During the debate on the confidence motion this morning, we were told by several Government speakers about the strong population growth throughout the country. The problem is that one cannot have population growth without providing services in parallel. That is what continuously happens here. There are almost a 250,000 people living in County Kildare. It is the fourth most populated county, and has been so in the past three census. When people come into my constituency office to discuss the matter of school places,…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 to increase workers protections under that Act by broadening the categories of workers included in that Act, further protecting workers who engage in industrial action, shielding workers under protected categories from unfair dismissals, and reforming the system of compensation afforded under that Act. This Bill seeks to make a number of reforms to the Unfair Dismissals Act in order to increase protections for …

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

This question relates to the illegal use of drones in areas where it is prohibited, for example, around airports and prisons. The State aviation safety plan 2017-20 identified the proliferation of drone use as "an emerging risk". I am seeking an update on what the action of the Government will be in relation to the recent difficulties with people acting illegally in these locations.

The timeline will be very important in terms of when measures can be implemented. A drone has to be registered with the IAA if it weighs more than 150 g or has a camera, and very few of them do not have a camera. This is an obligation on people. The first and most important thing is safety, but disruption is also a significant issue and there are demands for immediate measures in terms of best practice in other jurisdictions. What is the thinking on that? It is absolutely right that a policy approach is taken but t…

This was identified as an issue in the safety plan, going back to the period from 2017 to 2020, which was before the Minister of State's party came into government. What was done at that point to plan for this or to mitigate it? This appears that this has become critical because people have decided to defy the law. There may well have been some misunderstanding of the law but it could not be any clearer now. People are being brought in front of the courts. This was known to be a risk. What was done to plan for and …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating the inclusion of those of us who were late for the debate. It is far from ideal that the debate on the motion is being rushed, but we will support it. Last Friday, 24 February, was a grim milestone, marking one year since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I had the opportunity once again to show the support of the Social Democrats to the hundreds of mostly Ukrainian people who had gathered outside the General Post Office, GPO. Russia’s invasion and its ultimate goal of annexa…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and Deputy Cullinane. I, too, utterly condemn the shooting of the policeman in Omagh last night. It was truly shocking and unacceptable. Our thoughts are with him and his family and we hope for his recovery. We had all hoped that incidents like this were a thing of the past. Such incidents are a reminder that we cannot take peace for granted. At the end of next month, the eviction ban will expire unless a decision is taken to extend it. The first thing one does in a crisis is to not make…

I thank the Tánaiste for his good wishes on behalf of Deputy Shortall and myself. They are very much appreciated. When this eviction ban was put in place there was a recognition of an emergency and it was said at the time that it is one thing putting an eviction ban in place but there needs to be a plan if this eviction ban will end and it was time-limited. It does not feel like there is a plan of action for the end of this. In a crisis, the number one thing is not to make that crisis any worse, and I accept this i…

I wish to endorse some of what was said regarding the Irish Land Commission records. Indeed, Deputy Ó Snodaigh also made that point. This is a treasure trove. Apart from them being working documents - I appreciate that is what they are - I would have thought they should be digitised because that would protect the original documents. These documents are often used or could be used as census substitutes. The loss of the 19th century census records has left gaps. Those of us who are interested in genealogy and so on s…

Following on from what my colleague, Deputy Gannon, said yesterday, I will move to the subject of the new independent security examiner proposed in the Bill. It is very welcome to see the independent oversight mechanisms being brought into this sphere. We are all familiar with the experience of looking for important information and having the words, “national security”, sometimes waved about like a get-out-of-jail-free card in response. Of course there is a need for confidentiality when it comes to national securit…

Last year, the six largest western oil companies made more money than in any year in the history of that industry. A combined €204.24 billion in profits meant last year was a fantastic year for the shareholders of BP, Chevron, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies. The shareholders received €102.6 billion in dividends last year. In the midst of a war in Ukraine and an energy crisis across Europe, which has left families cold and in a panic about how they will pay bills, those profits are not only obscene; th…

We have just seen the announcement for the St. Patrick's Day visits. The Attorney General is normally part of the visit to Washington D.C. with the Taoiseach, which is a very important visit. In a breach with that protocol up to now, the list today shows that the Attorney General will be a solo dignitary to Argentina and Chile. There seems to be a deviation from the Attorney General being the legal adviser to the Government to taking a more political role. Why has this happened in this case? Why has there been a de…

I also express my thoughts and sympathies to the people of Türkiye and Syria, who have been so badly impacted by Monday's devastating earthquakes. The huge loss of life and utter destruction are truly horrific and heartbreaking. We all share that sentiment. I raise the issue of the Attorney General's report into the nursing home and disability payments scandal. It is not surprising that the Attorney General has provided such a staunch defence of the legal strategy that was devised and endorsed by his own office and…

I am well aware that this strategy has been in place for some years. What exactly will the Ministers for Health and Social Protection be looking at for the next three months? Is it the Attorney General's report? Is it the substance of the issue? Are they looking at identifying individuals who may have been impacted? Are they looking at the possibility of repayments? Exactly what is it? I wonder if the same positive legal obligation was considered when the repayment of junior bondholders was being considered because…

President Metsola is welcome to the joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas. As the Tánaiste said, the Eurobarometer poll earlier this year revealed that 71% of Irish citizens have a positive image of the EU, the highest rating among the member states. If anything, the fallout from Brexit has boosted those favourable views both here and across the EU. I acknowledge the staunch support of our EU partners for the Good Friday Agreement and the clear commitment that there will never be a return to a hard border o…

President Metsola is welcome to the joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas. As the Tánaiste said, the Eurobarometer poll earlier this year revealed that 71% of Irish citizens have a positive image of the EU, the highest rating among the member states. If anything, the fallout from Brexit has boosted those favourable views both here and across the EU. I acknowledge the staunch support of our EU partners for the Good Friday Agreement and the clear commitment that there will never be a return to a hard border o…

Picking up where I left off, section 43(2) of the Bill refers to Garda management being responsible for giving clear directions to gardaí in their use of cameras but mentions the use of discretion. There are many instances where discretion is needed. We should not be over-prescriptive in a lot of areas but this is not one of them. It is unfair not to be clear with the Garda in this regard. This goes back to my point about the absence of a central piece in this legislation. Section 11(1) provides that a person will …

The data protection risks are massive and the Garda's record on data protection is spotty. It has unresolved issues regarding the use of CCTV, automatic number plate recognition, ANPR, drones and body cameras. There are also Data Protection Commission, DPC, investigations outstanding. The Garda does not have adequate data protection systems in place for the data it currently possesses. This Bill would mean that the force would be required to process multiples of the data it currently collects. In addition, facial r…

It is difficult to focus on this issue because Kildare is within the Dublin metropolitan area, but these are areas that have had significant population changes. County Kildare doubled its population between 1971 and 1995 and it has since doubled its population again. The Minister will know from his constituency that the services do not match the growth in population. The number of gardaí is a case in point in this regard. This matters for the kind of policing we get. We get more reactive policing because there is s…