Through the Chair, it is a nonsense comparison.

Well I do.

I did not say that.

I absolutely respect everybody's opinion in relation to this or any other issue. People are perfectly entitled to take a position on this or any other issue, to articulate that position and to exercise their mandate to debate in these Houses, as am I doing as both a constituency TD and a Minister of State at the Department of agriculture. It is wrong, however, to try to misrepresent what I have said and the factual position in relation to how highly regulated the activity of coursing is. There was not one iota of a…

I move: That Dáil Éireann resolves that the period of operation of sections 1 to 7 and 9 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 (No. 14 of 2021) be extended for a further period of six months, beginning on the 1st day of June, 2026 and ending on the 30th day of November, 2026. I am here to introduce a resolution to extend the sunset clause in the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021. Deputies will be aware that the Act was introduced in July 2021 and this allowed the hospitality sector to con…

I would like to be associated with those remarks.

I thank all of the speakers for their contributions and pledges of support for the motion. Hopefully, it will be the last occasion that we will be here renewing this on a twice-annual basis. As we indicated, it will be legislated for on a permanent basis. We listened to what the speakers had to say. Some of the issues raised were on topic and some of them were off topic. A lot of them had to do with the local authority realm as well. Obviously, Government does not run local authorities. It shows the importance of t…

I thank Senator Fitzpatrick for raising this important matter. The Government is acutely aware of the real harm caused by drug misuse, which continues to impact individuals, families and communities across the country. The scourge of drugs presents serious challenges, not only to our health systems but also for the criminal justice system. For these reasons the drug treatment court represents an important and progressive intervention. The drug treatment court is a supervised treatment, education and rehabilitation …

As I outlined, the evaluation is currently under consideration by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. This will be a key step in deciding its future. The evaluation will provide an indication of what is working well and where improvements can be made. However, it is essential to proceed with this based on strong evidence and ensuring that the necessary supports are in place and available with all relevant services. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, will carefully consider the evaluation's recomme…

In reply to Senator Clonan, who has been somewhat careful in his language, it has been implied here that the Irish authorities knew a lot more about the bomb in advance of its detonation on 15 August, and that members of An Garda Síochána may have had knowledge of the bomb until its passage. The position is that would be an unsubstantiated allegation. If it is true, the allegation is of the utmost seriousness and the Senator should refer any information he has to An Garda Síochána for full investigation, or to the …

I thank Senator Murphy for his amendments, which seek to substitute section 5(2)of the Bill and, in doing so, to provide that the chairman of the inquiry would, instead of specifying the questions that he wished to have asked of an officeholder or former officeholder, specify “the topics, areas of inquiry, or matters on which the Chairman requests that evidence be taken”. I note that the Senator has not put down a similar amendment to section 6, which deals with requests for assistance from former holders of minist…

I am replying to amendments Nos. 8 and 9 as they are grouped. I thank both Senators for their amendments and comments. As I understand it, the intent of the amendments to section 5(4) of the Bill is to seek to narrow the circumstances in which the head of the State body is required to refuse to accede to a request for assistance for reasons linked to the sovereignty or security of the State, or other essential interests of the State. We do not believe that the amendments achieve this, rather, they would seem to hav…

As we understand it, in the Senator's proposed amendment to section 5(5) and its equivalent in section 6(5), he is seeking to introduce a form of compulsion for former officeholders, be they past members of An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces, civil servants or former ministerial officeholders, to give evidence before the High Court. This would be subject to the person concerned having the right to demonstrate that answering the questions would give rise to a risk of prejudice to their legal rights or to the perf…

I thank Senator Murphy for this amendment. The Senator is seeking to insert a new section after section 5, providing for the taking of written witness statements from office holders and former office holders. The statements would be provided to the designated person who would, in turn, provide them to the chairman of the inquiry. If the chairman is satisfied with the contents, he may decide that he does not require the person concerned to give oral evidence. I note that no provision is made in respect of former min…

I have already touched on the difficulties with this amendment, No. 21, in my remarks on amendment No. 2. As it is linked to the change proposed by the Senator to section 5(2) which has not been accepted, we cannot accept this amendment. This also applies in the case of amendment No. 22. The Senator’s amendment to substitute section 9 would have the effect of fundamentally altering the bespoke legal mechanism that is being provided for in the Bill which, as I have said, is designed to enable the taking of oral evid…

The Senator is seeking to insert a new subsection in section 11 after subsection (4) dealing with the rights of core participants to the inquiry. The core participants are largely family members and have a formal status before the inquiry with rights to receive documents and make submissions to the chairman. There are 62 core participants, of whom 58 comprise families or groups of families, represented by a range of legal firms. The Bill makes provision for them to attend and hear at first hand the evidence given b…

The Senator is seeking to insert a new subsection after section 11(4) dealing with the right of the chairman and counsel to the inquiry to make submissions or representations to the nominated judge concerning the scope, relevance and permissible extent of questioning under sections 9 and 10. It appears to extend to the questions that might be put by the nominated judge, core participants or their legal representatives or the nominated judge, himself or herself. In any event, it is linked to the Senator’s amendment …

The amendment seeks to limit the grounds on which a designated person may refuse to answer a question asked by or on behalf of the chairman of the inquiry under section 10. The amendment is drafted on the basis that many of the Senator’s earlier amendments would have been accepted. As they have not been accepted, this amendment is not amenable to being accepted for that reason.

I thank the Deputy for his question. In line with the provisions of section 88 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924, peace commissioners are appointed, and may be removed from that appointment, by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and each newly-appointed peace commissioner is issued with a warrant of appointment. The Department informs An Garda Síochána of all newly-appointed peace commissioners in relevant areas and indeed the Garda has a role to play in vetting all applicants for the position of …

I thank the Deputy. I agree with him on this. Part of the work of reviewing the roll of peace commissioners is with a view to making it as accurate as possible. Obviously there is a legacy of records and retained data. Given the roll of peace commissioners goes back nearly to the foundation of the State it is quite a complex and lengthy undertaking but good progress has been made. Once that work has been completed, consideration will be given to making the roll of peace commissioners available online and accessible…