Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I very much appreciate the Minister's and his colleagues' support of this Bill. I know two of the team in the Department who are with the Minister here. We have engaged quite extensively on the Bill and its drafting and taking into consideration the various inputs from a vast array of stakeholders in making the Bill as robust as possible. That was the underlying basis and purpose on which the departmental officials engaged in the conversations and meetings I had with them.

Like me, the Minister has a legal background and would de facto have an involvement in relation to court cases, evidence and the robustness of evidence. This Bill is intended to help create that robustness in evidence that is of great importance. I do not believe there was one prosecution for perjury in 2017 of the thousands of cases in the District, Circuit and High Court and in the other courts of the land.

I thank the parliamentary legislative drafter for drafting the Bill. It will be noted that there are almost 100 other pieces of legislation referred to. That is used in the research and due diligence in preparing this very robust Bill. I thank my colleagues for their support, which is very valuable and is very much appreciated. We are very much on the one team on this. I also thank my parliamentary assistant, Cait Nic Amhlaoibh, a key person in all of this.

I understand that the Minister and the Government will provide Government time for Report Stage of Bill, which it is hoped will be in May or June, so that we can move it on to the Dáil and to the next stage. I note what the Minister said about insurance, business and other areas. That is crucially important. I note also what the Minister said about tribunals of inquiry and their role. I look forward to working with the Minister and his officials in making this Bill even more robust. I welcome his support for this Bill at this stage, given that he may come back on Report Stage with further suggestions for amendments.