Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all my colleagues who contributed to the debate. I thank also the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Paul Keogh, and the Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Perry. I am frustrated that the Bill will not proceed and will be opposed, while recognising there are technical deficiencies in it. We do not have the army of draftsmen available to the Government to recognise these deficiencies. That is the purpose of Committee Stage. Friday sittings were designed for the introduction of Bills which, if accepted, would proceed to Committee Stage.

I accept there is legislation in this area. Of what use was section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, as amended by section 185 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, in the cases of Garda Robbie McCallion and Garda Garry McLoughlin in 2009 and 2010? I accept it was a manslaughter charge but why did the judge have to tell a jury not to be carried away by the fact that he was a garda? Why did the defence counsel criticise a manslaughter charge? The defence counsel in the Garda Robbie McCallion case criticised the fact that a manslaughter charge had been brought and he questioned the manslaughter charge as the victim was a member of the Garda Síochána. Section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act was of no use to their families.

Deputy Moloney spoke about Arthur's Day. I never thought at the beginning of the debate we would have a discussion about the Guinness family and Arthur's Day. It could be Arthur's Day or Hallowe'en. Deputy Catherine Murphy made a point about Hallowe'en. It is amazing that this Irish Celtic festival can be celebrated happily in other jurisdictions, such as the US, yet here for the next three weeks the emergency personnel will be subjected to God knows what. The same happens during the celebrations for St. Patrick's Day.

I saw Deputy Moloney in Croke Park two weeks ago, he left it happier than I did. There was no messing and no hassle there as 82,000 people came on to Jones's Road after the game. I was in town on Arthur's night and it was not a good place to be. It is the same every night, at Hallowe'en, St. Patrick's night, 21st birthday parties and 50th birthday parties. Tomorrow night it will be the same in town, yet we are saying to those who are sent out to protect us that we will get the Law Reform Commission to look at the issue, we will look at it and all will be well. The next time something happens we will all express our sympathy. As the courts have been handcuffed by the legislation in recent times and will not use it, we will give out about it again. In fairness to the Minister he has set up the working group and, with the Law Reform Commission, as instructed by Paul Gallagher, it is doing good work. Let us treat the matter urgently.

In April 2013 and December 2013, four years will have elapsed since those cases in Donegal and we are no further on. I am disappointed but not surprised at this. The Minister is not renowned for bipartisanship. Nevertheless, I plead with him to put some pep into the issue with a view to dealing with it because the legislation is not working.

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