Alan Kelly

We should be spending hours discussing this instead of 26 minutes. I am not going to take up all the time because I have spoken on this at length in the committee. On behalf of the Labour Party, I am putting forward an amendment drafted by Lorcan Staines SC for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. It proposes a compromise to deal with this highly sensitive issue. Our justice committee had harrowing, ver…

I wish to briefly acknowledge the passing this morning of Liz Howard, a former president of the Camogie Association. She was a formidable - and I mean formidable - and passionate Tipperary woman. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. I want to raise an issue in relation to elderly care. A man I have known all my life, who has dementia and other issues, has ended up in a midlands hospital. He has be…

It probably does not happen often, but this is a matter that we, collectively, as a Legislature and a body politic, are glad to see happening. I welcome Valerie's family. They are very welcome. I commend Valerie's brother, David, to whom I listened on multiple media appearances over recent years and during pre-legislative scrutiny in committee. His testimony was compelling. His steadfast determina…

We have to acknowledge when legislation is necessary and we all agree that this legislation is necessary, and the Minister has brought it forward. We will tease it out. In the main, I support it. I will obviously be supporting it, but we will tease out a few things. The Minister and his Department are to be commended on bringing it forward in a pretty quick manner. I hope we will bring it through …

I move amendment No. 5: In page 8, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “(ab) contravenes section 43C(1);”. The Bill is drafted on the basis that what is not permitted remains prohibited. Checking a person's image against a database of images seems to remain prohibited. It seems the only way to emphasise this is to make it an offence. The Bill already criminalises falsifying, conce…

I will not press the amendment. I accept the Minister's response. This is something that may need to be narrowed down and looked at. Something that is inadvertent would, by and large, be acceptable, but something that is deliberate would not. This may be a matter that we can return to at a later stage. On the basis of the Minister’s reply, I will not press the amendment.

This is a rarity, but I thank the Minister. It is not very often that, in effect, a Minister accepts an amendment from the Opposition, particularly on a Bill that is quite technical. I acknowledge that. Even though this is technically not my amendment, it reflects the spirit of the amendment I tabled. I acknowledge the fact that it is the Labour Party's amendment and my amendment. I do accept what…

I wish to share time with Deputy Sheehan and Deputy Ahern.

First, I compliment Deputy Gogarty and his colleagues for bringing this forward. This is an extremely important topic. To a degree, we probably need to get to a political consensus on it. I believe that the Minister can travel this journey with us. He is probably committed to a certain amount of reform in this area. I read what he said last year and prior to that in relation to this. I hope his go…

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue and I had a meeting with vets over the past period of time with a view to progressing the Veterinary Practice (Amendment) Bill, which was actually brought in by former Fianna Fáil Deputy, Jackie Cahill, and my former constituency colleague. We will have a crisis in veterinary services across Ireland if we do not do something because veterinary practices are being bought up…

Your own party supports it.

I welcome this. As regards An Garda Síochána doing its policing duty, obviously, it will be very welcome. As regards the whole initiative of ANPR and number-plate recognition and the sharing of data, hopefully this will help, obviously, given the fact that we have a Border on this island. There is also the amount of traffic coming from Britain into Ireland and vice versa. It will particularly help…

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this motion. It is a really good motion. I want to say something to Sinn Féin. Its Deputies have left the Chamber. Last night, those in Sinn Féin, including Deputy Thomas Gould, engaged in an attack on our party. Deputy O'Reilly has done so again this morning in the context of the motion. Those in Sinn Féin did not support the measures that were brought for…

The Minister has had a bad oul week and a half. This is bad as well. He will not have to bring in the Army for this one but you never know.

He will have an army of lawyers coming in. I jokingly suggested to the Minister before that he may prove to be the Manchurian candidate for the legal profession because, I will be honest with him, I do not think there is a hope in hell of this Bill working in the manner in which it has been presented. It is deeply confusing at times. Even with the some of current amendments, you could read through…

No. You have to play the percentages.

Hear, hear.

I was very disappointed, as were the people of north Tipperary, that in the recent capital announcement under the national development plan of 105 schools, only one in the area got funding. St. Anne's School in Roscrea got funding for an extension, which is very welcome as it is a brilliant school. However, a range of schools, and four in particular that I will mention, received considerable corre…

I thank the Minister of State and do not doubt his sincerity. I will ask one question very quickly. Will he meet me, and dare I say it, Deputies Lowry and O'Meara along with the ETB about these four schools? Will he please ask the Department to do that? This is not about politics and I want the other two Deputies included. These four schools are in serious trouble. The ETB is very worried, annoyed…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — there are still fewer serving members of An Garda Síochána in 2026, compared to six years ago, with 14,187 available members at the end of January 2026, in contrast to 14,235 members in 2020; — accounting for population growth, this fall in numbers means that there are now 10 per cent fewer Gardaí per capita than there were five years ago; — the Progra…

Hear, hear.

In conclusion, it would have been respectful if the Minister from the Department of justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, was actually here.

He was not.

Can I have that time back please? In the remaining time, I want to deal with the legacy issues. You cannot move forward unless you deal with legacy issues, and there is a huge number of them, particularly in the period of the previous Commissioner. I urge this Government to read the article in the Irish Independent yesterday by Denis Whelan, former superintendent, in which he talked about a cultu…

Following the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Putin and Russia, I was proud of our country and the way we reacted. There has been a change of narrative since then and it is something we should all reflect on. Obviously, there is still a brutal war going on but on top of that, we need to be reflective, as a country and as a people, of both the huge contribution we have made to help Ukrainian people a…