Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Daly's call for a debate on the regularisation of the undocumented Irish in the United States. I know he has worked on this issue for a long time and I absolutely agree that it is a pressing matter for many families. There are two related topics that this House may have a chance to debate in the new year. The first concerns stateless persons. I raised this last night in the debate on the International Protection Bill and it will be raised again on Committee Stage of that Bill today. We need to make provision in the State for those who are stateless here and whose legal position is precarious. The second related topic, which does not come up in discussions of international protection but is very much related to the subject of the undocumented Irish, is votes for emigrants - those Irish citizens resident outside this jurisdiction. Colleagues who were involved in the Constitutional Convention will recall the very moving session during which we heard from Irish emigrants all over the world via video link. They spoke about how much it would mean to them to be given the right to vote. The proposal to allow them the right to vote in presidential elections would have had no difficult logistical implications in terms of determining geographical constituencies and so on. I would like the House to have a debate on that in the new year and to look at the recommendation of the Constitutional Convention.

I have spoken about the problem of the amount of legislation being pressed through the House, as has the Leader, and both of us regret that we are again, as in previous Decembers, facing a large amount of legislation being pushed through very late in the day. While we have been looking for legislation earlier in the year, we always end up coming up against a deadline at this time. This year it is particularly evident in the Department of Justice and Equality.

I have looked at the Bills to be debated next week in this House, and the Courts Bill 2015 and the Prisons Bill 2015 are hugely important Bills which I believe will receive a broad welcome from all colleagues. The aim of the Courts Bill 2015 is simply to increase the number of judges and, in particular, to reduce the waiting time for Central Criminal Court trials. Colleagues may know that the President of the High Court has recently appointed a fifth judge to the Central Criminal Court because there is an 18-month delay. This is appalling for people who are victims of crime and for all of those involved in prosecuting and investigating crime. It is simply untenable, and I welcome the fact that the mechanism will be put on a statutory basis and the number of judges increased - by just two, I understand - to tackle these dreadful waiting times. That Bill will be uncontentious and is clearly urgent, and I welcome it. The Prisons Bill 2015 is also a short Bill which will receive a broad welcome from colleagues. It is to facilitate the complete closure of Saint Patrick's Institution. One of the real achievements on penal reform by this Government has been the phasing out of the awful practice of sending children to Saint Patrick's Institution. To see a Bill which will facilitate the complete closure of that institution will be hugely welcome to all of us who have worked on criminal justice, penal reform or children's rights. The Bills are important and I absolutely believe that this House needs to see them though as soon as possible.

With regard to the International Protection Bill 2015, we did commence the debate last night and we will continue it today. It is a long-overdue piece of legislation promised by previous Governments who could not deliver. At last we will see a single unified procedure for the protection of those in direct provision, which will tackle the serious problem of long delays. I and my colleagues have met people who have been in direct provision for long periods, some for ten years or more. It is untenable and needs to be tackled. There is an urgency about these Bills and, despite the unfortunate fact that Senators are again facing a large number of Bills so late in the day, it is important that the House see these through.