Gary Gannon

I know it has always been an offence to drive scramblers dangerously in a public environment. I also know that in a public place, there is absolutely no safe way to drive a scrambler. That is what the difference is. There is no safe way to drive a scrambler in an urban environment. I trust the Minister on the enactment of regulation that will bring through the provision. I would like a sense of th…

That is fair.

All of us on the justice committee know this is a wide-ranging Bill. It is a fair reflection of how the Government is currently approaching the justice system. The Minister is often talked about in media circles as a Minister in a hurry. This Bill demonstrates that it is all hurry and very little pace because buried in these 33 sections are, admittedly, glimpses of what Ireland's judicial system c…

I am stepping in for my colleagues, Deputies Liam Quaide and Pádraig Rice, who are both asking about the task force for Cork. I caution my colleagues and the other Deputies around the Chamber who are asking similar questions. We have the report from the Dublin task force, which was released in October 2024 - a full year after it was announced by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, to great fa…

The money.

Of course, the Social Democrats are going to support this Bill, but I first want to commend Deputy Mark Ward on having the diligence to bring forth such a comprehensive Bill. I also commend the heart he brings to this issue. We are supporting this Bill because quite clearly nitrous oxide misuse has become visible in too many communities because of the current free-for-all around access, particular…

The family is homeless.

Deputy Brophy should be ashamed of himself. The family is homeless.

Where is the response? Where is your press release?

If it was a deportation flight, you would be out. The family has been made homeless and nobody has talked to them. There has been nothing in this Chamber about it.

This week's Grok scandal tells us something important about artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is never neutral. It takes the values of the people who build it and the people who control it. What we saw this week was one of the most powerful AI tools aligned to a social media company in the hands of a creepy little slimeball who has shown again and again that he does not care about h…

It is great to have the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy in the Chamber again today. It follows on from the conversation that was initiated by my colleague, Deputy Hearne, earlier. The Ceann Comhairle was not in the Chair herself but there was quite a furore in the Chamber earlier. My colleague was speaking on behalf of a constituent of his, Amanda Uwase, who was in the Gallery at the time. Over C…

I will speak more broadly. I will not even refer to the fact that a woman in Clondalkin opened her door to be smeared with petrol and set on fire also. There have been 2,500 incidents of drug-related intimidation since 2001. Of these, over 150 were arson attacks linked to drug-related intimidation. Arson attacks connected to drug crime rose sharply, from just 13 in 2022 to about 50 last year. Desp…

I went back and read Deputy Hearne's contribution as the Minister of State was speaking. His contribution was targeted at the Department of justice and the Minister responsible. We do not doubt for a second the work of the Garda, given the supports available to it. It is not the Garda itself that leaves police stations understaffed or undermanned. That is the responsibility of those who allocate b…

At yesterday’s justice committee meeting the chief inspector of prisons, Mr. Mark Kelly, gave the most extraordinary testimony in relation to conditions in prisons in Ireland. He described them as an affront to dignity and later said what is happening in our prison system is almost tantamount to torture. I understand when we talk about improving prison conditions it is often not easy. Many people …

It is the lack of consistency from the Taoiseach that often bothers me most. He referenced the fact that the majority of applications by those seeking international protection are turned down, yet the measures announced today and yesterday in the media are specifically targeted at those who have succeeded. Family reunification, which is factored into the Geneva Convention and the UN refugee conven…

I am in the Dáil for Questions on Policy or Legislation. Will the Taoiseach answer the question?

Answer the question.

It is madness.

Before I begin, I wish the Ceann Comhairle and her team a happy Christmas and a wonderful 2026 and the same to the Minister and the staff across the Oireachtas, who do such a brilliant job. I was not a member of the justice committee during the pre-legislative scrutiny that took place last year on the An Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill, but I have taken the time to examine it …

Hear, hear.

I will begin by thanking Deputy Whitmore not only for bringing forward the Bill, but also for the passion she brings to the area of animal welfare. I refer to the idea of a 12-month delay. We will work with the Government because of the importance of the issue, but we need to get beyond simply kicking the can down the road. Let us start the immediacies of working together. I am very proud to tal…

At its core this protocol is presented as a modernisation project, an updating of a 1959 convention in order that cross-border co-operation in criminal investigations can function in a world of encrypted phones, cloud storage, cybercrime and increasingly transnational networks. That is a legitimate challenge. Nobody denies that. However, to be clear, we have been given extraordinarily little brief…

Over the weekend, a child of four years of age and his 60-year-old great aunt were murdered in their own home through an arson attack in a manner most despicable and most heinous. It is something which absolutely requires the immediate attention of this House. I cannot understand how the justice Minister is not here talking about how we are going to crack these gangs and how we were are going to c…

Hear, hear.