Tá fáilte roimh an Aire chuig an bplé ar infheistíocht i seirbhísí don óige. I do not think I have to convince anyone here of the benefits of youth work and what it does for young people. It builds their confidence, develops skills and builds relationships - healthy ones, importantly. It supports positive mental health. We see emotional support and resilience and it encourages community involvement. The fact it is voluntary and not obligatory, like school is, makes all the difference. People choose to attend whatev…

I thank all of the Senators who contributed to the debate. It was a very positive debate and we all agree on practically all of the points and the importance of youth work, as does the Minister. I commend all of the organisations involved in youth work, whether providing a club, service or project, and I commend all the staff, paid and unpaid. Voluntary workers do so much good work. I also commend the young people who participate. The Minister mentioned Oíche na hÓige, which was very successful when it was run a fe…

I want to raise the package of measures the Government is to introduce this week, which it announced on Sunday and hopes to have before the Dáil later on. Actually, I want to rephrase that. I should have referred to half measures because they are not going to address the situation, just as the measures a few weeks ago did not address the then situation, as was predicted by my colleague Pearse Doherty in the Dáil. Any reduction in the price of diesel or petrol is just going to be wiped out by the continual rises in …

I ask for a point of clarification on something Senator Keogan said. She said that Sinn Féin voted in favour of taxes. Will she clarify what taxes she is talking about?

Could the Senator just clarify the one she was speaking about?

On a point of clarity, that is not true. Sinn Féin did not support the carbon tax so get your facts right, please, Senator.

I did not want to interrupt her when she was in full flow.

I was being respectful and asking the question afterwards but for clarification, Sinn Féin has not supported the carbon tax. It is a punitive tax.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach.

No. A protest was held in Cavan over the weekend. It started on Friday and went on until lunchtime yesterday. I attended on Saturday and Sunday for a number of hours and I went there because I wanted to talk to the people who were there. There were farmers, farming contractors and hauliers present, as well as lots of other people who were just there to support them. I did not witness any infiltration by far-right groups. In fact, I heard of instances where some people from the far right turned up and were told to g…

I want to raise the Before We Die campaign. There was a “Prime Time” programme last Thursday night that featured people from the campaign. It is a group of elderly parents of adults with intellectual disabilities who are living at home who are worried that there is no plan in place for accommodation for their children when the elderly parents pass away. Some parents said they hoped their son or daughter passed away before them, which is a terrible thing to say, because they are so worried about what will happen to …

The Minister of State is welcome. There is no doubt that we will have to pass this legislation today because if we do not, we leave the 1,000 or so people still in wardship in legal limbo. It is really unfortunate, however, that it has been left to the last minute. The Department, or the Minister of State's predecessor, must have foreseen that this issue would arise because only slightly more than a quarter of the people who were in wardship when the Act commenced three years ago have been discharged from wardship …

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a young carers conference. Senator Clonan was also in attendance that day. It was a very enlightening day that was held in University College Dublin, UCD. It was bringing awareness to the fact that, according to Family Carers Ireland, we had an estimated 67,000 young carers in Ireland who were carrying out unpaid care in the family caring for siblings who may have disabilities, parents with disabilities, illnesses or even addiction issues, or grandparents. Many do no…

On Monday of last week, Cavan County Council invited all the Oireachtas Members from Cavan and Monaghan to attend a council meeting to discuss the roads allocation. There were four Members of this House in attendance, namely, Senators Sarah O'Reilly, Joe O'Reilly, Wilson and I, as well as four of the five TDs representing the constituency. The Fianna Fáil councillors met the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, prior to Christmas about the roads allocation and how poor it is. We have approximately 3,000 km of local ro…

I was contacted by a lady named Vanessa. She has 12-old-year twins, John and Leah. John and Leah have dual diagnoses of autism and moderate intellectual disability, so they have quite complex needs. They both attend a special school. They are both non-verbal and they use an augmentative and alternative communication, AAC, device for communication. In recent months, they have both been trying hard to communicate - to talk - and they really need speech and language therapy. The last time a speech and language therapi…

I am sharing time with Senator Collins.

Ar dtús, is mian liom Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan sona a ghuí ar gach bean in Éirinn agus ar fud an domhain. I wish all women here in the Seanad and in the Dáil, all the female staff in the Houses of the Oireachtas and women all over the country a very happy International Women's Day. Some of the previous speakers have highlighted many positives that have happened and many progressive developments that have occurred. Today, I highlight the continuing high incidence of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Unfort…

The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is welcome. As the Minister, Deputy Naughton, acknowledged in her speech, the debacle over the past few weeks has caused much distress and worry to SNAs, parents, principals and teachers. It all arose from the result of the review of SNA allocation and how that was communicated and addressed. I commend the actions of SNAs, principals, teachers and parents who stood up and called out what they thought was very unfair. They only did so for parents to protect their children. Som…

I am a member of the committee on further and higher education. Last week, we published a report on apprenticeships that looked at how to improve apprenticeships for young people but also how to improve it for everyone involved. Part of that was how to encourage them not to go abroad or encourage those already abroad to come back and work here in Ireland. Quite a lot of money has been spent on adverts by the Government abroad encouraging Irish people to come back to Ireland to work. I was talking to one young man w…

I raise the meeting that took place in Cavan last night, which was organised by the IFA. There were hundreds of people in that room from counties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Donegal and all around the whole region. They are very angry, but they are also very steadfast. They are not backing down on this issue. The Minister needs to reconsider his decision to continue to back Larry Murrin as chair of Bord Bia. The actions of the chair of a board which guarantees quality-assured Irish produce in admittin…