I am happy to join others in welcoming Mr. Matsui to the House and thank him for his work. One of my assistants who works with me in the Oireachtas had the opportunity to meet him previously when he engaged with Irish delegates at the second meeting of the state parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in New York. I am aware of the extraordinary leadership he has shown in the ever growing network of Mayors for Peace. Senator Currie described very vividly some of the many testimonials and stories…

I laud Japan because its ministry of defence has a response to climate change and is one of the few militaries that properly tracks its emissions and includes them in national targets. That must be the future for all of us if we are to have a liveable planet in which we treat one another with decency.

It is an important and detailed motion that sets out the full process. This would allow for this to become possible in the next Seanad. It is a useful, constructive piece of Seanad reform at a time when there has been deep disappointment, not only among the Members of the Seanad reform implementation group, whom the House has heard from. Senators McDowell, Warfield and I, and others, have spoken in the past about a deep frustration at the legislation that passed recently and the huge inadequacy of the Seanad reform…

I will come to my conclusion. That sent a positive signal. The reaction from people on the ground was that they saw democracy in play and decisions being made for the best. It strengthens the faith the public have in democracy when they see genuine democracy and the same principles of a secret ballot, of the best decisions, and a PR system as set out in the detailed proposal here. That is democracy in best practice.

When they see it in the Chamber it gives them some faith that they may eventually see it outside the Chamber and in how the Chamber is itself fully elected.

I am sorry, but I will just say that we will be supporting the motion.

I support these proposals by Senators Gavan and Warfield. In the context of the EU directive on work-life balance, the minimum for parental leave is two months or nine weeks. Nine weeks is the narrowest interpretation of two months. Of course, that is supposed to be the absolute minimum standard but Ireland should be doing better than the minimum required standard under the directive. We should look to do better on parent's leave. It is also something that would go some way towards supporting greater gender equalit…

I knew any amendments to this section would not be eligible because they affect money. I am sorry I was not here for the Second Stage debate. I wish the Minister well in her next endeavours. I have serious concerns about this section that I hope the Minister can address. As I understand it, the section will increase the amount that will be cut from not only jobseeker's benefit but jobseeker's allowance. In that context, these are significant cuts. For example, there will be cuts of €44 and €90, and €120 or €147, as…

I hope the Minister will address the fact. I am very concerned, especially given the previous record of concerns about how personal progression plans are applied, that we may have situations whereby we see cuts that affect people's ability to feed their family and keep their houses warm. I say that simply because the stakes can become very high. There is a very significant power imbalance between a person who is unemployed, for example, and what might be a commercial company that says it wants a person to take a ce…

I move amendment No. 9: In page 10, after line 35, to insert the following: “ Report on extending Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment 19 . The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on options to extend access to the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment until a youngest child reaches 18 years of age.”. I will be brief in regard to both of these amendments. They are issues that we have touched on before. I urge the Minister to re-examine the jobseeker…

The answer the Minister has given, with respect, is simply to say exactly what I have said. She has told us what the policy is but the point is the equality issues. She mentioned that only 5% of claimants are receiving a qualified adult payment but how many are receiving qualified child payments? It would be useful to have that percentage in order to be clear on the number of persons who receive qualified child payments as part of their jobseeker's payment at the moment. They are the people for whom it will not mak…

I move amendment No. 10: In page 10, after line 35, to insert the following: “Report on Pay-Related Benefit 19. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on options to extend access to qualified child and adult payments for recipients of the Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit Scheme.”.

I will be very brief. I support the amendments. The work on minimum essential standards of living involves some of the best and most solid and significant research that has been supported by the Department of Social Protection. Given that 2,000 goods are examined in the process, it is probably one of the best examples of addressing the cost of living, rather than some of the broader brush strokes often used. It is significant and represents a really good test to apply to social welfare. It would also be very good t…

Why we probably need a new pension commission is that there was a fundamental gap. The terms of reference of the Pensions Commission excluded the tax relief on private pensions, so we had a situation where we were told that the cost of a universal State pension as recommended by the women's council and others would be €3 billion. That would be extortionate, but we know that €2.9 billion is being spent on private pension tax relief, which of course will increase in next year's budget. Again, until we have an integra…

I am going to speak a little. I was going to suggest a different grouping but that is academic now, given the amendments that have been ruled out of order. Those amendments spoke to some of the key aspects of this section. As I understand it, this Bill is going to the Dáil next. That our amendments have been ruled out of order gives the lie to the indication and promise we were given during the most recent session that amendments would be looked at and engaged with.

I am talking about the amendments that have been ruled out of order and the definitions of categories in the Bill. Perhaps I can clarify matters with the Leas-Chathaoirleach. All of the amendments that have been ruled out of order were to page 6, which is section 3. Is that correct?

Do they all relate to section 3? That is what I understand.

I will speak to section 3 and the definitions contained in it. We indicated the issues we saw with the section through the amendments we proposed. While our amendments have been ruled out of order, our concerns and issues remain and can be expressed. Our amendments have been available to the Minister. We are being constrained by the limits to what is allowed to be put forward. Even the smallest change can be interpreted as including a charge to the State. The Minister is not so constrained. The points that are bein…

I am speaking on the section. These are all issues that could be addressed in this section. I have not spoken about a single issue which does not relate to the categorisation of the designated institutions of higher education. To be very clear, I am looking here at line 16. While my proposal - my specific amendment - may not be in order, my opinions regarding the definitions and their inclusions or exclusions are entirely valid in the context of the section on which we are speaking. I note that an opportunity is be…

The Senator can still speak to the definition of higher education institution.