I welcome the review, especially as regards the means-testing of carer's payments, which is an issue we have raised in this House on numerous occasions. It needs to be looked into to ensure it is fair for carers and those they are caring for. The second issue I raise is the thresholds for the fuel allowance. There are many ancillary benefits available to people who qualify for the fuel allowance, so many people attend our clinics whose incomes are out by a small amount. I ask the Minister to allow for some flexibil…

I thank the Minister of State for joining us today. I also join in commiserating with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, on the loss of her mother.

It is always a good day when the Social Welfare Bill comes before us. This is one of the biggest budgets in the history of the State. I say that every year. This year's budget is €2.3 billion. Senator Craughwell talked about the important issue of class K, as he has every year. I am glad Fianna Fáil is part of this Government. In the next few weeks we are going to see huge lump sum payments to families who are hugely in need. There will be a double child benefit, a €400 working family payment, €300 in fuel allowanc…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for representing us so well yesterday in Westminster at the opening of the House of Lords. We owe it to Senator O'Loughlin that we have a bank holiday on St. Brigid's Day. I commend her hard work in championing that cause. I want to raise the issue of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and the abysmal figures we are seeing. There is a huge increase in the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads due to speeding and people using their mobile phones. It is a huge problem, particularly…

As chair of the Oireachtas cross-party group on cancer, it was great to learn at the weekend that the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, will finally legislate to allow women undergoing cancer treatment during their maternity leave to defer that leave until their treatment ends. I do not need to explain to anyone in this House how important this is or what a huge difference it would make to these mothers, their children and their other family members. There was a hu…

I thank the Taoiseach for coming in to us today. It is great to have him in the Chamber. I just want to raise two big issues coming up to the budget. The first is disability and the hidden costs of disability. If someone has a child with a disability and he or she gets a diagnosis, there is a huge outlay in getting a private diagnosis because, as we all know, the assessment of needs system is not working. Then there is the huge cost of therapies because access to HSE therapies is pretty non-existent. There are 10,0…

I thank the Fianna Fáil group for this excellent motion. I congratulate An Garda Síochána and the Naval Service on their great work yesterday along the east coast. Listening to Senator Lombard, you would think gangland crime and associated murders were non-existent now. The huge haul yesterday only shows that the gangland criminal drugs industry is alive and well. Unfortunately, a lot of crime stems from that, especially in the area where I live, in Crumlin, Walkinstown and Kimmage, where such crime can be quite ba…

High visibility works. The Minister of State, Deputy Browne, and the Minister, while visiting Cherry Orchard about 18 months ago, put in place a plan to clamp down on the antisocial behaviour we had been reading about and attacks on gardaí. Since then, reports show that incidents of antisocial behaviour are not as prolific as they were at the time. On the issue of walking the streets of Dublin at night, as my colleague said, it is now considered a no-go to walk around town because it is just too dangerous. This is …

The Minister of State is Deputy James Browne.

I also wish to convey my sympathies to the family of Damien O'Reilly, in particular his fiancé Lisa, his children, Carly and Kyle, and his wider circle. Damien was a friend, and a colleague of many of us. He was a really happy-go-lucky guy and he will be sorely missed around this House by his colleagues and everyone in the Fianna Fáil Party. I also want to raise the issue of the childcare providers who are outside Leinster House today and who I had the opportunity to meet. From a parent's perspective, I am in the t…

I welcome the visitors from the university to the Public Gallery. I also join with my colleagues in thanking Martin Groves, Bridget Doody and all the team in the Seanad Office. People always describe the Seanad and the rest of the Oireachtas as being like a swan going along gracefully while underneath there is much going on that we do not see. I thank all the staff of the Oireachtas, including our ushers, caters and cleaners, who make this a beautiful place and a wonderful environment for us to work in. I thank eve…

I welcome the Minister. I thank the Labour Party for tabling this motion. It is really important and timely because we have the budget discussions. As my colleague said, there are 500,000 or more carers in the country. I have a son who has level three autism. He is non-verbal and has severe, challenging behaviours. I am constantly up at two in the morning, but I have a privileged life. I am a Senator. I have a great job, which I love, but it is tiring. I am here to represent those who do not have the privilege that…

In this Commencement matter, I call on the Minister for Health to provide an update on the pilot lung cancer screening programme and to indicate when a full programme will be rolled out nationally. Lung cancer is one of the biggest killers in Ireland, accounting for 22% of cancer deaths in males and 20% of such deaths in females. There are 2,500 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed every year and 1,800 deaths annually. Unfortunately, approximately 70% of lung cancers are currently detected at quite an advanced stage,…

I would just like to follow up on that. European, Dutch and Belgian trials confirmed that very low dose CT screening in people at high risk of developing lung cancer demonstrated a reduction in mortality rate of 26%. This is factual scientific evidence. The European Respiratory Society has urged countries across Europe to implement lung cancer screening programmes without delay. The technology in this area is advanced. As legislators and policymakers, we are always going to be a little behind the technology and the…

All of us in the Seanad and the Dáil have had much communication from people and proponents against the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022. Some are well-meaning and others are not but for many people, there is a huge feeling that we need to properly debate this Bill. The House should be used as a forum to deliver legislation on racism and hate crime. There is definitely more of it around as we have more people coming into our communities. Our colleague last week gave a …

I also want to mention the auto-enrolment scheme. When the Deputy Leader was Minister for Social Protection it was something she was working on. Ultimately 750,000 are possibly holding off getting a private pension because they are waiting on the auto-enrolment scheme. It is great to see the Oireachtas committee working on it but we have been waiting on it a long time. I hope that finally there is a good push to ensure that it is brought in without delay, as soon as possible. I was very disappointed to read a repor…

I wish to mention today’s presentation by Cara Darmody in the audiovisual room, which was organised by my colleague, Senator Keogan. Cara has been here 13 times since January. She is a 12-year-old girl who sat her junior certificate last year in aid of her local school and the school of her young brothers who have severe autism and are non-verbal. She is now sitting the leaving certificate maths to raise money for AsIAm and Family Carers Ireland. It was important to listen to her voice as a sibling and also her fat…

Today I raise the issue of July provision. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Autism which is chaired by my colleague, Senator Carrigy. Last July that committee issued a report which made a number of recommendations relating to July provision. We are getting a lot of feedback from parents who are telling us that many schools still do not have their July provision in place for this year and parents do not know what they are doing. In fairness, the Department has brought lots of schools into the programme and pr…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I welcome the Minister. I am pleased, together with my colleague, Senator O’Loughlin, to bring the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2023 before the House today. This Bill is of significant importance to me. A huge amount of time and effort has gone into bringing it to this point, including hours of consultations with patients, doctors, stakeholders and meeting with the Minister’s office back in 2020. My colleague and I owe a huge gratitude to the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, and Kate Butle…