I will not be attending the debate on International Women's Day later, so I am going to use my time this morning to refer to it. Fifty-one per cent of the population in Ireland are women, so all things being equal, we should have equal representation in the Oireachtas. The population of Cork is 50% women, yet only one woman TD, my party leader, Deputy Holly Cairns, was elected in all of Cork’s constituencies. There are only four women TDs for all of Munster. Fourteen constituencies in Ireland have no women represen…

SNAs are not optional extras or nice to have. It sometimes feels like this Government is treating them as an afterthought. In the context of my contribution, I am going to rely heavily on the words of those who have seen at first hand the realities of providing care for children with special needs. I specifically thank my colleagues councillors Lesley Byrne, Jesslyn Henry and Samantha O'Flanagan for their activism in this area. When the Government thinks of cutting SNAs from specific schools without recognising the…

I thank the Minister. It is obviously a timely debate. I was at the infrastructure committee earlier where we were talking about procurement. I will spend some time talking about that challenge of doing procurement well. Our procurement and tendering process has so many gaps that are leading to big scandals like the national children’s hospital where repetitive change orders are being put in place. I would love to know what we can do to strengthen this process. There is also the question of quality procurement. We …

I thought the Senator was laughing at me. Maybe he was laughing at something else. The planning element is important, but there is an issue with the number and resourcing of planners in local authorities as well as with the backlog in cases that planners are addressing. We have had complex planning legislation over in the past few years and planners say it is very difficult to keep up with the regulation. With the frameworks around planning continuing to change, it makes their jobs even more difficult. This leads t…

I want to address the issue of civil legal aid. It is an issue that deeply impacts women experiencing domestic violence. Two weeks ago, Women's Aid painted for the justice committee a stark picture of the barriers to justice for survivors of domestic violence because of the long-term systemic failure to resource the Legal Aid Board. Legal aid should, in theory, remove barriers for accessing justice, but it does not work like that in practice in Ireland. In 2024, FLAC answered over 11,000 queries, of which 500 were …

We all accept that the State needs to manage migration. However, any migration Bill must be grounded in human rights, fairness and the rule of law. It must reflect our obligations under international protection frameworks and indeed our own values, but this Bill raises serious concerns on both points. I am deeply concerned that key safeguards for vulnerable applicants remain absent, particularly around the provision of age assessment. The provisions are unclear and lack the fundamental child-centred principles requ…

St. Luke's Hospital is the seventh biggest hospital in the country. There are very few hospitals in the centre of the country, which leads to St. Luke's having a huge catchment area, well beyond counties Carlow and Kilkenny, and the surrounding hospitals are not performing well. Yet in St. Luke's, posts remain unfilled across cardiology, dermatology, respiratory medicine, rheumatology and neurology. These are not peripheral specialties. They are at the core of a service for any modern model 3 hospital. St. Luke's i…

In the final seconds I also reiterate that it would be good for the HSE to meet the hospital staff. While we recognise that there is additional staffing in place, it is over-reliant on agency staff to meet the basic needs. That is so costly for the HSE, as we know. I reiterate the point on the perceived lack of balance in terms of how St. Luke's as a model 3 hospital has been treated in relation to other model 3 hospitals around the country.

I really agree with the spirit of this motion and I am delighted we have the opportunity to discuss these issues because they are pertinent and pervasive and they affect everyone across the country. I have a challenge with some of the wording, such as "Seanad Éireann ... agrees that ... Ireland has a robust online safety framework". We are repeatedly told Ireland has some of the strongest online safety regulation in Europe. I do not think we can make that argument given what we have seen over the past few months. W…

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the war in Ukraine. Across Ireland over the past few days there have been vigils that have been both sober and emotional for the Ukrainians who are living here. Since the beginning of the war Russia has abducted around 35,000 Ukrainian children but that figure could actually be much higher. So far, more than 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, including 739 children, due to the relentless and indiscriminate attacks from Russia, according to figures from the UN. I w…

I thank the Minister of State for coming. It would have been much better to have the Minister from the relevant Department here because of the nature of this Commencement matter. It is pretty disappointing that the Minister is not here. Commencement matters should not be selected if the Minister in question is not available. The whole value of this was to be able to speak to someone from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Actually, I am not sure if there is much point in doing this, but anyway we are here now.

I would have withdrawn this Commencement matter and submitted it at a more appropriate time with the Minister in question.

The European Convention on Human Rights has played a crucial role in bringing peace to this island. It is the cornerstone of the Good Friday Agreement and it is about an external mutual framework which has provided much-needed trust for communities emerging from conflict. The Irish Government has historically emphasised that any weakening of the ECHR poses a risk to the Good Friday Agreement. Irish governments have rightly been critical of the long-running campaign in Britain regarding the dilution of and withdrawi…

I ask the Minister of State to outline specifically and to be clear on whether Ireland will advocate for the protection of all elements of Article 3 and Article 8. We cannot pick and choose fundamental rights; they are fundamental. The Minister of State has said the Government is unwavering. There was wavering in December; the joint statement represented wavering. The Minister's comments in his speech in December regarding the need for clarity about inhumane and degrading treatment are concerning. Case law from the…

I want to make a point for the record. It is nothing to do with the Minister of State but I understand that, under Standing Orders, I am now unable to submit a similar Commencement matter for six months. I would have withdrawn it and waited to have the Department here. It is very frustrating when the Department does not inform us in advance that not one Minister under its brief will be present to answer the questions. I do not think it respects the integrity and role of this House.

The Minister used the term "soundbites". I sometimes wonder about that. We speak to people all the time who have serious concerns about the impact this will have on them. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, was in the House yesterday. He mentioned that Threshold and various other organisations were consulted with regard to the Bill. I want to make it clear that I am here because I am concerned about the very real impact this will have on people who are not able to afford to pay their rent. Threshold is concer…

I would like to ask the Minister a quick question. One of the Senators said we are all inconsistent on this side of the Chamber between what we say inside and outside here. I personally would like to know how I am inconsistent, because I actually think I am not inconsistent in my policies and values that are based in human rights, equality and social justice. I think I march to that beat and drum in here and in my personal life and in public life outside of the Chamber. I will comment on the reason for these amendm…

To say we should have used our time when we had it is pretty egregious in the context of such important legislation, which is being guillotined. There is no doubt about that. We heard from the other side of the Chamber that we were filibustering but we are just trying to have a meaningful debate about legislation we fundamentally think will not reduce rents. The Government side believes it is-----

I appreciate Senator Casey believes this is going to provoke change but we do not. I thought having meaningful debate was the whole role of the Seanad. Sorry if I am misunderstanding the idea of scrutiny and the extra perspectives we are supposed to bring.

Thank you, Senator. We are reaching eviction rates not seen in Ireland since the 1850s. How evocative and how horrifying. This is from an article by RTÉ, so if our national broadcaster is presenting misleading information we can take that up with it. It is from something we would call a trusted news source. This Bill is going to see more evictions. The Minister will talk about the six-year tenancy but I have mentioned before I have sat in this Chamber for hours of debate to discuss this legislation because I care a…