Go raibh maith agat, a Thánaiste. Leanfaimid ar aghaidh leis an Aire, an Teachta Roderic O'Gorman.

This question relates to people taking time from work to care, very often for family members, and enabling them to qualify for a pension. There are situations involving older people in particular who take time off later in their career who cannot fulfil the 20-year criterion by the time they reach pension age.

I acknowledge that a great effort has been made and that it does work for so many people who were carrying out that hugely important caring role, but there are situations that arise where a person cannot make up 20 years. Those cases very likely involve people who took on the caring role later in life – in their 40s, 50s or later – and they cannot make up the 20 years by the time they reach pension age. A case in point is Mike, who worked with the HSE. He retired in his 50s in order to care for his wife and he will…

Will the Minister review the situation for them?

I thank the Minister. The modifications that were made were very beneficial, especially for people who are caring for children throughout much of their life. This situation arises for people who take on a caring role later in life, in their 40s, 50s and 60s. I would welcome an opportunity to review the scheme and include it in any of the next steps that will be taken. Is there any indication of a timeframe or was a review carried out as part of that process? It would be helpful if there was any indication on that.

My question relates to the rate of child benefit payment per child and whether there is an opportunity to have it increased to support families who are under pressure. When the payment was first introduced, it was a useful step in tackling child poverty. Can the rate of child benefit be increased in the forthcoming budget?

I acknowledge the huge step that was taken in allowing full-time students to hold on to child benefit. I had raised the issue with the Minister, as did many of my colleagues. It was a positive move that it was included in the budget. The one-off payments are just that. They are not ongoing over the years. When child benefit was originally introduced in the 1940s, it had a huge impact on household income and child poverty, which was very much reflected in mortality rates. Some families are under pressure, many of wh…

I will focus on the particular group who do not qualify for the various social welfare payments such as child dependant payments. Child benefit is probably the only social welfare payment going into the house and it is a hugely significant part of the overall household budget. It has not been increased in many years from the €140 rate. If she were to make a change in that, the Minister would be supporting all these other families who do not qualify for social welfare. The various bodies that have examined the diffe…

Before I call Deputy Catherine Murphy, I acknowledge the presence of Natasha O'Brien in the Visitors Gallery. Tá fáilte romhat.

The proposal to advance the new road and motorway between the cities of Cork and Limerick is a very positive move and it is good to see headway being made on that. An area of concern is the possibility that this road would be tolled. That is a major concern for people along the way and in both cities. Can the Minister outline the possibility of that? We want to get some assurance that it will not be tolled and will be available to people to freely use.

New roads with tolls are often associated with public private partnership, where funding had been brought in to build that road. I understand that is not the case with this road, or is it? Can the Minister outline whether it is proposed that it will be a PPP, or why there would be any possibility of a toll on the road? Second, we see that there would be congestion charges in, for example, city centres. They would be associated with discouraging traffic from entering the place and pushing them over to alternatives. …

I welcome the news that no decision has been made on this and that this is still up for discussion. Will the Minister outline what will inform the decision? What are the key metrics or points that would inform a decision? We want to make sure that this road will not be tolled. At what point will a decision have to be made on the road. It is proposed that it will move on towards planning stages over the next year and infrastructure will have to be designed into it. At what point would a decision have to be made on i…

Seanad Éireann has passed the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2024 without amendment.

The next item is the motion regarding gender-based violence - tairiscint maidir le foréigean ar bhonn inscne. Roimhe sin, ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh Natasha O'Brien, atá linn sa Ghailearaí. Tá fáilte roimpi. I welcome Natasha O'Brien. I call Deputy Bacik. The opening speaking slot is 20 minutes.

Sorry, I had intended to introduce Question No. 63.

I wish to focus in on any planned changes the Minister has regarding Defence Force regulations and sanctions that apply in the event of a serving member being convicted of a criminal offence. Will he outline plans that are in train or for which he is preparing?

I thank the Minister. First, I condemn gender-based violence. There is no space anywhere for it to be tolerated. In the strongest possible way, I commend Natasha O'Brien on her approach and the way she has pressed things forward recently, and also on the way she handled herself when standing up for another victim on the night of her violent incident. I want to ask about people who are convicted and the way the current system is operating. I understand that there are convicted people still within the military. Is th…

I want to shift the focus to the victims where there is a conviction in the courts or via courts martial and the review that is proposed. Will the military authorities engage with victims? Will they be bringing them forward to provide evidence? Will they engage with victims after they make a decision? Do they currently engage with victims and let them know of the outcome of courts martial or do victims end up having to hear it informally? What is the plan with the new revised regulations and the sanctions that are …

Will the Tánaiste outline the processes in place in circumstances where members of the Defence Forces are convicted under civil law for gender-based offences? What kinds of sanctions will they face?

I thank the Tánaiste. I want to focus on people who have convictions and who still appear to be serving in the military. Is there an indication of how many such people are involved? Did they have their convictions before they came into the military? Did the military hire convicted people or are they individuals who were convicted while serving? It is very important that due process would be afforded to people. It is very important that a conviction does not happen overnight and that there is a process involved. Whe…