-----and whether or not-----

We must be careful to keep the record of this House correct. I certainly never called for another 1916 Rising. What I am saying is that we must have a republic that serves the interests of its citizens. Amendments Nos. 4, 5 and 6, as set out, seek to do that. I cannot understand why any Government of this Republic would oppose or not support those amendments for all of the reasons I have set out. We have to draw a distinction between what the Government does not like to hear and what it thinks is relevant or irrele…

On a point of order, that is not what I said and I ask the Minister of State to withdraw that remark. Apologies, I should be standing. It is not what I said. I am not calling for a 1916 rising. As a former member of Óglaigh na hÉireann, that is the last thing I would do. I ask the Minister of State to retract-----

I am sorry, I am speaking. I did not say what the Minister of State has just asserted and I ask him to retract what he said.

I thank the Minister of State.

I welcome the Minister of State. I commend our colleagues in Fianna Fáil on setting out this motion with clarity and detail. I thank my colleagues on this side of the House for their amendments. I echo all the sentiments expressed in this debate. We must be very clear that the blueprint for conflict in the 21st century is being firmly set out in Gaza. To the new term "urbanicide" coined to describe Russia's actions in Ukraine, we can now add "medicide" to describe the targeting of nurses, doctors and paramedics and…

We do. The Minister of State is out of his depth.

The Minister of State does not know what is happening. He said so in here. He is out of his depth.

I want to make a point of order on that.

On a point of order, the Minister of State interrupted my contribution to refute it. To be very clear for the record of this House, I have considerable consideration to what I said here and for it be refuted in that manner, to assert something does not make it so.

I have the proof that this is happening. The Minister of State does not know and cannot know and therefore cannot assert that there are no weapons transiting through Irish airspace. That is a credible assertion. I want to be clear, when I said he was out of his depth, it was because I was interrupted and because the observation he made is manifestly and self-evidently incorrect. That is all.

I want to raise two issues. One relates to a healthcare facility called Caleb's House in Carrigart, County Donegal. It is a state-of-the-art residential setting, ready to go and fully staffed with healthcare assistants and a person in charge. Unfortunately, the HSE and the regional health organisation are unwilling to provide the required funding that was promised initially. We have unmet needs for adults with intellectual disabilities throughout the Republic, and here we have a HIQA-approved facility that is ready…

Yes, the British security services were involved in the bombings in Dublin and Monaghan. In the same way the families of Omagh bombing victims would like to know who was responsible and what was known here in the Republic, I, as a Dublin person, and, I am sure, many in this Chamber would like to know who killed the 300 people who died as a result of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and what level of knowledge did the security services here have. What makes us different? When I made the statement last night, the Min…

Hear, hear.

I am proud to co-sponsor Senator Boyhan's motion. You might ask what a fellow from Finglas would know about farming. On my dad's side, they had a farm in County Meath near Killyon, Hill of Down, so I have been around cattle in the 1970s. I got sunburned on the bog in 1976, so I have some inkling. I wanted to talk about the great time of geopolitical turbulence in the 20th century, a time of dictators and unbridled aggression, something that we are sadly becoming familiar with today. In Operation Barbarossa, the Rus…

I thank the Minister of State and his officials for being here this evening. I spoke at length with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, about this issue last week. I made the point that this is a vocational House where we bring life and industrial experience to bear on legislation as it progresses through the Houses. Having been an Army officer serving on the command stand-to on the day of the Omagh bombing and having been a staff officer at the time to the Chief of Staff, who attended the monthly intelligence briefi…

I echo the congratulations to Senator Nicole Ryan. It is great news and I am delighted for her. Last night at 9.20 p.m., the Minister for Defence, Deputy McEntee, broadcast a statement on X: I condemn the launch of hundreds of bombs and drones on Ukraine last night ... Ireland stands with Ukraine and for peace. Yet, in recent years Ireland has exported millions of tonnes of alumina to Russian smelters in Krasnogorsk, where the high grade aluminium rods and bricks are used in the construction of the propulsion syste…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House today. I very much welcome the Bill and the statement of intent of the Irish authorities to co-operate with the Omagh bombing inquiry. I sit on a vocational panel. It is one of the ways in which we differ from the Lower House, in that we bring to bear our life and professional experience in the Chamber. I have a couple of observations to make. On 15 August 1998, when the bomb was detonated in Omagh, it was claimed by the then Real IRA that it went off prematurely, so it …

I raise the issue of the public consultation tomorrow being organised by the Department of Social Protection in the Aviva Stadium. I do not know why it would imagine that people in our community of disabled citizens and carers would feel the need for this consultation. The 2021 Indecon survey on the extra cost of disability, which was commissioned by the Department of Social Protection, found that the extra cost of disability ranged between €8,700 and €12,300 per annum. When inflation is factored in, the extra cost…

Hear, hear.