Once again, we have the delays with the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025. Obviously, I welcome the temporary legislation. We spoke about it last May. I wish to focus on a couple of slightly left-of-centre things we could do alongside that legislation. In Rjukan, Norway, a mirror was put on the mountains because no sun shone on the town in the winter as a result of the mountains. Through innovation, there is now sunlight in the town square. There are a lot of towns and villages in this count…

I said it to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste and will say it to the Minister of State: it is about time we had a citizens' convention on immigration and asylum policy that would include a lot of people who are now Irish citizens who came from elsewhere for a better life. We need to have this because the debate is not a zero-sum game in terms of extreme left to right ideology. It is about trying to see what best practice for us in Ireland is and for people who are coming to this country fleeing persecution. It is absolut…

I welcome the Victims of Sexual Violence Civil Protection Orders Bill 2025, which as others have said, aims to ensure a person subjected to sexual violence can be granted a civil protection order where an offence has been found to have been committed under criminal or common law. It is one step, as Deputy Carthy said, but it is an important step in adding to the legal protections available. It is separate to the existing civil restraining orders or section 28 orders we have and ties in with measures to stop someone…

There have been at least 16 meetings of the hearing care plan working group and meetings of subgroups but a report still has not been issued and has now been delayed by over six months into a projected timeline of quarter 1 of next year. Will the Minister outline why the scope has expanded so much beyond initial expectations? Will she confirm a commencement date and a timeline for the related public consultation?

The Minister mentioned things like workforce planning and obviously there are other issues like paediatric screening, adult rehabilitation pathways and integration with primary care. Can the Minister give any timeline for the public consultation? Will it definitely be in quarter 1 of next year? This arose back in August of last year when the then Minister, Stephen Donnelly, was basically implementing WHO recommendations on providing an holistic package of hearing services. I take the Minister's point and I welcome …

I know the Minister would be kept up to date on the reports of the subgroups. As she mentioned, there have been 16 of them so far and there will be a few more before we get the final report. Can she focus in some way on getting to monitor the specialists? Is there any scope to bring in experts from Northern Ireland, Scotland or England as part of one of the subgroups or is this already happening? This area is not very well covered nationally but it is hugely important. Hearing loss is a major issue in Ireland and t…

We need a full public inquiry into Lucan swimming pool, at least to the point of the termination of the contract of the most recent contractor, McLoughlin. The history of this pool is an absolute mess. In the 1980s, Lucan Community Council collected moneys for a leisure centre. People paid towards this and were promised a pool in phase 2. Unfortunately, the project went into debt with a bank loan to AIB and had to be bailed out by the council and Lucan leisure centre became owned by South Dublin County Council. Peo…

Now that the Minister of State has given the response, I can go into a little more of the nitty-gritty. The Minister of State mentioned the Covid issues and the restrictions on working practices, etc. The council was aware of this from an early stage but it took the word of the contractor. I have had stories told to me about electricians walking off site because they were not getting paid commensurate to the increases in costs. As they are obviously the ones who have to certify the work, this would have caused dela…

If you did a search of the contributions I have made in this Chamber since my re-election in November of last year, you would find that Gaza, the West Bank and Palestine in general will come up top. That is a sadness for me. The relentless genocide in Gaza is continuing, as is the ongoing occupation of the West Bank, including settlers murdering innocent people in the past week. It is ongoing. It is a systematic tearing apart of the West Bank. I mentioned in previous contributions that the Israeli state - either di…

I like a bit of banter. The EPA's 2025 water quality report highlights that agricultural pressures, particularly from nitrogen and phosphorous - I will focus on nitrogen - from livestock manure, fertilisers, etc., remain the dominant threat to our rivers, lakes and especially our estuaries. The nitrates directive has been talked about for many years and Ireland's derogation is central to the findings in this and previous reports because stricter limits are now absolutely required to protect our water quality. This …

It is not really possible to talk about economic sustainability without environmental sustainability because the true cost of doing that business is not being taken into consideration. It is also about the impact on our tourism offering and jobs for people in rural areas and our viability as an industrial location in terms of our water quality. Many other factors are involved. Our healthcare system is also affected and the cost of our healthcare system is affected when our rivers are not at optimal quality. The Gov…

I was not able to listen to the Minister of State's earlier contribution so I am not sure what was said. However, I did read through the points that were made in relation to the meeting, and I have taken some notes. The key focuses were on Ukraine, the so-called Middle East peace process, defence readiness, competitiveness, the energy transition, digital sovereignty, migration and the ongoing enlargement process. I have a couple of comments to make on those. On the Ukraine issue, it is heartening that member states…

It is good that we have the opportunity to make some statements, particularly after the announcement that a tribunal of inquiry is to be set up. It is welcome news, but I will be very interested in the terms of reference when they are on paper and when we have sign-up involving all the families and children involved. We may have made some progress in reducing numbers, but more children are joining the lists and at a faster rate. There have been questions about why children were bumped off the list before. They have…

Comhghairdeas leis an iarAire, an Teachta Donohoe, as a phost nua sa Bhanc Domhanda. I also congratulate the newly appointed Ministers. I may not have agreed with his team's style of play but there is no doubt that as part of the collective, the former Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has been an outstanding leader in finance and especially during the tough times. I would say he is the veritable Séamus Coleman of his team. However, in terms of this team, he looked and said, "We are not going to make the playoffs", so he t…

Unfortunately, we have no Troy Parrott or Katie McCabe in our team who will take us to the next level, moving forward. A year ago, at the start of this Government, I said it was kind of a Chappell Roan moment - good luck, babes - because in five years' time, I was going to say I hate to say it but I told you so. We are one year through that now. If there is not going to be another Fine Gael Taoiseach for a long time to come, after Simon Harris, the Government should grab the bull by the horns and say, "We are going…

We need to continue showing solidarity with Ukraine in the face of this unjust war. The systematic targeting by Russia of civilians, medical facilities, maternity hospitals, and schools, along with the mass abduction and indoctrination of Ukrainian children, shows all the hallmarks of genocide. Ukraine is still facing an ongoing existential threat but is bravely fighting back against a much bigger aggressor. Almost four years on from the Russian invasion, we need to continue standing with Ukraine. In this context, …

It is fair to say that over the last decade in particular, Ireland has made some commendable efforts to foster a culture of scientific creativity and collaboration within the academic institutions and industry, and also in terms of policy development. You have to give credit where it is due. Obviously, it could be said that Science Week lies at the heart of this movement because it is a flagship initiative that predated the foundation of Science Foundation Ireland and its merger with the Irish Research Council to f…

I thought I was sharing time with Deputy Lawless. If he comes in, I will try to finish up quickly. Otherwise, I would like the opportunity to spend some time on this very important issue. I thank Deputy Farrelly for tabling the Bill, which is hugely important. We have had others in the past push towards it. Maybe society has changed and maybe we are getting to the point where we are ready to make this leap. It is a momentous leap, if we make it and it is a very important motion. First, I will address the Government…

We have had several discussions on this and related legislation associated with the budget. In some ways, we have tended to go around in circles. We are repeating the same things time and again because there have been no efforts to make any efforts to do what Opposition Deputies have suggested. On the one hand, I am not surprised but, at the same time, I am disappointed. I will look at the auto-enrolment section first. I agree with what colleagues have said about auto-enrolment and lower earners. Sometimes those wh…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate, however briefly. I agree with colleagues that the motor insurance rip-off has to end. I was calling for action on this issue 25 years ago and it is still going on. We have to increase competition. That is something we can do from an EU perspective. We also need measures to encourage better behaviour because, whether we like it or not, most accidents do involve younger drivers, especially male drivers. We need carrots and sticks. We need incentives. There was a…