I want to raise the annual school transport crisis that a lot of families face. It is particularly pertinent in rural areas, particularly where I am living in Carlow-Kilkenny. We all know that back to school time for parents and families is incredibly stressful. There is huge expense. Parents are also having to scramble to find alternative ways to get their children to school. This time around, we saw Bus Éireann notifying parents at the last minute, and in some cases just a week before school was due to start, tha…

I want to raise the issue of the planned inquiry into the State's care of children with spina bifida and scoliosis, following the recent publication of the scoping exercise report. It is clear from the initial reaction to the report that many families and campaign groups have serious concerns about how it is structured, the proposed structure and the terms of reference of the inquiry. It is critical that the inquiry commands the confidence of the affected families. They have suffered enough and if it does not, it s…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Murnane O'Connor. There was a bit of a delay, but I am delighted to see her here because it is great to have a Minister of State from the Department. I am very happy that we waited to have the correct Minister of State in place. I thank the Minister of State so much. I raised the issue of low staffing levels at St. Luke's Hospital in February in the Chamber alongside Senator Noonan. I do not think it was a Minister or Minister of State from the Department who answered o…

I thank the Minister of State. I am glad to hear that the staffing will remain separate to St. Luke's and it will not draw from it, because, as the Minister of State mentioned, there were concerns around that. It is good to have that confirmation that it will not be drawn from the same pool. I am delighted that work is progressing. I hope that we open the unit as soon as possible because the key thing is it will also alleviate a lot of pressure on St. Luke's accident and emergency department as well as a consequenc…

I add my voice of support to Nikita Hand. She has shown the most incredible resiliency throughout the past several years. It is amazing to see someone put themselves forward so vulnerably and push progress along when it comes to what people understand about sexual violence and what it does to an individual. This week, new research from the National Youth Council of Ireland found that nearly seven out of ten young people are considering moving abroad for a better quality of life. While these figures are not necessar…

I thank the Minister of State for coming here for the debate. I recognise that in his opening statement he talked about the need to periodically review the legal framework around citizenship and it is important that we have space for this discussion. It is great to have space for this debate without the context of the legislation. However, my concern is that how it was announced has created a huge amount of concern among our migrant community, many of whom are on the pathway or believed they were on the pathway to …

I want to raise the serious concern around the glacial pace at which the new mother and baby mental health unit is progressing. We have reporting today from The Journal that nearly ten years after the unit was first recommended in 2017, a decision has yet to be made on where to locate the unit on the grounds of St. Vincent's. That is almost ten years, which is completely unacceptable. It is also an indictment of the State's approach and attitude to maternal mental health. Multiple feasibility studies have been cond…

I lend my support to the condolences as well, particularly to Senator Craughwell. Over the past few days, and throughout August, we had consistent attacks on the International Criminal Court, ICC, by Trump's Administration, most recently with the plan to have sweeping sanctions against the entire court. It is an incredibly troubling escalation and attack on our international justice mechanisms. They are effectively aiming to dismantle the systems and the institutions of international law and take a sledgehammer to …

Senator Harmon and I are sharing time.

I thank the Minister for coming in. This is a really positive step. I am delighted she is pushing it forward. By and large, the oral contraceptive is incredibly safe. A lot of well-studied medicines are available. Over-the-counter oral contraception has been recommended by the WHO since 2019. I understand that this process has been endorsed by the Irish Pharmacy Union, which is unequivocal that there is no clinical reason for this not to be done. I recognise that it is going to alleviate pressure on GPs and expand …

Not all pharmacists are business owners.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 7, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “ “emergency” means a situation where the State is experiencing a significant and protracted physical disruption of gas supply, or other catastrophic deterioration of the supply situation, and where— (a) all relevant market-based measures have been fully implemented, exhausted, and proven insufficient to meet gas demand, and (b) non-market-based measures must be introduced to safeguard gas supplies to protected customers, in accord…

When the Minister first introduced the legislation, the facility was specifically referred to as State-led and that it would be a State-owned gas storage facility. We have not had the assurances from the Minister that the facility will be State-owned. Well, pardon me, the Minister has said that it will be State-owned, but that is not legislated for in the Bill. This is about making sure that the line in the Title of the Bill reflects that it will be State-led and State-owned.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I wish to discuss the third phase of the women's health task force and action plan. Women's health has been neglected for too long in Ireland. Our pain has been minimised. Our voices are absent from medical research. Since my time as a Senator, I have been contacted by many women who have shared their health journeys with me. It is usually stories of frustration, long delays, disbelief at the system, disappointment and the experience of medical gaslighting. Some women ou…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. On the €180 million, the annual health budget last year was €27 billion. I am aware that women's health supports are covered in the annual health budget. In that context, the €180 million since 2020 for women's health feels shockingly small. I have tabled a parliamentary question on this and the Department's response will share the breakdown of where the €180 million goes. It is a question around the commitment to multi-annual funding for research and how we are using t…

I thank the Minister of State for coming back to the House. I know when we left off we were talking about the question that Senator Ruane talked about, which is the term "gagging" and how it can be evocative and uncomfortable because no one wants to feel they are doing that. However, we strongly believe the provisions laid out in this Bill will make it very difficult for the CEO to express opinions on Government policy and to be scrutinised as a witness in committees. In order for the CEO to properly regulate and s…

I move amendment No. 36: In page 27, to delete lines 35 to 38.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. I will speak to amendment No. 61, which is linked to what Senator Higgins was just referring to on the 14-day notice period for revocation or amendment of a real world testing permit for high risk systems. I will add to what Senator Higgins discussed. The idea there would be a 14-day window through which a harmful, high-risk system is allowed to continue implementing or using the practice that has been found to break some sort of regulation is nuts. The Grok AI scandal is a perfect, recent example of how the p…