If the last hour has proven anything to me, it is that in many ways the Minister has got his way with bringing Committee Stage to the floor of the Dáil. There are 270 amendments and we will not get close to any of them. There will be no scrutiny of the Minister's family reunification changes that are horrendously cruel. There will be no scrutiny of the Minister's places of detention health screening. We may as well throw the amendment book out the window. Next week, we in the Social Democrats will pick a particular…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. It is ironic that he holds the role as Minister of State with responsibility for older people when my Topical Issue relates to people on the other end of the life cycle. There is a desperate need for critical care expansion at the Rotunda Hospital. All of us have childhood memories that will stay with us for life. Mine come from about 31 years ago. My two younger brothers, Alan and Paul, were born quite prematurely, each weighing about 1 lb or 1.5 lb, and…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I listened carefully to it and read the words. I heard the Taoiseach today and listened to the Minister for Health on the radio this morning. Everybody shares the frustration. I understand the Minister is going to meet the master of the Rotunda, Professor Sean Daly, in two weeks. I met him yesterday. It is vital that when the Minister for Health goes to meet the master of the Rotunda, she brings options to the table. What we need here is not just collective lamentatio…

We usually share time at the start of a motion.

It is fair to say I am about to speak on a Bill which, at first, I did not fully understand. It is not one that, when you sit down to read it initially, will get your blood boiling and make you excited, but that is exactly what good administration should be about because when public procurement becomes exciting, it usually means that something has gone wrong, and we have seen too many instances of that. This Bill probably shapes people's lives in a way that they will not fully understand just yet. This is about how…

Yes, but I thought the Ceann Comhairle was going to give us back the time.

We are very excited.

Get the violin.

The opposite of restorative justice is the retraumatising of victims and yesterday survivors of the Stardust tragedy expressed feelings of shock and retraumatisation following the Government's announcement. Survivors were told clearly that this would not be a one-size-fits-all scheme. The Taoiseach confirmed in a memo to the Government that exceptionality would be recognised. The Minister stood up in the Dáil and repeated that commitment. What was announced yesterday was a flat payment, finalised without the promis…

Will the Taoiseach's Department meet survivors and their legal representatives?

I acknowledge Sinn Féin for bringing forward this welcome Bill. I will support it because it responds to a harm that is no longer hypothetical and no longer something we can say the law has time to catch up with. Only today, Ireland's Online Safety Commissioner said she was "horrified" by what she saw when testing the AI system Grok. She was horrified that it could generate sexualised, degrading images of people who never consented and never could consent. That is not a campaign group talking. This is the State's o…

I thank Deputies Hayes and Quaide for bringing this motion before us and for their commitment in respect of this matter. Effective parliamentary exchange often involves a contest of beliefs. Some people hold certain values while others hold different values. That is an exchange. However, this motion also includes what are just facts. If I mention a fact that the Minister disputes or says is not true, he should feel free to call me out. The first fact is that "disabled people in Ireland are among the most socially e…

The motion before us asks the Dáil to decide whether Ireland should exercise its opt-in, under Protocol 21, to participate in an EU agreement governing the transfer of passenger name record data between the European Union and Switzerland, for the purposes of counterterrorism and serious crime. Obviously, this is a decision that matters, not because co-operation with Switzerland is in any way controversial on its own but because passenger name record systems are, by design, a form of bulk data processing. They apply…

Schools.

There is a world in which this Bill could have been a turning point. This was potentially an opportunity to build an international protection system that would put dignity, fairness, care and, yes, efficiency at the heart of how we treat people who come to our country seeking protection. We had one such vision. We had the Catherine Day report, which stated we should move away from privatisation, build public, not-for-profit accommodation and build trust. We had a chance to honour that. Instead of seizing the opport…

I return to the scourge of scramblers. Despite the assurance the Taoiseach gave earlier, the fact of the matter is it should not have taken as long as it has taken to get to this point. The legislation passed in 2023 to give effect to the control of scramblers and enforcement had provision for a prohibition on the use of scramblers in urban communities. Last night, I watched a person of extraordinary courage, Siobhán Lynch, 24 hours after the death of her daughter, stand in front of her community and family and say…

I ask the Minister to present to us the total number of people granted permission to enter the State under the family reunification scheme, where the sponsor held refugee or subsidiary protection status in 2025.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I am very familiar with the differences between the three schemes, which is why I very specifically framed my question in the context of the family reunification scheme under the refugee scheme. I am glad the Minister gave me an exact figure of 669 because I found it quite eye-opening when he was doing an interview with "RTÉ News: Six One" a couple of weeks ago when this scheme was announced. He was asked the exact same question and his answer was that it was approximately 1,000. Ther…

In fact, it is almost 50% of a difference. I will go into the details of why family reunification is catered for under the Geneva Convention because it is very different. I could understand the logic if the Minister tells me that somebody comes here on a work visa and would need to be able to demonstrate. I can see that argument. I may not agree with it in its entirety but refugees have already gone through the system. They have proven their capacity to be eligible for refugee status and to have a family member her…

Again, I am very specifically referring to the refugee family reunification scheme. We have a high bar in this country already to achieve refugee status. In order to achieve that, the person needs to demonstrate that they fled war or persecution or that their family is from a place where loss of life would have been a possibility or where there is a direct threat to life. It is actually only 669 people and it is immediate spouse, your wife, your husband, your child or, in the case of a child that has come here, it …