I welcome the Minister back to this House and to the Houses of the Oireachtas following her maternity leave. I am in favour of hate crime legislation. It is not before time that we are updating the position. However, I have some concerns about the legislation and more so about what is not in the legislation rather than what is. Specifically, I am concerned at the lack of antisemitism protection in the legislation for Jewish people. There is also some vagueness in parts I would like to see cleared up. I will be tabl…

The Minister is always welcome to the Seanad. I do not know where to begin with his statement because it is so large. Having more than €1 billion in funding available is phenomenal. The Minister also mentioned primary care centres, surgical hubs and the national children's hospital. It is all fantastic work and we are very happy with progress and the amount of money that has been rightly designated for these major infrastructural projects. I hope the national children's hospital will be up and running in the very n…

On Tuesday, 13 June at 1 p.m.

Now.

Now.

I thank the Minister and his officials for progressing this legislation. Although technical in nature, it is very important because it ties up loose ends and provides for a more streamlined health service. We will all benefit from that. I thank everybody involved.

I welcome the Minister. We very much welcome the Bill coming to the House. It will streamline and modernise our health service and I commend him on taking those steps because they are long overdue. He outlined comprehensively the system of registration for social care workers, and the complaints investigation function of the Medical Council will be strengthened and enhanced by the Bill, which is important in this era of greater awareness and greater participation of patients in their own care. The enabling of holde…

Next Tuesday.

Next Tuesday at 1 p.m.

I am very proud to second this motion. Before I start, I acknowledge the work my colleague Senator Fitzpatrick has put into this but also Senator Ardagh, who cannot be here tonight, unfortunately, to second this motion. I am standing in her place. She has done an awful lot of work. She is a passionate supporter of Dr. Kathleen Lynn and like her is a former student of Alexandra College. I know the college is very proud of Dr. Lynn's legacy and is in full support of our motion tonight. That is really important to not…

A pat on the back for them.

The brass neck of it, though.

I am proud to stand here with my colleagues today and commend them on the work they have done on this extremely important Bill. IVF is a treatment for infertility. As my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, has said, the WHO views infertility as a disease. IVF is quite an effective treatment for that disease but, unfortunately, IVF treatments have not been fully publicly funded and I hope that this Bill will move things along. This matter is something on which the Minister has engaged with both Senators Ardagh and O'Loug…

Now.

Now.

I congratulate the Minister and the officials on the passing of the Bill in the Seanad. It is a momentous day for them. I know how hard they have worked on it and how important it is, especially to patient advocates. We all know the names of patient advocates throughout the country. There was Vicky Phelan, of course, and other unfortunate victims of the CervicalCheck scandal. This is a very important day. I congratulate everybody involved. I hope this marks an important turning point in patient safety.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. He is always welcome to the Seanad and is one of our most frequent ministerial visitors, such is the pace of the work in the Department of Health, which includes the preparation of all the Bills he is bringing forward. This is a fantastic day. This short Bill is really significant for the people of Ireland. It speaks to the Minister's commitment, reflective of his core republican values, which are Fianna Fáil values, to the achievement of universal healthcare. The fees dealt with in the…

Next Thursday.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, to the Chamber. I thank him for coming to discuss this very important matter which is the issue of the lack of a women's refuge in north County Dublin. North County Dublin has the fastest growing population in the country. I am very lucky to live there and represent the area but there is an acute need for a women's refuge and an awful lot of other services in the area. The services that are there are severely under pressure, or in many instances, are not actually avai…

I thank the Minister of State for that response. I appreciate it. I know Fingal County Council is working with agencies to find the site and deliver this, and that the Housing Agency is linking in with it. I feel there is a role for the Department of Justice to co-ordinate this, in light of the domestic violence strategy. I am glad there will be extra spaces in Wexford, Dundalk and Navan delivered by the end of 2024. That is very important in the context of provision on the east coast because the population expansi…