I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad to discuss this ground-breaking legislation. I commend him on introducing it because it is long overdue. It brings us into line with best practice in other leading European countries. The Minister has quite ably outlined the two aspects to this, the organ retention and post mortem side of it, and the organ donation side of it. As he mentioned, more than 600 people are on the organ transplant list. Our colleague and friend, Councillor Gail Dunne, is one of those 600. He …

People are waiting on this. They have waited for this Bill for years. The Irish Kidney Association and many others have been working towards this day and the completion of this Bill. I commend the Minister on working so hard to bring this about. Organ donation has always been a difficult topic to discuss with next of kin because such discussions invariably happen in the context of a very tragic and often very sudden situation. They might take place following a car accident or another type of accident, maybe in the …

It was before my time.

Next Tuesday.

The Minister of State is very welcome. I realise this is not his Department so I appreciate his taking the time to come and answer this on behalf of the Minister for Justice. My Commencement matter concerns the long-awaited family law court complex at Hammond Lane. We are long past needing a new family law court complex for Dublin. Dolphin House and Phoenix House are not fit for purpose. The court users are vulnerable people, including people who have suffered domestic violence and children who are entering the Sta…

I am left feeling a bit cold after that answer, to be honest. It is not the Minister of State's fault - I know it is not his Department - but there was absolutely nothing in that that we did not know. I want to know why the projects were decoupled. When was that decision made? We all know the two Garda stations were decoupled. Why was that done? Why did the Minister say in October 2022 that the projects were proceeding as normal and then a couple of months later, they were decoupled because there was a big issue go…

That is very broad.

The second half is five years.

I start by welcoming ambassador H.E. Dana Erlich and Jeremy Wilmshurst from the British Embassy who are here in our Gallery to witness this very important debate and the range of views across the House. Like everyone, I am devastated at the scale of human suffering since 7 October. We have all been looking at appalling images on our television screens, on our phones and in our newspapers. The brutal act of terrorism perpetrated by Hamas on innocent Israelis shocked the world and, as the Tánaiste outlined, it is the…

I thank our colleague Senator Pauline O'Reilly and her colleagues in the Green Party for proposing this very important motion. It is great to have the opportunity to discuss it, coincidentally on World Menopause Day. We cannot discuss women's health enough because such discussions were sorely lacking for years. It was never discussed in these Houses or beyond it and that has stored up an awful lot of problems. Senator O'Reilly rightly pointed out that funding has increased year-on-year since the start of this Gover…

The Senator should join Fianna Fáil. He would be more suited.

Tomorrow at 9 a.m.

I will give a quick welcome. I acknowledge the work of Lusk ICA, which does tremendous work and has been supporting women in north County Dublin in rural areas for generations. This is a very strong branch that contributes an awful lot to the overall ICA network in Ireland. I am delighted to have them here today. I thank the Cathaoirleach for that welcome.

Whatever I say today will be completely inadequate next to Senator Clonan's contribution. I can hear the passion in his voice because he has been through this with a very vulnerable child who had to face a number of serious surgeries. Senator Conway, when he was a child, faced some very serious and life-altering surgeries. Like Senator Clonan, he has personal experience of this. We have all been shocked to the core by the revelations. We are still grappling in the dark because we do not know what happened. It is ve…

The Minister of State is very welcome. He and my colleagues will not find it any surprise that I will raise the issue of the family law court complex that was promised for a long number of years to be delivered at Hammond Lane. I have spoken about this ad nauseam since my election to this House back in 2016. I was very happy to see it included in the programme for Government that this site would at last be developed and a fit-for-purpose combined family law court complex would be delivered at Hammond Lane. What is …

What percentage-----

It is-----

I thank Senator O'Loughlin, who has plenty more to say on this issue. I appreciate the work she has put into this, and that of the women's caucus. It is a very important motion. It is very long but contains so many facets. It is very important that we have the conversation because, as she outlined and as is mentioned in the motion, care is very gender based. There is unpaid and paid care. Both forms of care are rarely mentioned. There is low pay in the paid care sector, which involves predominantly women in very pr…

Everyone is very welcome back. I wish to raise a matter I saw on the front of the Irish Mail on Sunday last week. I was very concerned to read the front-page story about the €14 billion hole in the national development plan budget. I believe a memorandum was brought to Cabinet today by the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, on this inflation-driven deficit. It is very concerning. The memo apparently indicated that projects such as the metro, DART+ and road projects would have to be recalibrated or scaled back and…

That is correct. We will speak for the six minutes each, with the agreement of the Chair and the House.