I speak about two issues. The first relates to student fees. As we heard over the weekend, the Minister, Deputy Lawless, announced the intention to again increase student fees by €1,000 in the upcoming budget. I have been contacted by many students and families over the past 48 hours who are extremely stressed and worried about this and the lack of clarity in relation to it. We know from a study last year by UCC students' union that more than a quarter of students have gone to class hungry. We know that rents are r…

I wish to briefly speak to support and second the amendment. I welcome the women in the Gallery. I thank them so much for being here. It is wonderful to have them here for this debate. I thank them for their continued campaigning and advocacy. I commend my colleague, Senator Boyhan, on his powerful contributions and advocacy on this. This amendment is extremely important because it is about follow-through and ensuring that we monitor and evaluate the scheme and the uptake of it, the range of supports that have been…

I I wanted to put on the record why I oppose the Bill. While it contains good measures, from my perspective and that of the Labour Party, we believe that anyone who spent so much as a minute in one of these institutions should be able to access redress, and those who were boarded out should be included as part of this as well. In terms of other jurisdictions, we saw mass trafficking of children from this country in the 20th century. Those who are living with this now, in the US and Britain, should not have to choos…

I thank the Minister for engaging with us on this. I commend the Bill and support my colleague, Senator Clonan. He has been more than reasonable and fair in requesting that the delay not be 18 months but that we could look to December of this year. That should be ample time to get this in order. I do not think anyone in the Chamber should apologise for showing emotion. I think the public likes to see our public representatives have humanity. This is a deeply concerning issue that affects so many of our fellow citiz…

The changes proposed by the US Administration regarding visas, including J1 one visas, are concerning. There is a proposal that authorities would potentially check back over five years of people's social media handles before they can be accepted onto the J1 visa programme. This is an unwelcome measure. It is intrusive and will have a chilling effect on people's freedom of expression. It is welcome that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have made remarks against the proposal, and that the Tánaiste will raise it with th…

The Minister is welcome to the House. The way these measures have been communicated has been extremely confusing. Things were said at press conferences and in press releases. There were messages from the Minister and Taoiseach. This has been confusing for the public in general. The whole country should be a rent pressure zone in the long term. There is a huge missed opportunity in these measures to do that on a more long term basis. Many of these measures will mean that there will be rent hikes for many people acro…

I welcome the Minister. It is great to have him here. I want to focus on Cork. The national planning framework 2040 anticipates that Cork will become the fastest growing city region in Ireland, with a projected 50% to 60% increase in its population by 2040. This increased demand must be supported by travel infrastructure. In order to decarbonise and create a more connected city, the Government must deliver more active transport and a stronger bus network. The publication of the preferred Luas route for Cork was wel…

I thank the Minister for being here for this important discussion. I thank my fellow Senators, especially Senator Costello for all of her advocacy and awareness raising. I am learning so much being part of these discussions in the Seanad. Like many others here, I did not receive any education through school on breast cancer, checking our breasts and what we need to do in terms of minding our health. When it comes to breast cancer, one of the most important things is getting seen to in a timely manner. Despite the f…

I welcome the Minister of State. I am pleased to support this important Bill from Senator Noonan. I am delighted that the Cross-Party Group is bringing this forward as part of our Private Members’ time this evening. It is important that we pass this Bill without delay. There has already been too much delay in terms of addressing not only the housing crisis but also the high levels of dereliction and vacancy throughout the country. I will speak in particular about Cork, where I am from. We see report after report bu…

I thank my colleague Senator Patricia Stevenson for co-ordinating some actions by the Opposition today to highlight what is happening in Palestine and Gaza. Palestine is a mirror to humanity's soul at the moment. With every day that we do not act, the soul of our humanity is dying. We know that more than 55,000 people have been killed in Gaza. The song says, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", but the genocide is being televised. I want to be clear: resistance to barbarism comes at a cost. It is not free. We ha…

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1: To delete “Michael McDowell” and substitute the following: “Nessa Cosgrove”.

I welcome the Minister and look forward to engaging with him in respect of his brief. I congratulate him. It is great to see the work he has been doing so far. I want to raise a couple of issues briefly, the first being student housing. Funding really needs to be unlocked for the technological university sector. It needs to be allowed to borrow money to purchase and build purpose-built student accommodation. Also, we need to have a proper student housing strategy. I believe one is due to be finished in quarter 2 of…

The European project is a wonderful and impactful project that has contributed to so many progressive laws in this country in employment, human rights, women's rights and the environment. We must protect the progress that has been made and the rights that have been won and guard against any rowing back of that. Last week I was fortunate to visit the European Parliament with some of my Labour Party colleagues. We were visiting our own MEP, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. It is very important we have representation across all gro…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. My question concerns radiation therapists and machines that are currently not operating in some hospitals throughout the country. Some are not operating at full capacity due to staffing issues. I am aware my question overlaps the Departments of Health and further and higher education. There is an estimated shortfall of between 30% and 35% in radiation therapists nationally and the unfortunate consequence of this staffing deficit means a number of linear accelerators, wh…

I thank the Minister of State for the response and for providing clarity on my questions. It is welcome that the deficit in radiation therapy posts has been reduced from 30% down to 14% to 22%. That is still quite a high deficit, but it is welcome that progress has been made on it. Regarding the 0.5 of a machine inactivity rates in the areas the Minister of State mentioned, is that daily, weekly or annual? I wanted to get clarification in regard to that. It is good to get clarity in regard to the €23 million and th…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I will share my time with Senator Nessa Cosgrove, who will be seconding the proposal. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and welcome him to the House. I thank him for his engagement on this issue to date. I know the Minister and the Government are also keen to find a solution to this and have been looking at solutions to this. I want to work collaboratively with the Minister on this. I believe we can work together to get this Bill passed through both Houses.…

I thank the Minister, Jim O'Callaghan, for engaging with this today and for his clearly considered response to this Bill and his frank comments relating to it. It is welcome that the Cabinet has approved this in the sense of not opposing it at this stage. I welcome his positive remarks regarding some aspects of the Bill and the substance of the Bill itself. I take on board the three points he made in terms of how the Bill can be more precise and how we can improve precision relating to it. We all acknowledge that, …

Next Tuesday.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am delighted to be the Labour Party's spokesperson on disability and further and higher education. I look forward to engaging with her constructively over the coming months and years. This year will mark seven years since Ireland ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Having now signed up to the optional protocol, considerable work remains to be done to deliver inclusive communities in this country. It is great to hear the Minister of Stat…

I thank the Minister of State for being here and thank the Tánaiste for his remarks. It is fair to say we are in a period of a lot of change in the world. The world order has changed. I do not believe Trump is the leader of the free world, and democracy is being eroded across the US and across the world. It is worrying that he has abolished the national Department of Education in the US, is weakening the media and is denying climate change. Alongside his comments on women and his xenophobic comments, all of this is…