Okay. I think that is shameful but anyway.

Agreed.

Are these the amendments relating to electroshock and other treatments? What is the number of my amendment? I just want to double-check.

Apologies, I just wanted to confirm it.

Why has it been ruled out of order?

-----it was voted against previously. Is that what the Acting Chair is saying?

I am very happy to co-sign the amendment with Senator Boyhan. I support amendment No. 38 as well in terms of the review. Amendment No. 41 sets out a very reasonable requirement for a report within nine months in relation to independent advocacy, whereas amendment No. 38 is more detailed, suggesting particular facets that should be part of any review of an independent advocacy service. At the core here is the need, which the Minister of State has acknowledged verbally, for independent advocacy for those accessing se…

Along with Senator Black from my group and others, I am happy to be supporting both of these amendments. As regards the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Minister of State spoke about, it is not only this convention but also in this State, we had a referendum on the rights of a child just a short decade or so ago in which we tried to enshrine that into the Constitution. There is a fundamental thing that should flow from this, whereby we cement the rights of the child and I recognise the efforts throu…

The Minister of State will recall we discussed that the full prohibition on the placing of children in adult psychiatric facilities is something the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has specifically called for. The amendments that have been ruled out of order reflected an attempt to be true to this prohibition. At a minimum the language in amendment No. 35 is quite a reasonable compromise. We know that "in so far as is practicable" is quite a wide framing. We have had constitutional debates in this country a…

I second the amendment.

We have heard the stark figures everybody has been outlining. The sad thing is homelessness is related to, flows from and has been accepted for far too long as an unfortunate side consequence of Government policy, which has focused constantly on the property market and on housing and development, rather than on the issue of housing as homes and as shelter. The figures are stark. I will focus on the period from July 2014 when there were 3,258 people homeless. In March 2026 there were 17,308. That is a 431% increase.…

I join in the expressions of condolence on the death of Brian O'Shea. We are having a discussion on the fuel protest, which has taken centre stage to the extent that some of what we are seeing with the ongoing war is falling from attention sometimes. I request that we have a debate specifically on Lebanon in this House. In Lebanon, which is a sovereign state, over 1.2 million people have been displaced, 2,000 people have been killed and 100 bombs were dropped in a ten-minute period. Israel has announced that it doe…

I became aware of the Catalpa story through an extraordinary play by Donal O'Kelly. The play is a wonderful one-man show that tells the story of the Catalpa and brought everything very much to life. If it is decided to mark the anniversary, perhaps Donal O'Kelly would be willing to revive his show. It is one of the most striking plays that I have seen and gives a deep insight into history. I wish to formally propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that the International Protection Bill 2026 would adjourn rat…

Next, I ask the Leader to arrange a debate for after the recess. The Brussels court of appeal in Belgium has found the Belgian state to be in violation of its obligations under international law and, therefore, domestic law, which recognises international law, by its permitting of overflights, of arms transfers to Israel, over its territory. This is overflights and not landings. The ruling of the court of appeal points to the measures in the January 2024 court finding which established the credible risk of genocide…

Yes.

I stand in support of both of these amendments. It is a very clear point in terms of democracy when you have vast areas of what is meant to be our collective decision-making process in the Parliament, including a variety of significant proposals with huge impacts on people's lives, that effectively are being pushed through at the last minute and that are not being allowed a guarantee of debate or proper time for discussion. We have had previous Bills on which the Minister has come in almost a dozen times but yet on…

For accuracy, I said the medical age assessment is inappropriate and has been marked as such by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

I second the amendment.

I will be brief because I am conscious of the many other amendments we need to get to but I want to indicate my full support for Senator Stephenson's amendment. The Minister suggested it is a pity if we do not get to everything. It is not a pity; it is a choice. We have spoken of one amendment at length, and what of the others? I did the calculation. What was allowed for was just over one minute per amendment. There is no way, in the way that this has been designed, that all amendments would be got to. We should no…

I want to make a very short acknowledgement first in relation to this amendment, which talks about those who are performing their functions, as conferred by the Minister. I acknowledge that the Minister has accepted one point that we put forward in relation to the requirement for those officers to identify themselves. That was a good decision. It would be a very worrying thing if we had two classes of immigration officers, with some required to identify themselves and others not, depending on which Act they were pe…