The Minister is welcome. I acknowledge the amount of work he does. He is always in here passing legislation and that has to be acknowledged. I support many of the overall aims of the Bill, particularly section 7 on protecting counselling records, but I am disappointed that such an important issue has been bundled into a miscellaneous provisions Bill alongside a range of unrelated matters. The question of counselling notes deserves legislation in its own right. For survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse, th…

I was shocked at the comments of Deputy Richmond last night. After attending the annual conference of the International Planned Parenthood Federation on Monday, he has committed to doubling its funding from the Irish taxpayer. There is something incredibly colonialist about the West's tendency to eagerly fund abortions in developing countries. I remember a time when Ireland would send food, water and clothing, but now we pay for impoverished mothers to abort their children. The constant push for more abortions from…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in on this very important issue. I too welcome this long-overdue Bill. Introducing regulation and independent oversight for private, home support providers is absolutely necessary to protect vulnerable adults, who are essentially inviting strangers into their home to care for them. That is why I would like greater clarity on how inspections will work in practice. Unlike residential settings, these services are delivered in private homes. How will HIQA ensure standards are ma…

I wish to speak about the events in Belfast recently. I am very concerned about the way events are being reported on after the attack in Belfast and in the context of the riots. Our role as politicians and legislators should be to talk about the difficult cases, the gaps in our legislation and how policy is shaping the state of our country. It cannot be the case that if we speak about violence in this country, such as an attempted beheading or a woman being killed in Galway, there are claims that we are adding to t…

Tonight in the Dáil, Deputies will be speaking on Report Stage of the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026. Within that Bill is a really important move to recognise counselling notes as legally privileged material. It is incredibly violating for victims of sexual abuse to have their counselling notes essentially handed over to their abuser and their legal team. I was listening to Paula Doyle on "Liveline" yesterday and I commend her courage in speaking out about the abuse she suf…

I would love to have about 20 minutes on this. I welcome this debate very much. I hope Minister of State is listening to the suggestions because this is a big bugbear of mine. Good suggestions have been made here today, but I do not see anybody taking notes and that bugs me too. We have harsh planning restrictions that have been a plague on rural communities, so I am delighted to see that the Government is finally listening to what we have been saying for years. We need to be careful about the rules, particularly l…

-----a brilliant idea on the edge of towns. I have loads more-----

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill, and I thank Senator Stephenson for bringing it to the House. I support and agree with this Bill. It is sensible legislation that addresses a clear gap in our law. It is not radical or complicated. All it states is that if Ireland has rules governing what can pass through our airspace, then we should have the means to enforce those rules. At the moment, this is not the case. The law requires permissions for weapons of war to be carried through Irish airports or Irish …

I said nothing wrong.

This is not about Deputy Buttimer.

It is about the Minister, who very rarely stands in this House. He has been requested to stand in this House but has not. It is not about Deputy Buttimer. What I have said is factual. It is not insulting to anybody.

It is factual and I will not withdraw anything. It is happening again. This Bill deserves a response from the line Minister.

In 2024, before I was a Member of this House, many TDs and Senators raised concerns about the EU migration pact. It was passed by a slim majority of seven votes in the Dáil Chamber. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, has repeatedly stated that a large number of asylum seekers enter the State via the North of Ireland. When challenged on how this issue could be addressed, the Minister stated the only way to stop it completely would be to impose a hard border. If that is the Minister's assessment of the challenge w…

I move amendment No. 4: In page 4, to delete lines 14 to 19 and substitute the following: “(3) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that an award made by a body empowered to make awards pursuant to an international agreement to which this section applies is not, and never was, enforceable in the State if enforcing the award would— (a) conflict with the constitutional order of the State, (b) conflict with the autonomy of the legal order of the European Union, or (c) materially impair the capacity of the…

I am speaking to amendment No. 4. I will start by saying that I was disappointed by the response of the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, during the previous debate. Rather than engaging with the substance of the amendment, he sought to portray those in opposition as somehow being anti-trade. No one is arguing against trade with Canada. No one is arguing against Irish business exporting, creating jobs or accessing new markets. The issue is the investor courts and the lack of protection for the State should this legi…

I have only been here for the very short time of a year but I am trying to get to grips with things. Sometimes, when people are talking, I ask myself what did they actually say. There were an awful lot of words there but I do not think the Minister of State addressed what we are looking for here today. On the capacity of the State being materially impaired to legislate or regulate in the public interest, we have really been trying to stress our point on that over and over and in different ways to get the Minister o…

That is-----

I second the amendment.

Irish households are being asked once again to carry the burden of rising electricity costs while some of the wealthiest corporations in the world continue to expand their energy demand across this country. A new report warns that households could pay up to an additional €644 on electricity bills over the next decade because of the growth of data centres. Collectively, that could amount to well over €1 billion taken from ordinary families due to higher energy costs. Data centres now consume 22% of Ireland's electri…

Before I address amendment No. 12, I want to respond briefly to comments made by the Minister of State during the previous debate. He accused me, and only me among all of those who spoke, of presenting information that was factually incorrect regarding CETA. I was not given an opportunity to reply at the time. He quoted from Article 8.9(2) but conveniently omitted the exception in the agreement to which I was explicitly referring. The agreement states: When applying the above fair and equitable treatment obligation…