The Special Criminal Court consists of three people. A member of that court - it may not be a member of the trial court, but that depends on the new rules of the Special Criminal Court - will have ruled a statement admissible. That judge is then going to sit with two other colleagues who are going to consider the same evidence, which is a starting position of one down. It is like an away goal in a soccer match. The court is one down before the trial starts if one judge has been the judge ruling in the preliminary h…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 9, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 91 of Principal Act 11. Section 91 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) in subsection (1)(e) by the insertion of “or a confirmation of truth” after “statutory declaration”, (b) in subsection (1)(g) by the deletion of “has made a declaration in writing declaring that he or she”, and (c) by the substitution of the following for subsection (2): “(2) The criterion referred to in subsection (1)(g) shall not apply whe…

I agree with Senator Martin that the vast majority of people behave fairly and are genuine. The amendment has been drafted from the point of view of practitioners but all they are doing is signalling. The amendment is not drafted from the point of view of massive banks. It is merely saying that if we are going to remove this constraint, let us not have a situation where debtors will be advised not by conscientious personal insolvency practitioners but by people who will say to them that, by the way, they can get an…

I thank the Minister of State for his considered reply. I wish to reflect on the points he has made and, therefore, with the permission of the House, I will withdraw the amendment and consider whether to resubmit it on Report Stage.

I thank the Minister for her kind words. I want to express my happiness that the legislative process has addressed the difficulties that arose from the interpretation by the Court of Appeal of the Children Act 2001, in particular section 252. The Court of Appeal invited the Oireachtas to look at this issue if it was unhappy with the outcome of its decision. Everybody wanted to reverse to some extent the implications of that decision. Some people may have thought that the decision itself was a bombshell. It seems to…

I welcome the principle behind the Bill, but I want to sound a few warnings. Senator Conway has just spoken about the speeding up of trials. That is illusory at the moment on two fronts. Ireland has a very poor record on the timing between the detection of an offence and the trial relating to that offence. A cynic told me recently that Bernie Madoff would probably be on his second preliminary judicial review had he been arrested in Ireland. Mr. Madoff was convicted and in prison in the United States of America and,…

It is not agreed by me but I will not push it to a vote. We need plenty of time to consider this legislation.

It is interesting the People's Republic of China has decided to sanction UK Members of Parliament for criticising what has happened to the Uyghur people and has banned them from travelling to China. Those of us in this House who have been strong on that issue have not come to the attention of the people in Beijing yet but nobody should be intimidated by this kind of behaviour. I have not forgotten about Mr. Richard O'Halloran and I will ask the House to consider the motion on the Order Paper in the near future. We …

I would have no problem with that.

Cormac Ó Braonáin was a relative of my wife and a fine young man. To this day, I feel broken-hearted for his parents and grandmother. His loss was immense not only to his family but also to all of those who knew and admired him. It is fantastic to have in our society young people who are committed to political activity. The activism of young people in politics arose earlier today on the Order of Business. It is hugely important. I sometimes think back to the War of Independence and the circumstances that gave rise …

It has never been used in the context of this Bill but it most certainly was used, twice. Senator Higgins and her colleagues-----

I am just saying I was not talking about Senator Bacik. I was referring to-----

Or the Labour Party, or this Bill. I am putting it firmly on the record that the accusation is false. It is demonstrably false based on the record that existed. The then Government was dealing with an emerging and developing legal situation. We are running out of time.

I will finish this sentence. The Government was dealing with an emerging situation. As it concluded, the matter had to be dealt with at a constitutional level and could not be dealt with at a statutory level. The issue was, when would a referendum be held and would it be a single issue-only referendum or would it be on an occasion when the people were going to the polls. The view at the time was that it would be most unfortunate to have this as a single issue-only referendum and that explains what happened in 2004.

I have more to say on the next occasion.

I thank the Minister for coming in to the Chamber today. I believe strongly that the rights of tenants need to be carefully protected at this stage. I am talking about the legitimate rights of tenants. Obviously, I agree with the previous speaker about somebody who is not paying his or her rent. There are, by the way, some extraordinary, egregious cases of people who have run up €30,000 in arrears and are coldly and callously blocking any effort by landlords to get rid of them. I accept they are a minority and ther…

The definition of the emergency period is one of a period where the 5 km restriction is in place. That is, unfortunately, what we are doing. It probably makes no difference, because at the snail's pace at which things are happening it probably will stay in place. I am just saying that anybody who thinks the 5 km will be changed in the next few weeks should read this Bill and the 2020 Act carefully because we are handcuffing tenant protections to the maintenance of that limitation. That is a big mistake. Apart from …

I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, to delete lines 10 to 31, and in page 4, to delete lines 1 to 23 and substitute the following: “Amendment of Children Act 2001 1. (1) The Children Act 2001 is amended by the substitution of the following for section 252: “Anonymity of child in court proceedings 252. (1) Subject to this section, in relation to any proceedings for an offence against a child or where a child is a witness in any such proceedings— (a) no report which reveals the name, address or school of the child or …

Since the last occasion on which we discussed the Bill, which was Monday, something happened about which the Minister should be aware. I was contacted by a journalist who was going to do a piece on the legislation and wanted to discuss the matter with me. This was an experienced and level-headed journalist who had been looking at the Minister's amendments and could not understand them at all. The journalist asked whether I could explain what was and was not now permitted. That experience re-inforced my belief that …

I believe the Minister is now saying that the scenario I mentioned is incorrect. If I understand her, she is saying that if a 16-year-old child, for instance, is the only witness to the murder of a 12-year-old child, nothing can be published in the court report identifying the victim, insofar as the victim's identity would tend to identify the witness' identity. If that is the law towards which we are going, it is a profound mistake. There should be flexibility. It is wrong for the parents of a deceased child to be…