Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome much of this Bill, but like everything, we do not want anything to be too rushed. I welcome the immigration controls in the Bill, as we had the ridiculous situation of people’s passports and documentation finishing up down the toilet, according to Mr. Michael O’Leary. I do not doubt him for one minute that this was what was happening. We all knew it was happening, but nothing was being done about it.

Regarding uniformed officers, I fondly remember a family that the Ceann Comhairle will remember, that of the late Timothy "Chub" O'Connor, who was a TD representing Kerry South for many years. He had a son, Teddy “Chub” O’Connor. A long time ago before he passed away, Teddy “Chub” O’Connor came to me saying it was ridiculous that firefighters had to retire and he wanted them to have their time extended. I would like to think that I played my part in campaigning, lobbying and doing everything I could. I am glad that the situation changed for them, but it should also change for gardaí and prison officers because we need more of both. We should be doing more to keep the ones we have, never mind just keeping them beyond 60 years of age.

This may raise eyebrows, but I come from a county where we have to carry knives. We do it when we are on farms cutting bales of silage open and so on, though. There is no good reason in God’s earthly world for people in urban areas to want or need to possess knives. Many of us would be lost without a knife inside our pockets, but that is for completely different work-related reasons. There should of course be a strengthening of the penalties and impositions placed on people if they are found breaking that rule.

Regarding more judges, we should have speedy justice.

Overall, these amendments could lead to significant changes in the legal landscape affecting both the process and the outcome of certain types of legal proceeding. The exact impact will depend on how these amendments are implemented and interpreted in practice. It is also important to note that any changes to legislation can have unintended consequences that might only become apparent over time. Therefore, ongoing review and adjustment may be necessary to ensure that the legislation is working as intended. This is important because we have to be careful. Much of this Bill seems to have been rushed because of the time of year and I do not want us to make mistakes. Broadly speaking, I welcome many of the measures, but ongoing review and monitoring of their implementation is important.

When we go away from danger, the people working in the Garda, fire services and prisons have to head into it, so we should be providing every assistance and doing everything we can to make their jobs better places to be so that we improve their work practices and make them more user friendly. That is why I was so upset when the Minister and the Commissioner wanted to interfere with the roster. Every garda in the country wanted a certain roster and the only people who did not were the Minister and Commissioner, which was against the wishes of all the good people who were putting on uniforms every morning for all of us.

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