We will bring in body cameras and up-to-date technology-----

-----to help gardaí carry out their duties.

We will expand prison capacity, Deputy McNamara, and bring forward new measures to increase the penalties for knife crime and antisocial behaviour. We will give the Criminal Assets Bureau more powers to strip criminals of their assets more quickly. We will also work with our European partners to ensure a firm and fair migration system. This country is a welcoming one and knows the benefits of migration. However, Irish people want to know that the system is firm and fair and that the rules are working. As Taoiseach,…

Tonight as we hold our first Cabinet meeting, this Government will establish the Cabinet committee on children, education and disability. I am determined to put a focus on disability. It is about breaking down silos across Government and making change happen more quickly. We are determined to bring new coherence and faster progress on solving the issues that matter most to people with disabilities and I know that aim unites all three parties in government. I am also committed to building on the good work of the chi…

So will you.

You are out of time, Mary Lou.

I thank the Deputy for tabling the amendments. A number of the issues he raised are ones I genuinely view as extremely important. I will very shortly publish the final report of the independent external review on researchers, supports, career structures and other issues. I intend to do that this month. The Deputy will remember that we published phase 1 just before the budget and we will be publishing phase 2 in this month of March. I am very happy to commit on the floor of the Dáil to recommending to Government tha…

To be very clear, and again we teased through this on Committee Stage, which the transcripts will show, it is absolutely the intention that there will be researcher input into the work of the new agency. That is beyond question. There are structures within the legislation, including what would effectively operate as a subcommittee of the board, which will be overwhelmingly dominated by people who are actively involved in research. There is no doubt about that. However, the HSE board is not a board made up of doctor…

I certainly would not answer for the Deputy. As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle suggested, I want to return very briefly to the point Deputy Sherlock made in the last grouping which also brings us very much into this grouping. I want to be very clear that the advertisements in the booklet regarding appointments to the board of Research and Innovation Ireland gave the closing date as 3 p.m. on Monday, 23 October 2023. This outlined very clearly the competencies we were seeking for the new board. Very specifically, the las…

As professionals.

Absolutely. I am differentiating between the word “professionals” and “employees”, but I do not mean to interrupt.

As do I.

Yes.

On this issue, I very much agree with Deputy Sherlock and how he put it. That is the balance we are trying to get right. What is appropriate to belong within the legal remit of a research agency? What is appropriate to belong with independent autonomous higher education institutions? To be very clear on the European question, which I want to come back to again, we should not allow the record of Dáil Éireann to suggest that there is a uniform approach to the status of PhD researchers across the member states. There …

I appreciate that.

I have no doubt the Deputy believes what he is proposing is better than what is in the Bill. I will explain why I think what I am proposing is better. I hope he will accept my first point. This is the first time in the history of the State that we are placing arts and humanities research on a statutory footing. The Irish Research Council, which has done absolutely incredible work, does not exist in statute. There is no law and there has never been a vote in this House or in the Seanad to set it up. In effect, witho…

I thank the Deputies for their assistance. I should have thanked Bills Office staff for the huge amount of work they have done in preparing for tonight's session and for the turnaround times. I take the point Deputy Sherlock made about the ERC seriously. I am very happy to engage with eminent people such as Professor Luke O'Neill and others in the ERC, who serve Ireland well not just in Ireland but internationally. I am very happy to do that on foot of this conversation. I am also very happy to take up the other po…

I believe that the aim of what the Deputy wants to achieve is already captured by the legislation. The chief executive is already accountable. This agency will be under the remit of the Freedom of Information Act, parliamentary questions, and the Minister of the day being accountable to the House. That is already the case. I also believe that the current provisions adequately capture this. I again make the point, because it is important, that the whole reason we are doing this and establishing this agency, is to tr…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I commend the Bills Office and my officials in the Department who worked so hard on this legislation. I genuinely thank colleagues for the really constructive engagement we have had. I look forward to this legislation now going to the Seanad. This is a real opportunity to have one singular research funding agency in Ireland and to have that parity of esteem across disciplines. I very much take on board many of the constructive comments and the to-do list colleagues have set out he…

It has been mainly people outside the House.