Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Senators will be aware that this is an omnibus Bill. It is part of the cross-Government domestic response to the crisis in Ukraine with legislation covering my Department and measures related to the work of the Department of Justice and the Department of Transport. The Bill also addresses matters relating to the Stardust inquiry. I thank Senators for facilitating this time-sensitive legislation. I will outline the main provisions of the Bill.

Part 1 deals with standard provisions. Part 8 deals with the Stardust inquests special jury provisions. It would be appropriate to address the provisions related to the Stardust inquest initially. First, I want to convey my sympathy to the families of all the victims of the Stardust tragedy. I acknowledge the enormous pain and loss of all those affected. My colleague, the Minister for Justice, is proposing these provisions to facilitate the progression of the Stardust inquest. The holding of fresh inquests into the Stardust fire tragedy represents an exceptional situation, having regard to the history of previous investigations and the large number of fatalities. The fresh inquests were directed by the then Attorney General in 2019 on the basis that the original inquests were an insufficient inquiry.

Concerns were raised by the legal representatives of the victims' families and others that the current method of empanelling a jury for the inquests under section 43 of the Coroners Act 1962 is not sufficient to guarantee a representative jury. This matter was also the subject of a Private Members’ Bill in this House on 23 February of this year, put down by Senators Boylan, Gavan and Warfield. Part 8 of the Bill responds to those concerns with new provisions for a bespoke approach to the empanelling and summoning of the jury for the new Stardust inquest. It provides for the following: the disapplication of certain provisions of the Coroners Act 1962 and the Juries Act 1976; for the Dublin coroner to seek the assistance of the Courts Service and county registrar in empanelling and summoning a jury; and for the process of determining eligibility and selection or disqualification or excusal of potential jurors. It also requires that employers should continue to pay the wages of persons summoned to serve on the Stardust inquests jury and provides that if the jury at a Stardust inquest fails to agree on a verdict, a majority verdict shall be accepted by the Dublin coroner. In the event of a jury failing to reach a verdict, this section provides for the holding of a new inquest at the discretion of the coroner. This replaces a provision which would have required the automatic holding of a new inquest in such circumstances. Jurors will not be directly remunerated by the State for service at a Stardust inquest or any other inquest. I emphasise that this will apply only to the new Stardust inquests given the extraordinary circumstances involved. I also emphasise that the proposals respect the fact that the Stardust inquests, as with all inquests, must be conducted under the independent direction and control of the coroner.

Moving on to the domestic response to the crisis in Ukraine, Parts 2 and 3 of the Bill relate to my Department. Offers of accommodation from the general public are greatly appreciated and they greatly assist with the challenge of sourcing suitable accommodation for some 40,000 individuals fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. Part 2 of the Bill provides for a financial contribution of €400 per property per month for persons who provide accommodation for beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine. The payment will be retrospective for eligible applicants to 4 March this year and will end on 31 March 2023. It is available for shared or vacant accommodation, regardless of whether the accommodation has been made available privately or through the Irish Red Cross pledge process. The payment is exempt for means-testing purposes and is not taxable. It is not linked to the actual costs incurred by the person providing accommodation but is a recognition of the contribution of those who host beneficiaries of temporary protection. The scheme will not create a landlord and tenant relationship. It will be administered by the Department of Social Protection and will involve an online application. To qualify, an applicant must be aged 18 or over; be providing accommodation to someone who has arrived in Ireland under the temporary protection directive; commit to offering this accommodation for a minimum period of six months; and declare that the accommodation meets the minimum set of standards prescribed by regulations which I will make in consultation with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Information on the scheme will be available on MyWelfare.ie and Gov.ie.

Part 3 provides for an amendment of the Childcare Support Act 2018 to ensure that families who are temporary protection beneficiaries can receive financial support with the cost of early learning and childcare costs under the national childcare scheme. This allows parents and guardians to undertake work, study or training and enables their children to attend high-quality early learning and care services, which will support them to integrate with their new communities.

Parts 4 and 5 are under the remit of the Minister for Justice and deal with accessing immigration services. In light of the significant increase in the number of persons engaging with the immigration system, greater efficiencies for registering and processing across the immigration and social welfare system, and in regional locations, are being facilitated. Part 4 of the Bill provides for amendment of the Immigration Act 2004 and other enactments relating to the registration of non-nationals. These amendments will facilitate the operation of the registration function jointly by the immigration service delivery function of the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána, and will support online registration processes. The purpose of Part 5, relating to the processing of certain personal data, is to allow for the establishment of a one-stop shop service to persons fleeing Ukraine who are seeking temporary protection, a PPS number and income support. It is aimed at making the process more customer-friendly and easier to operate. To enable this, the Bill will allow relevant justice sector and social protection officials to gather relevant information on each other's behalf.

Part 6 places the Department of Transport's licensed haulage emergency support scheme on a legislative footing following the Government's decision earlier this year to provide temporary financial support to the licensed haulage sector to help it mitigate against increasing cost pressures, including the sharp, rapid increase in the cost of fuel in March 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.In our collective responses to Brexit and Covid-19 over recent years, the critical importance of the haulage sector in supporting our continued economic and societal activity was widely acknowledged. This is precisely why the Government acted quickly in March 2022 to support the sector. The scheme was open for applications between 5 April and 6 June 2022. It has now closed.

Part 7 will allow the Minister for Transport to respond immediately to sudden movements of people to Ireland under the temporary protection directive. Section 46 of this Bill introduces a new section 23B into the Road Traffic Act 1961. This will allow the Minister to issue an order permitting people here under the temporary protection directive to drive without having to exchange their national licences for the period of temporary protection. The definition of a licence in sections 38 and 40 is also expanded to require evidence of residency permission under the temporary protection directive to accompany the licence. Section 47 amends sections 60 and 61 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 to clarify that if a garda seizes a licence recognised under section 23B, only the licence is retained and not the permission.

I thank colleagues for their consideration of this Bill and I look forward to hearing from Senators.