I second my colleague Senator McDowell's amendment. The time has come to establish whether we live in a democracy and whether this House has the right to debate issues that are important to the citizens of this State. Bringing in legislation and just ramming it through is becoming rather tiresome. I would have expected the referendums had taught a lesson to the Government to engage in proper parliamentary debate, so I second Senator McDowell's motion.

Today, the current cadet class will graduate in the Curragh and I know the Cathaoirleach will join me in wishing them well. It is great to see these young men and women heading out on a career in the Defence Forces having been commissioned into the State. It is absolutely diabolical, however, that within ten years most of them will have left the Defence Forces because of the 2013 pension, which has destroyed public service. The 2013 pension was brought in by civil servants who had well-heeled pensions themselves and were well looked after by the State. They destroyed public service in this country. Garda members are leaving in their droves, as are military personnel. We have to get the Minister for public expenditure and reform to appear before the House and drive home the message that the pension scheme that was introduced in 2013 has destroyed public service. We need to wake up to that. There is contagion. It moved from the Army to the Garda and it will move to the Prison Service, the fire services and, eventually, the wider public service. Nobody will want to serve the State because there is nothing in it for them at the end of it but a paltry pension that will be worth nothing to them. We need to get that debate going and I ask the Leader to try to facilitate it.

I welcome the news yesterday about the introduction of tougher sentencing for knife crime. I have raised this issue frequently, both in the Seanad and directly with the Minister for Justice. What is helpful is the differentiation between possession and intent and the added length to sentences relating to the importation and sale of knives. I hope we can continue to build on that because we need to look at the behavioural reasons for knife crime. Seizures have been around 2,200 over the past five years. Knives are used in many different crimes and are increasingly used by young people and on our streets, so we need to continue the work in this regard.

There were reports this morning about activity in the constituency of Dublin West following the gangland-related incident there on Christmas Eve. I have been very much engaged with An Garda Síochána on that matter since Christmas and have every faith in it in terms of managing it. However, Dublin West should be prioritised in the context of the roll-out of community safety partnerships. This is a good opportunity for the Minister for Justice to come back to the House to update us on where the community safety partnerships stand and a range of other community issues.