Perhaps the Minister could clarify a point. Section 17(1)(b) says that this type of monitoring may be authorised by a member of Garda personnel of a suitable rank or through the process under section 18. Is that "or" in the wrong place? To my mind, that means that, if a garda wants to get one of these orders, he or she only needs to meet the first criteria.

It says "or".

I move amendment No. 4: In page 16, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “(11) After the serving of 2 authorisations under this section the third and subsequent authorisations shall be granted by a judge of the Circuit Court.”.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 33, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: “(d) shall cause a public consultation and public information campaign to be carried out,”. This amendment relates to the provisions within the Act with regard to who has to be consulted in the legislation which has been put forward. This is to ensure that there is a public consultation on the amendments. We had a great deal of discussion on Committee Stage with regard to this provision and the Minister says that she has outlined a …

I have no fault to find with the Minister and I take her at her word when she says that there will be an awareness campaign but I also believe that it should be in legislation. It should be in the legislation that there is a requirement that the public will be consulted in this regard. I rapidly went through the Bill and I did not stop deliberately before section (d), or anything like that, but yes section (d) does say that there should be consultation and that it will be allowed on the Garda Síochána website. But,…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this EU directive on combating corruption. I welcome this proposal. It is very important and very timely given what has been going on with the RTÉ pay crisis over the past couple of weeks. We cannot underestimate the importance of public trust in the public broadcaster and now more than ever given the amount of disinformation the public is being bombarded with on a daily basis. It is vital that citizens have a place to go for factual and unbiased informati…

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to this motion on what is an extremely important law, the nature restoration law proposed by the European Commission. This is the most substantial nature legislation that has been put forward by the EU in decades and it comes as a result of the environmental crisis we have been facing and will continue to face for years to come. Because this legislation is so important, it is vital that the information presented today is correct, factual and in the best interests of all in…

I echo the calls from Deputy Connolly and other Members to have a discussion and debate about the ongoing Palestinian situation in the West Bank. It is vitally important for the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill to be progressed too. The Government should take that on board.

I do indeed. This is actually local to my area. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak to this motion and Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. More than anyone, I want to thank the A5 Enough is Enough group, which was established in November last year in response to the horrific and untimely deaths on the A5 of too many in their community. I welcome them to the Gallery. The A5 is an extremely dangerous road that runs through Tyrone and Derry. It is used by many of my constituents in Donegal because …

I know many young people across the country are anxious to get their hands on the much sought-after Taylor Swift tickets that will be released in the next few weeks. I hope that the extra measures taken by Ticketmaster are successful in stamping out ticket touts, and that tickets will go to actual fans who have waited a long time to see her live. The power of live music cannot be overstated, and it is something that I think is often overlooked. Studies have shown that people who regularly experience live music boos…

So the Taoiseach’s response is basically to appeal to the good nature of the people who are already racking these prices on people. That is a sad response. Surely the Government has to take some action at some point. The Taoiseach said getting a reputation for price gouging is bad for society and the economy as a whole. Of course it is but the Government can prevent it from happening. It can tell hoteliers that it will take action and stop them from doing this and implement it instead of just chatting nicely to the…

Sure.

I welcome recent moves by the Government to begin discussions around pharmacy services and fees. The fact remains that core dispensing fees have been frozen for the past 15 years and that average dispensing fees across all State schemes have increased by a significant amount in real terms. This is coupled with a large increase in the amount of dispensing happening in pharmacies across the State. In County Donegal, we have 62 pharmacies. They are part of the fabric of our rural communities. They provide far more tha…

Our group does not have a member on the housing committee so we do not get to see anything of this, but we are expected to trundle in here and vote on it and do the business on it. That is a problem in itself. The reason I have come in here to talk about this is that this process happens every year and I raise it every year at this time. Everybody is very careful not to blame officials and so on, but somebody is doing this. Somebody sets up the process as to how this system works. It is either the Minister of State…

On Friday last, 23 June, the Taoiseach's special adviser invited one of my constituents, who is involved in filing a new Standards in Public Office, SIPO, complaint about the undue influence of Uber and Deliveroo on public policy, to a meeting in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with two officials. My constituent was accompanied by the general secretary of the App Drivers and Couriers Union in the UK, Mr. James Farrar, who recently turned down a £100,000 hush-money payment as part of a settlement …

Maybe the Taoiseach will recommend students not work for Deliveroo in that case, because they are obviously being exploited. The fact they can only work a 20-hour week is what gives that company the right to exploit them. Maybe the Taoiseach will make that call. It would be helpful. There is an EU directive coming. That will be useful but it will take many years to come to fruition. It has to be negotiated at the Commission and so forth. Surely we can do something now that would make life better for those Deliveroo…

Recent correspondence I had with members of the Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland has thrown up the massive problems Letterkenny University Hospital and the Saolta group are having in the recruitment and retention of consultant endocrinologists in the hospital. The former Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, announced a second post in 2017. To date that has never been filled. The current resident will finish up in the coming weeks. From what I can gather, Saolta and the HSE have no plan yet for endocrinology cover …

It has been an interesting debate to sit and listen to. A number of questions have been raised about the Special Criminal Court and its continued operation, but today is different because we have the two reports from the review body. They have flavoured the discussion a bit more than in previous years in terms of what actually goes on here. I have heard a lot of Members speak about what we would do without the Special Criminal Court and about how the court is vitally important to protecting the State. That may be t…

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak tody on the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2023. I support this legislation and the introduction of a licensing system for the sale of tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products such as e-cigarettes. I welcome the proposed restrictions on sales of these products, including banning sales from mobile premises and vending machines, and the prohibition on the sale of e-cigarettes to those under the age of 18. I also support a ban on sales of t…

I am glad of the opportunity to speak on the Government’s rural development policy. This is an area I am particularly interested in coming from a rural constituency and knowing my constituency’s potential. Nobody can dispute that the natural beauty of the west coast, and particularly of Donegal, is unmatched. The area has so much to offer and so much untapped potential and I am glad the Government has finally begun to recognise this. I acknowledge the Minister was up there last week and spent a couple of days in th…