Alan Kelly

I attended a public meeting on Monday night in Ballymackey outside Nenagh organised by a biogas concern group. I also met groups here a week earlier. Despite the issue of the location of the plan possibly being unsuitable, which road networks alone would dictate, we are committed as a country to achieving certain renewable goals in this area by 2030. It is proposed that there would be over 200 of …

We need to be very careful with this Bill. The Minister needs to get this right because there are legitimate concerns about it. The purpose of the Bill is to give effect to the EU directive 2017/541 on combating terrorism, which is to a large extent directed at the foreign terrorist fighter phenomenon. The Bill includes offences of travelling to commit a terrorist offence, facilitating travel to c…

Yes, it is.

Please be assured that I have been here a long time and I have seen what is brought up in relation to Bills. I was made aware of this Garda operation some time ago. It was months ago, long before this young man took his own life. Members will be aware that journalist John Lee wrote about it in the Mail on Sunday. So much has happened in this case that does not add up. This creates a nervousness fo…

Under section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Garda Commissioner must inform the Minister for justice about any major issues. On 1 June, Evan Fitzgerald tragically and very publicly took his own life after getting bail on being charged after an undercover Garda operation. Why did the Garda Commissioner not brief the Minister for justice on the details of this case and the facts that there w…

After the confusion of last week, I thank the Minister for coming in himself to deal with this issue. There are a range of issues relating to resources for An Garda Síochána that I discussed with the GRA and the AGSI yesterday. Today, I specifically ask about the resource the public knows as our Garda stations. In particular, is the Minister aware of the report done by the Office of Public Works, …

It is very difficult for there to be claims when there is no awareness. How could there be claims if people were not aware that these buildings had high levels of asbestos? How could there be claims? How did they even know? I repeat that the head of the State Claims Agency said that unless remedial work was undertaken, the State Claims Agency would be unable to defend future claims. That leads me…

That is very condescending.

How could the Department of justice confirm in writing to a member of the media that the issue in relation to Evan Fitzgerald's tragic case was referred to Fiosrú on 10 May and the Minister could not comment because of that, yet at the justice committee yesterday the Commissioner said he referred it on 18 to 19 May? How could the Department of justice and the Minister say it was referred more than…

I am referring to this poor, tragic, vulnerable individual who passed away. How is it that reports from The Irish Times and other media-----

-----stated that when Judge Zaidan-----

-----asked what the providence of the guns was, the Garda said, "investigations are ongoing" into who sold the guns?

Investigations are ongoing and we now know the guns were actually given to him by An Garda Síochána. How could An Garda Síochána say in court-----

-----it did not know where the guns came from if we now know they came from An Garda Síochána itself?

Agreed.

The week before-----

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach.

I will put it to the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. In fairness to the Minister of State, he has been honest and direct. It is now 12.09 a.m. and I have spent five or six hours at committee meetings and then waited five or six hours to do this now.

Wait a second though; the floor is mine but the Minister of State is saying that I withdrew this matter. I did not. It is on the system, as we can see with our own eyes. Obviously, I would expect the Minister of State to have a briefing. In actual fact, I believe the Minister or the Minister of State responding should be from the relevant Department. Is there any point in me doing this now? Where …

When will that be? The next round will be at 9 a.m. It is now 12.10 a.m. It is after midnight.

I want to know what happened here.

To be fair to the Minister of State, he can only sit and listen to me. He is not even from the right Department. I will be sharing information. He will not be able to respond on the fly. It is detailed information. He will not be able to respond because he has no briefing and is not from the relevant Department, and it is now ten minutes past midnight. I was told by the Ceann Comhairle this mornin…

At what time will I be informed in the morning? Will it be at 8.55 a.m.? This is farcical.

I am not being difficult, but for this to happen at this hour of the night or morning - and I am not blaming the Minister of State - is farcical. It is an absolute farce to be waiting for all these hours and then be left in this situation. I do not see the point in proceeding.

I do not know.