I move amendment No. 8: In page 18, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “ “Common Travel Area” means the area consisting of the State and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of which the nationals of either jurisdiction generally have freedom to travel from one jurisdiction to the other and to reside there without any visa or residence permit;”.

I thank the Leader for arranging a debate on International Women's Day, even though the day itself will be next week. Due to the St. Patrick's Festival, we are considering it today. My mind goes back two years to 8 March 2024. That was the occasion chosen specially for two referendums to amend the Constitution. One of them was to introduce the concept of "durable relationship", in addition to marriage, as the basis for the family, and the other was to introduce a new provision in the Constitution in relation to car…

I agree.

See you in November.

I welcome the Minister of State. I will make one contribution, although I would love to say many things. Carrying on from where Senator O’Reilly left off, the numbers in the Reserve Defence Force have fallen to a pitiful amount. In my experience and lifetime, there were in excess of 20,000 people who could, if asked by the State, bear arms or turn out for the security of the State. They could use their military training and experience to support the State. It is extremely naive to think this country will never have…

I move amendment No. 1: “Amendment of section 38 of Principal Act 2. Section 38 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3): “(3A) Payments made to a licensing body pursuant to subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall be known for the purpose of this section and section 208 as ‘equitable remuneration’. The right to receive the same is a right which is shared between the owner of the sound recording and performers whose performances are incorporated in the s…

The point about all of this is that the actual allocation of equitable remuneration between the owner of the sound recording copyright and the artist performance copyright is something which needs to be solidly grounded in clearly understood principles. At this stage, it should be stated that there is very considerable dissatisfaction on the part of recording artists that they are not getting their fair share out of the equitable remuneration collected by licensing bodies for the use of sound recordings. In effect,…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 208 of Principal Act 2. Section 208 of the Principal Act is amended— (a) By the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1): “(1) A performer has the right to share equally with the copyright owner in a sound recording the equitable remuneration for which provision is made in section 38, subsections (1) and (2), after deduction of the justifiable and documented costs of collection.”, (b) in sub…

The context of the amendment is that section 2 of the Bill as proposed by the Minister sets out a series of steps to be taken in the event of a dispute as to equitable remuneration. It states that "equitable remuneration less reasonable collecting costs shall be shared equally as between a performer and an owner of the copyright in a sound recording." Instead of the very vague phrase "reasonable collection costs", the amendment refers to the "deduction of the justifiable and documented costs of collection". At the …

I will elaborate on what Senators Conway, Higgins and Black have said. I ask the Minister of State to explain to the House where the initiative to transfer the Controller of Intellectual Property's jurisdiction to the Circuit Court came from. Whose idea was it? Did the controller say he was inundated with these disputes and, therefore, was overwhelmed and could not do the work and it would be better if the Circuit Court, that august institution that has not enough to do between its licensing and family law cases, t…

I move amendment No. 3: In page 3, to delete lines 26 to 32, and in page 4, to delete lines 1 to 13.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 4, to delete lines 30 to 35.

I ask the Leader to arrange on some occasion a discussion in this House on what is happening to the chair of Bord Bia. Mr. Larry Murrin is a competent and devoted businessman who has done his best for his industry. He has the confidence of the board of Bord Bia. He is a man who has never taken a cent from the Irish taxpayer in expenses or salary for the position he holds. Mr. Murrin was called before these Houses' joint committee on agriculture and subjected to a barrage of half-thought-out criticism, mainly inspir…

I want to add my voice to the kind, well-chosen and generous words that the Leas-Chathaoirleach spoke about the late Máirín Quill. The Leas-Chathaoirleach outlined Máirín's history of work, her commitment to her community and her devotion to her city and to national politics. As the Leas-Chathaoirleach said, she was, along with myself and others, a founder member of the Progressive Democrats. What I want to say about Máirín and her late sister Ita is that you could not meet two nicer people, either inside or outsid…

I endorse what has been said just now and what was said earlier by my colleagues in the Independent Group. I do not want to recriminate, but I want to say this. Over the past 20 years, there has been an absolutely scandalous reduction in the capacity of the Irish Defence Forces. It has been supervised by a Department - I want those in the Department to hear this - that displays an unbelievable insouciance. When I was Tánaiste and Minister for justice, there was a Minister for Defence at the Cabinet table. That is n…

-----to properly equip the Defence Forces, to ensure the appropriate effective strength and to reinstate a voluntary Reserve that in times of national emergency could assist the Government in maintaining order in this country.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following: “(2) A party to a defamation action in the High Court may apply to the President of the High Court for an order permitting the trial of the action with a jury in any or all of the following circumstances: (a) that by reason of the exceptional nature of the case or the identity of one or more of the parties in the case, it is preferable that it should be tried with a jury, or (b) that the claim or counterclaim in the proceedings inc…

I am waiting on Senator Craughwell to appear.

This is an amendment to soften the absolute abolition of jury trial and to give to the President of the High Court an overriding jurisdiction where, by reason of the exceptional nature of the case or the identity of one or more of the parties in the case, it is it is preferable that it should be tried with a jury or that the claim or counterclaim in the proceedings includes other issues triable in the High Court with a jury and that the interests of justice would be served by the trial of the claim in defamation wi…

One of the points collateral to the point I made earlier, and I ask the Minister to bear it in mind, is that if the choirboy sues the bishop for sexual abuse, the choirboy is entitled to a jury. However, if a relative of the choirboy, or a newspaper, says the bishop sexually assaulted the choirboy, there is no jury and, effectively, the evidence in both cases would be the same. If we trust a jury to decide in the case of a sexual assault where the truth lies, I cannot see why we say, because the parties are slightl…