Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to formally object to the content of the Order of Business for tomorrow, Thursday, which is done in the form of a motion. Again, it is regrettable that we are seeing Bills being taken at all Stages. This Government has developed too much of an attachment to emergency legislation. I am also conscious in the case of both of these Bills, and I was on the relevant committee for one of them, that the Government asked for a waiver of pre-legislative scrutiny and then is also truncating proper scrutiny in the Chamber. I am very concerned that we are getting a lot of legislation, including in areas which have been well flagged, such as the manner in which we should be dealing with rental protection and protection against evictions, but we are dealing with it in an emergency way and that legislation is not getting proper scrutiny. I know that is not the Leader’s decision but I have to convey formally that this is not good practice.

Similarly, I would agree it is not good practice to have Ministers from unrelated Departments dealing with Commencement matters. Commencement matters must be a matter of engagement. Ministers need to be able to come back and forth and answer, and that is why there is a two-stage process in that regard. If Ministers coming in are not even from the relevant Department, that is a problem. Specifically, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, perhaps needs to come to this House on a couple of topics, one of which, I would suggest, is the gender-proofing of our pensions system. That is one where it would be very useful to have a debate.

The main issue I want to highlight is one that is fundamental to Ireland's reputation and our credibility internationally. Yesterday, in the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, we heard from representatives of Friends of the Earth, who spoke about the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty and called for us to take a lead in moving away from fossil fuels internationally. This is complementary to what Senator Chambers has said. In that regard, they highlighted that one of the reasons Ireland would have credibility to lead if it chose to do so was that – this is a near-quote - for decades Ireland, thanks to the dedication of successive Ministers for Foreign Affairs and officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs, has led the way on disarmament and non-proliferation issues at UN level. They highlighted that at the time when the message from everywhere was that everyone needed nuclear weapons or else they were not safe, and that was the responsible thing to do, Ireland was one of the countries that led and said "No" because an arms race makes us less safe. Similarly, we are sometimes being told that fossil fuels are part of what will make us secure in the short term but they are actually exacerbating our vulnerabilities.

Sadly, however, the reason I have to raise this matter is that I am concerned that the credibility built up by successive Ministers for Foreign Affairs over many years is being undermined over the last short period of time. I say that in the context of Ireland having led and been the first country, under Frank Aiken, to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and having been the country that hosted the successful ban on cluster munitions. I was in Croke Park when we negotiated that. However, Ireland is now in a situation where we have the Minister for Foreign Affairs just over a week ago speaking at an arms fair in the Aviva Stadium, which, if we want to insult the environment further, was called "Building the ecosystem – identifying connections for collaboration in Security, Defence and Dual Technologies". This is a fundamental regressive step. It is a shame to Ireland.