Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I move:

That, in accordance with Standing Order 201(2), in relation to the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026, it be an instruction to the Committee of the whole Seanad, to which the Bill may be recommitted in respect of certain amendments, that it has the power to make amendments to the Bill which are not relevant to the subject matter of the Bill, for the purposes of: (i) Amending section 10 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1984 to provide a statutory basis for the admissibility, in proceedings under section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, of certificate evidence relating to the results of applicable drug tests carried out by members of An Garda Síochána;

(ii) Repealing Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Act 2024 consequential on the provisions of section 23 of the Bill and of the reformulated section which it is proposed, by way of a Government amendment, to substitute for the said section 23;

(iii) Providing, on an enabling basis, for the electronic transmission of documents in certain court proceedings and for electronic statements of truth in such proceedings;

(iv) Providing for the designation of intra EU flights within Ireland's Passenger Name Record (“PNR”) Data regime, the transposition of EU Directive 2016/381 into primary law and revocation of the European Union (Passenger Name Record Data) Regulations 2018 (S.I. No. 177 of 2018) and the designation of an independent authority to approve the disclosure of PNR data held by the Irish Passenger Information Unit;

(v) Amending the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 consequential on the aforementioned amendments relating to the use of electronic technology in certain court proceedings and to delete two inoperable provisions of that Act which provide that a court may specify the technology to be used in particular remote hearings; and

(vi) Amending the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act 2021 consequential on the amendments relating to the use of technology in certain court proceedings; and to change the long title to reflect the content of the Bill; and to make other consequential amendments required to take account of such amendments.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to discuss certain Government amendments to the Bill, which I have submitted ahead of Report Stage this afternoon. I look forward to hearing from Members. I am going to be brief in my opening remarks and talk about the substantive amendments.

The first substantive amendment is to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act 1984 to provide a statutory basis for the admissibility in proceedings of certificate evidence of the results of applicable drug tests carried out by Garda members. Gardaí have for many years been conducting presumptive drug testing on cannabis and cocaine. These tests are highly accurate. However, some District Courts accept them and others do not because of the absence of a statutory basis. What I am seeking to do here is to give them a statutory basis.

The next such amendment is to repeal section 14 of the sex offences Act 2024. That is the one that deals with character evidence. If you want to give a character reference or evidence in respect of somebody convicted of a sexual offence, you have to do it on oath or by affidavit. I am changing that so that it applies not just to sex offences but also to every indictable offence of which a person is convicted.

The next amendment is to insert a new Part providing a basis in criminal proceedings for the electronic transmission of documents and for electronic statements of truth. These amendments are modelled on equivalent provisions in civil proceedings in the miscellaneous provisions Act of 2020. It will be possible for such documents to be electronically generated and transmitted between the courts, which will make the system much more efficient. There are also a number of amendments consequential on the amendments I have just outlined. For instance, there are proposed amendments to the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act 2021.

The final set of amendments, making up about two thirds of the pages of the Report Stage amendments, concern the new Part of the Bill in relation to passenger name record, PNR, data. That is the booking information provided by passengers and collected by airlines for commercial purposes. The collection and analysis of such data comprise a vital tool in investigating serious crime and preventing terrorism. It is used to identify suspects and dismantle networks involved in terrorism and drug trafficking.

In the EU, the use of PNR data for law enforcement is regulated through a directive that was transposed into Irish law by a regulation of 2018. The PNR directive automatically applies to extra-EU flights, that is, flights between EU and non-EU states. Logically too, the directive allows that it can also apply to flights within the EU. However, further legislation is required in Ireland to give effect to this, and Ireland is the only EU member state bound by the directive that does not apply it to intra-EU flights. That is the purpose of it.

It had originally been intended to bring the bulk of these provisions into effect by amending the 2018 regulations. However, the Attorney General advised that, in extending Ireland's PNR regime to intra-EU flights, the entire PNR regime should be put on a primary law footing. That is beneficial. This necessitated the inclusion of more extensive and consequential provisions.

The extension of Ireland's PNR regime has been specifically sought by the Garda Commissioner as a matter of urgency. By removing blind spots in our travel intelligence that can be exploited by criminals and others, these provisions will address a significant gap in Ireland's security architecture. I commend the motion to the House.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister back to the House this afternoon. I will be very brief. I am very happy to support this motion on the basis of the Minister's contribution. All the areas outlined by him need reform. I am very happy to proceed along those lines.

Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this motion, but I am disappointed by the manner in which the legislation has been handled by the Government. The Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill before us is significantly different from the Bill that was first introduced in the Dáil. At every Stage of its fast passage, the Minister has brought forward substantial new amendments, including at this late stage of debate in the Seanad. These are not simply technical changes; they are significant legal and policy reforms that deserve proper debate and careful scrutiny by both Houses of the Oireachtas. Miscellaneous provisions Bills undoubtedly have their place but they should not become a catch-all mechanism for introducing major legislative changes with limited parliamentary oversight. Good legislation depends on good scrutiny and, unfortunately, this has not had the opportunity to happen here.

Having said that, there is one aspect that I warmly welcome, because it represents a genuine improvement to our justice system and demonstrates what can be achieved when victims' voices are listened to. I acknowledge the work of my colleague Deputy Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin justice spokesperson, who worked tirelessly to secure this important reform following sustained engagement with the Minister for justice. His amendment has been accepted and will significantly strengthen the law relating to character references in our courts.

For too long, victims and their families have spoken about the additional trauma caused by hearing glowing character references read out on behalf of offenders. In many cases, those giving the references were unaware of the full facts of the offence or even what the individual had pleaded guilty to. Those references could create a misleading impression before the court, while the voices of victims and the reality of the harm they suffered were overshadowed.

This amendment is not about preventing people from providing character references. Character references will continue to have a place within our justice system. What this reform does is introduce accountability. It ensures that anyone providing a character reference regarding an indictable offence must do so under oath or by affidavit. In other words, they must stand over what they are saying and appreciate the seriousness of the evidence they are giving before the court. That is common-sense reform. It improves transparency, strengthens confidence in our justice system and ensures that sentencing decisions are based on evidence that carries proper accountability.

This change came because victims and families had the courage to speak out about their experiences and people listened to them. I particularly acknowledge Karen Ryan, whose determination and persistence in highlighting this issue have been instrumental in bringing about this reform. Following the devastating loss of her father, she channelled her grief into campaigning for change so that other families would not have to endure the same additional trauma in court. She deserves enormous credit for refusing to let this issue be ignored. I commend Deputy Carthy on taking that experience, engaging directly with the Minister, drafting amendments and pursuing this issue at every opportunity through ministerial questions, the justice committee and the legislative process. This is an example of constructive opposition leading to meaningful legislative change.

No victim should ever leave a courtroom feeling that greater attention was paid to protecting the reputation of an offender than to acknowledging the harm that victim has suffered. Our courts must command public confidence, and victims must know that fairness and accountability are at the heart of our justice system. This amendment is one of the most significant reforms to the law on character references in many years because it extends the requirement for sworn character references beyond sexual offence cases to all indictable offences.This is a substantial improvement and one that Sinn Féin is very proud to have secured. While I welcome this important reform and the Minister's acceptance of the amendment, I hope the Government also reflects on the legislation process that has been brought before us here. Important reform deserves proper time, proper scrutiny and proper debate. That benefits legislators, the legal system and ultimately the public that we serve.

Sinn Féin will always support practical measures to strengthen our justice system, improve accountability and place the victims and their families at the centre of our laws. I welcome that the Minister accepted the amendment on character references submitted by Deputy Carthy. I hope in future he will be open to accepting further constructive Opposition amendments also.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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These amendments, or at least highlighting and flagging the issues in these amendments, should have been brought on Committee Stage. There is a problem with the practice of bringing a large number of significant, consequential amendments on Report Stage, the last Stage of a Seanad debate, having avoided full and proper pre-legislative scrutiny on the matters, and having bypassed proper and full debate in the Dáil. The Minister is bringing these as a motion rather than as something arising from Committee Stage debate because we were not even given the basic courtesy of these issues being properly flagged as part of that Committee Stage debate.

I believe there are 80 amendments. Presumably, they were in the drafting process last week when we were discussing this legislation. If they were, they should have been signalled and discussed as part of the discussion on Committee Stage and signalled properly at that point. Again, it is just poor practice. There are individual amendments which people may support and I may even support. There are other amendments about which I have significant concerns, ones that are concerning from a civil rights perspective in terms of the question of face coverings, which we know has been flagged as a particular concern for religious minorities, those with health issues and others.

There are concerns about measures that seem to contravene what the Government has previously said on section 3 and the fact that it is not planned to prosecute under it because it seems to engage with the process to significantly accelerate and increase prosecution and use of section 3 for minor drugs possession offences. There are many other issues. There may be merit in character references and so forth. The point is that none of it was teased out properly or went through the proper process.

At a time when the Minister is bringing very substantial changes through the system at a very rapid pace, a question of public confidence arises. This is the point I made on other legislation the Minister introduced, but it is worth reiterating. The Seanad has a mandate and the public has a right. It is not just our mandate, my mandate or what I get to say about or it. It is the mandate we were given. It is our obligation. It is what we are elected to do. It is our job.

The Minister is pushing through very significant changes in a way that inherently curtails debate because on Report Stage all of us will only have the opportunity to speak once. We will not get the opportunity to ask a question of the Minister, have the Minister reply to us and ask follow-up questions to tease out the detail on these changes. That will not be the prerogative we have. The Minister will propose the amendments, we will speak once, the Minister will say whatever he wishes to say and then we will move to a vote. That is what will happen with these amendments unless they are being recommitted to Committee Stage.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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They are, so perhaps we will have a chance for that debate. I am grateful for that. However, it is still an issue that in these last two weeks amendments are being introduced that are very substantive but have not been given pre-legislative or proper scrutiny. This is part of a suite of legislation to significantly increase the powers the Garda, the Defence Forces and many other entities of the State will have. It does not give great confidence in how they are to be used if they are being pushed through at the late stages of a discussion, without proper pre-legislative scrutiny or a proper opportunity for us to bring our own amendments to the amendments. If they had been brought on the formal Committee Stage, we would have had the opportunity to respond to the Government's amendments with our own amendments on Report Stage. That opportunity is not available to us.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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Before I call the Minister, I welcome Senator Maria McCormack's family members, her mother, Carmel, her uncle Paddy and her cousin Anna, to the Public Gallery. I hope they have an enjoyable visit.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senators for their contributions. I will start with the last point made by Senator Higgins. I hope Senators realise that I have great respect for the role and mandate of Seanad Éireann. I actually enjoy being here listening to Senators, and discussing and debating legislation. It is correct that a large number of amendments are coming on Report Stage but they relate predominantly to the passenger name records part of the legislation. It is a provision that already exists in regulations. The purpose of the amendments I am introducing and hoping to debate with the Seanad is to put the provisions into primary legislation. It is inherently more democratic that we have important provisions related to passenger name records in primary legislation as opposed to secondary legislation by a statutory instrument. I think it is a progressive move that we will be able to discuss and debate it here.

There are three other substantive areas to the amendments. The first relates to face coverings. It was indicated at the very early stage in Dáil Éireann that this would be coming. We will have a debate on this in due course this afternoon. It is not seeking to outlaw face coverings in respect of people who have health issues or religious observances that they want to comply with. It is seeking to give a power to An Garda Síochána to direct the removal of a face covering if a garda believes that has been done for the purpose of intimidating others.

Further to what Senator McCormack said, I am always happy to accept good amendments from the Opposition. I have done it before in respect of Senator Harmon. Deputy Carthy introduced an amendment on Committee Stage. I said I thought it was a good idea and agreed to adopt it. I did adopt it on Report Stage in Dáil Éireann. Now I am bringing forward an amendment to it here just to tidy it up to ensure there is a consistent provision. We have taken out the provision in the sexual offences Act and now there will just be one provision, which states that anyone who wants to give character evidence on behalf of anyone convicted of an indictable offence will have to do it by way of oral evidence or an affidavit and can be subject to cross-examination. I think it is very good amendment and I am happy to support it. As I said, I have supported amendments from other Opposition Members and will do so again. There is also the issue of drug certification which we will come to discuss.

We have a good length of time here this afternoon and we will get through a lot of work. Again, I commend the Senators on their diligence and hard work when it comes to dealing with difficult legislation.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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Before I move on, I welcome guests of Senator Laura Harmon to the Public Gallery this afternoon. I hope they enjoy their visit.