying that the…

I move amendment No. 4b: In page 11, to delete lines 18 to 25 and substitute the following: “(2) An appeal referred to in this section shall only lie where it is contended by the prosecution that the relevant order made by the trial court erroneously excluded evidence which is— (a) reliable, (b) of significant probative value, and (c) such that when taken together with the relevant evidence to be adduced in the proceedings a jury, or in the case of an offence before a Special Criminal Court, that court might reason…

This is a technical amendment. I ask the Minister of State to consider it. The appeal provision in section 7(2) states an appeal referred to in this section shall lie only where the relevant order concerned made by the trial court erroneously excluded evidence which is reliable and such that when taken together with the other relevant evidence would be of significant probative value in the minds of a reasonable jury. The language there says that the appeal only lies where the "erroneously excluded evidence" is of t…

If I may say so, Senator Ward is too easily persuaded by the Minister of State. An appeal, referred to in this section, shall lie only in certain circumstances. It seems to me that what is really intended is that it shall succeed only if it is established that it is erroneous that it excluded evidence that was reliable, had significant probative value, and when taken with the other evidence could have affected the outcome of the trial. With the greatest respect to the Parliamentary Counsel involved, they are saying…