Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

They are down, yes. Incidentally, I was the only one officialdom picked on. Nobody else was picked on. I would appreciate the Chair's protection.

I acknowledge the presence of the Minister and his contribution to this area. I could easily ambush him by talking about the proposed new Garda station for my home town of Tallaght but I am aware he is working on that and that he will have good news for me in the coming weeks. In fairness to the previous speaker, there are issues which are of concern to all of us and in fairness to the Minister, he has listened to those concerns.

We are in receipt of many representations on this Bill. The civil liberties organisation has contacted us and the Minister will be aware of its concerns about aspects of the Bill including the crime prevention orders, the seven day Garda custody measure, the right to silence change, the sentencing issues and the conditions for granting bail. Reference was made to the fact that organisations have not had an opportunity to listen to the debate and examine the Bill but it is fair to say that groups are responding.

I visited my old school in Drimnagh Castle this morning where I had not been for over 40 years. It was an amazing experience to go into my former classroom which, as the youngsters told me, probably has not changed since the time I left school. I am always anxious to visit schools. My former school is not in my constituency but as the Minister might be aware, Drimnagh Castle has a great reputation and many young people from my constituency, especially Tallaght, are students and they were happy to see me, as one would expect. As I said, I am always anxious to visit schools, as the Acting Chairman is aware, and deal with the cynicism of young people. I am not responding to the previous speaker but the House will be interested to know that the Minister's name, function and the work being achieved registered among that third year class this morning.

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