Today I express my disappointment about the comments made by Deputy McDonald concerning the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI. She said she would not have confidence in any current member of the PSNI senior leadership team taking the helm of the organisation. I am very disappointed and surprised by these remarks and they very much undermine the role of the PSNI. From both sides of the community we spent so much time and many years building up and ensuring confidence in the police service. It was confidence that members of both the nationalist and unionist community could have in the institution. It seems Sinn Féin is hell-bent on destroying all the institutions in the North, first with the assembly and now the police service. Deputy McDonald should withdraw her remarks and apologise for them because they are very destabilising. It is very unfair on those who live in Northern Ireland to have the policing service undermined while not having an assembly.

I also raise the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, which I have mentioned in the House before. Where people are seeking re-entry visas and are legally in this country, they must apply for an appointment. I said before that bots have taken these appointment slots so that people can resell them. I raised the matter in October but it has not been resolved. It seems there is some sort of institutional racism against people in this country legally. The matter has been raised and lip service has been paid in the fixing of the problem but nothing has been done.

Before the introduction of the appointments system, people with visas living in this country who needed to re-enter the country after going home for an emergency, for example, could go to the Garda National Immigration Bureau on Burgh Quay for a meeting with a member of An Garda Síochána with responsibility for immigration. That cannot be done now and it is very unfair on those who are legally in the country. They deserve some sort of service as they pay their taxes. These people make a contribution, as they are largely nurses, doctors and others who are here legally. I call on the Government to ensure the system is corrected so that the appointments system is fair. I call on the Minister to ensure these people can meet a person if there is an emergency in their home and they have a visa to be in Ireland.

I also raise the sourcing of cannabis products. The Government has stated it is difficult to source these products but the UK has managed to import a large number of cannabinoid products from Canada. Many patients in Ireland suffer from multiple sclerosis or epilepsy and are not able to gain access to cannabinoid products that might help their illness. I call on the Government to have a look at the matter as people are crying out for access to these products. It is not fair that they do not have access to them despite the appropriate legislation being in place.

It has been brought to my attention that the Leader of this House believes the ongoing debate on the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017 is bringing the House into disrepute. It has been said that the almost 90 hours we have been debating the Bill has damaged the reputation of the Seanad.

On a point of information, Senator Craughwell should not mislead the House. He is peddling a line regarding the time for the Bill being debated.

The Leader will have ample opportunity to reply when responding to the Order of Business.

The Senator is incorrect and should give the facts.

The Leader will have ample opportunity to correct the Senator if he is wrong.

It is important to correct him about this immediately before it goes out to the public.

It will go out to members of the media as well.

We have wasted a minute already. I ask Senator Craughwell to continue.

As I said, it has been said that the time debating this legislation has damaged the reputation of the Seanad and, by implication, the reputation of all Members of the Seanad. While I do not know where the Leader has formed this view or what papers he is reading, since the commencement of debate in the Seanad, the following bodies have expressed their views. The Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption questioned whether the Bill was in line with European standards and whether it secured judicial independence. The European Commission, in a report in March 2018, was definitive in its view, which it stated explicitly, that the Bill was not in line with European standards. In an editorial published in November 2018, The Irish Times stated: "It is still not too late for the Government to scrap the ill-advised Judicial Appointments Bill being foisted on the country at the whim of the Minister for Transport".

Does the Senator take his lead from The Irish Times?

We know he does, except when it comes to the presidential election.

The Leader is only prolonging the debate.

I have a question for the Leader. Are those of us doing our damnedest to oppose this legislation by scrutinising and trying to change it the enemy from within or is allowing one single elected Member of Dáil Éireann to fundamentally interfere with the central tenet of our democracy the enemy?

That is Independents for us.

We all know the political responsibilities and pressures that the Leader of this House has to endure to ensure the Government programme passes through it but for him to intertwine-----

The Senator promised he would support the Government when he got elected. He said he would consult on every vote.

Please, Leader.

He has not consulted on one vote yet. He has broken his political promise. I have the text on my phone.

The Leader has a position of great responsibility and leadership.

It is not a time to take sick with stress though.

I ask him to acknowledge that by allowing Senator Craughwell to continue.

The Cathaoirleach is right. I am sorry.

By intertwining the fate or reputation of the Seanad with this legislation the Leader is being derogatory to the House.

That sounds like a senior counsel to me.

Nobody reading the transcript of the 90 hours of debate or witnessing it live could fault the quality of what is being debated or the public service benefit-----

The Senator did not write that himself, in fairness.

-----of having a former Tánaiste, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Attorney General to point out, line by line and word by word, how awful this legislation is and how dangerous it is to the independence and quality of the Judiciary. I ask the Leader not to sully the reputation of this House because of the political demands and pressures placed on him. Thank God for the checks and balances built into our Constitution that when an Executive has gone rogue and allowed a single individual to dictate the future of our Judiciary, our institutions, including the Seanad, can still provide a check for however long it takes to defend the administration of justice.

I ask the Senator to conclude his prepared script.

Well said. Why did I not think of that?

The only reason the people believe this House-----

This sounds like a senior counsel's opinion.

The more the Leader interrupts, the longer Senator Craughwell will speak. The Senator's contribution has already lasted for four minutes and 20 seconds because he has been interrupted.

I am prepared to stand here all day if that is what it takes.

I will not allow that. I ask the Senator to conclude and he can-----

Snide remarks were made about this having been prepared by a senior counsel. It was not prepared by a senior counsel.

Was it a junior counsel?

It is a prepared script because the matter is important.

The Senator has made his point.

The point I am trying to make is that if it takes from now until hell freezes over, we will continue to debate this awful Bill to see to it that it is changed into something worthwhile or the Government wakes up and scraps it altogether.