Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and congratulate her on her appointment. It is a fantastic opportunity to be taking over at the Department of Justice and Equality at this particular time of transformation. We have seen some transformation carried out under the auspices of previous Ministers, Frances Fitzgerald and Deputy Flanagan, but the best is yet to come in this regard. Further transformation will be possible as a result of the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.

This is my seventh or eighth year as Government spokesperson on justice that we have had to, at this time of year, discuss putting this legislation through for another 12 months. Senator Bacik, who is here doing it as long as I am, is quite right that the timeline was never as tight as it is today, with only three or four hours left to get it through. In previous years, we always had a debate on whether the legislation continued to be necessary. While I totally accept that there are provisions of this legislation which have not been used very much - in fact, some have not been used at all - there are other elements and sections that are frequently used. The reality is that on the island of Ireland, we still have a significant threat from dissident republicans. It was only last year that we saw a journalist, Lyra McKee, murdered in this country by those dissidents. The terrorist threat certainly has not gone away, much as we would like that to happen. There is also the new threat of international terrorism, which we have not really seen yet in this country and we hope we never will. However, we must have legislation in place to ensure that if and when such activity presents itself, An Garda Síochána is equipped to react quickly to it.

In terms of the legislation itself, there is a commitment as part of the future of policing report recommendations that we would review all our security legislation. A significant development took place last Wednesday in Dáil Éireann when Sinn Féin did not press a vote on this particular legislation on the clear understanding from the previous Minister, Deputy Flanagan, which has been echoed here today by the new Minister, Deputy McEntee, that there will be a comprehensive review of it as part of the implementation of the future of policing report. I think it is appropriate at this stage that the legislation should be reviewed in any event.

Another facet of this debate is the threat arising from organised crime, particularly in our cities. We have seen the remarkable success that An Garda Síochána has had in terms of arrests and prosecutions of members of the Hutch and Kinahan organised crime gangs in spite of the fact that nearly 20 people have been murdered. It is also appropriate that we should acknowledge the activities of An Garda Síochána, in collaboration with the Criminal Assets Bureau, in the mid-west area which includes Clare, Limerick and north Tipperary, where there was a significant seizure of drugs in recent weeks. That success has done tremendous damage to organised crime in the mid-west. One hears often from An Garda Síochána, senior members of which I have engaged with regularly in my capacity as spokesperson for justice over the years, that gardaí have this legislation in their back pocket if they need it. They do not want to use it, no more than they wanted to use the legislation introduced to deal with the pandemic, but it was very useful to have it in their back pocket if it was needed. We have seen that the legislation we are discussing this evening was needed in the past 12 months.

I appeal to Members to support the legislation on this occasion in the fullness of the knowledge that there will be a review of it in due course. We would all love to see a day when we do not need this type of legislation in this country. Unfortunately, because of the history over the past 30 or 40 years in Northern Ireland, we have needed it. Our more recent history in terms of organised crime means we have needed it. I hope the day will come when we will not have to debate these types of provisions and, as has happened in this instance, the process of formation of a Government will not have to be escalated in order to ensure both Houses of the Oireachtas are in place to pass the resolutions relating to the legislation. On that front, there is tremendous respect due to all parties who rolled up their sleeves to make sure this very important deadline was met.

I look forward to the review of this legislation. In the next couple of months, the Minister might come to the House and go through the nuts and bolts of what she is proposing in this regard and what the context of the review will be. It is part of the ambit of the implementation of the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and it would be useful to have the Minister here to discuss that report. It is a groundbreaking piece of work which was completed during the last Oireachtas term. I echo the sentiments of colleagues in wishing the Minister the very best of luck in what is an extremely important Department.