I ask the Minister not to be disingenuous by talking about wanting to get to the counselling notes issue. He has been asked by two Members to ask the Chief Whip to come in to amend the Order of Business to give more time. I have decided against every instinct in my body not to call a vote on this amendment, which I think it is crucially important. The reason I am not going to call a vote is because of the people in the Gallery and their right to hear this House discuss a matter of utmost importance that has come ab…

I move amendment No. 14: In page 15, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “Review and annual reporting on operation of Part IIIA 40D. (1) The Minister shall, in respect of each calendar year, carry out a review of the operation of this Part. (2) A review under subsection (1) shall include an assessment of the exercise of powers under sections 40A, 40B and 40C, including the frequency and circumstances of their use. (3) The Minister shall, as soon as practicable after the completion of a review under su…

It seems a long time ago that the justice committee considered the heads of this criminal and civil law Bill. A lot more heads have been introduced since. One of our criticisms of the heads of the Bill was that there were huge aspects of the Bill we were not able to spend any time on. We did not get to deal with the sex-for-rent provisions and a whole load of other areas at all. We could only deal with written submissions. We discussed this aspect of the Bill quite a lot, however. There was cross-party agreement. T…

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business under Standing Order 35(3) such that we would include in this week's Dáil schedule statements and questions on the EU Migration and Asylum Pact and the international protection system. A debate such as that would be useful, if only to fact-check the many misrepresentations the Taoiseach has made in this House, even today.

There is huge public concern about this issue. It is imperative that the Dáil have a debate.

The Bill the Minister of State has brought before the House in many ways represents everything that has been so wrong with the Government's approach to the fuel price crisis and to the broader cost-of-living crisis. Everything is too little, too late. It took far too long for the Government to listen and to accept and realise that ordinary workers, families, farmers, small businesses, coach drivers and hauliers had their backs to the wall and that people needed a bit of support and relief. The Government had to be …

Hear, hear.

We brought forward the legislation a few years ago.

There should be accountability.

Wise up. What sort of child are you?

The Government has been verging on the negligent in failing to plan in an orderly way for the winding down of the temporary protection directive. Since it announced that all measures relating to the directive will come to an end next year, there has been confusion heaped upon confusion. Will the Minister outline the preparations that have been made for the ending of the temporary protection directive?

I recall that the House was virtually unanimous in support of the emergency measures that were brought in at the outset of Russia's war against Ukraine. The temporary protection directive was an emergency measure, as the Minister quite rightly said. I do not think anybody envisaged that it would be in place for five years. As the Minister knows, I have been arguing very strongly that we need a roadmap, not only for policy areas and to be able to plan in an appropriate way in the interests of this State but also to …

I find some of those responses incredibly interesting. When Sinn Féin suggested that ending the temporary protection directive should include provision for a voluntary return scheme, members of the Government absolutely pilloried both my party and me personally for even suggesting that. It now appears that this is going to be part of the Minister's plan. Likewise, when it comes to the ARP and the various accommodation schemes, when Sinn Féin raised the impact that these were having on the private rental sector, for…

You have not announced them; you have leaked them.

Section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act includes provisions for information to be shared with victims of crime. It is ten years since the legislation was enacted. Does the Minister have plans to review the operation of this section to ensure that the provisions it contains are being applied on a consistent basis?

To be clear, there is no requirement whatsoever to wait for an EU legislative process to conclude before we change measures in domestic law, particularly in terms of enhancing support for the victims of crime. The justice committee met in recent days to discuss the victims of crime civil protection orders Bill that I am trying to progress through the House. We heard moving testimony from Sonya Stokes, who the Minister is aware of. Sonya was the victim of horrendous crimes committed by a man who had previously commi…

I might not have been clear. I specifically asked about victims being informed that their attackers have deceased subsequent to release. In relation to section 8, the difficulty is that many of the testimonies we hear are inconsistent. Many victims have told me that they are incredibly happy with their engagement with the Garda or the Prison Service. Others are unhappy because they do not believe section 8 has been applied to the standard they would have expected in terms of their being informed of developments. I …

Does the Minister intend to extend the provisions of section 14 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Act that requires character references to be given under oath, to criminal offences other than those included in the original legislation?

In many respects the Minister has made the first half of the argument. My point is whether you move to the second logical part of the argument and expand the provisions of this section to include other serious crimes. I am thinking particularly of homicide. It has been seen in the courts that the distinction between somebody just writing a letter saying a particular man or woman is a sound person or whatever and knowing that is something that needs to be done on affidavit or potentially in the witness box is an imp…

Clearly when I talk about homicide I am not talking about murder but I have spoken to some victims who were in court for the sentencing of perpetrators who were convicted of actions resulting in the killing of their loved one and the introduction to the sentencing stage of unverified testimony not given under oath or by way of an affidavit really traumatised the family even further. This is often the case where somebody has pleaded guilty to an action that has resulted in the death of somebody else, so there is no …