Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I echo the words of Senator White in thanking the Minister for his engagement with us throughout the debate today. I thank also his officials who worked so hard on the Bill and staff in the Attorney General's office who I understand also advised on different aspects of the Bill.

Although I agree this was a good and measured debate and that we engaged on many of the points about which we had concerns, it could have been a much more constructive debate had it been conducted when the Dáil was sitting so that we might have had some real prospect of having amendments accepted or taken through the Dáil. The debate was conducted in a somewhat farcical situation, where we knew the Dáil had risen and there was no prospect of having amendments accepted.

We all share a common goal of ensuring that gangland crime is tackled and that we have a robust criminal justice system so that the chaos and killings caused by organised crime can be stopped. We disagree on some of the measures in the Bill to tackle organised crime. I note the Green Party Senators abstained on the Bill in the end. They too were not persuaded about its overall merit, in some way.

It is important that we had the opportunity to debate these issues and I regret deeply that we did not have more time to debate them. We did not have enough time on Second Stage. A guillotine was exercised on Second Stage and we then had to rush through all remaining stages and had no real opportunity to put amendments on Report Stage. A more robust debate would have benefited all of us and made more effective legislation.

With those reservations, I thank the Minister and officials who are here.