Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The plastic has been mounting up in recent years given that 18 billion tonnes of plastic is dumped into the sea every year. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on that issue. Not only is it appearing on our coastline, but it is now appearing in the food chain, as highlighted in a study by NUI Galway in regard to its analysis of the fish being extracted from the sea. We might organise a debate.

Today is the first anniversary of the killing and death of 71 people in Grenfell Tower in London.As I am sure we all know, we have spoken before in this House about the Corporate Manslaughter Bill. As well as all of the analysis and investigation taking place into the Grenfell Tower fire in London, the UK police are investigating two organisations, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the local tenant management organisation, in regard to potential corporate manslaughter laws. Unfortunately, in England nobody can go to jail for the deaths of the 71 people who lost their lives because of what the UK did in its corporate manslaughter law. The Government is proposing to do exactly what the UK did when my corporate manslaughter legislation comes before the House on, I hope, 27 June, as I outlined to the Leader yesterday during our meeting.

We must bear in mind the offences for which people are sent to jail under corporate law. A company director can go to jail for up to ten years for price fixing, engaging in theft or fraud or interfering with information. Under a justice Bill proposed by the Government, a person may be sentenced to ten years in prison for corruption. However, the Government proposes to remove from the forthcoming Bill on corporate manslaughter the section providing for jail sentences for corporate manslaughter. The Bill was proposed by the Law Reform Commission arising from the hepatitis C scandal. We now have the CervicalCheck scandal. Mrs. Vicky Phelan has represented people in this country and shown enormous courage and bravery. All she wants is to ensure no one else endures what she is enduring. As politicians, we are obliged to make sure nobody else experiences such failures and, therefore, we need to pass the Bill, as a matter of urgency.