I thank the Minister very much for her contribution.

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Last week, most of us in this and the other House watched the “RTÉ Investigates” programme on nursing homes. I want to start by welcoming the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell's statement today that he will meet with representative bodies of the private nursing home sector. He is expected to provide an update on actions undertaken by the Department of Health and HSE in recent days and an interim report to be delivered by HIQA. What we saw last week was harrowing and scandalous. As a public representative, I was h…

Before the Leader replies, I wish to raise a point of order. I am not happy about the way Senator Craughwell spoke earlier. I thought his attitude was jarring. When somebody commits a criminal offence and the DPP has it overturned because of domestic violence on the streets, where a woman is beaten to a pulp, I do not think any of us should condone the behaviour involved. What was said was unforgivable and unacceptable.

Tragically an average of 110 people drown each year in Ireland. Irish Water Safety says this is unacceptable considering most of the fatalities are avoidable. We are entering into the bank holiday weekend. It is normally this weekend that our local authorities put the swimming guards on duty at all our open lake areas and wherever there is a blue flag, including on our beaches. Unfortunately, in my own constituency and that of Senator Murphy, we only have one public pool in our area and that happens to be in Tuam. …

I raise an issue relating to the education and training boards. Over the past number of years, we have seen the magnificent work that was done in the ETBs, particularly in respect of apprenticeships. I must applaud the previous Ministers of State with responsibility, Deputies O'Donovan and Collins, for the work they did to ensure there was an expansion of delivery, particularly for the trades. We also need to look beyond the trades at health and social care. We need to look beyond SNAs and towards the training of o…

I welcome Tara Doherty, Craig Byas, Nessa Vaughan, Paul Ginnell and Rebecca O'Gorman to the Visitors Gallery. I thank Senator Andrews for bringing their presence to my attention.

I welcome Fine Gael members from Newbridge, guests of the Minister, Deputy Heydon, to the Gallery, along with Philippa Dunlop, a TY student who is here with Catherine Ardagh.

Before I move to the Government side, I thank the Minister, Deputy Foley, and her team for being with us for this Private Members' Bill. I call Senator Margaret Murphy O'Mahony.

I welcome Councillor Paul Ward and his guests to the Visitors Gallery. I call Senator Collins or Senator Tully. Who wishes to go first?

Absolutely, with the agreement of the House? Agreed.

Absolutely, that is fine. Not a problem.

I apologise to everybody in the House for the noise of my phone. I welcome the guests of Senator McCarthy in the Visitors Gallery: Gerard and Virginia Lane from the Philippines, former Irish honorary consul to Indonesia; and Stephanie Woolard from Melbourne, Australia. Also most welcome are the following visitors in the Public Gallery, whom I did not introduce properly earlier: from All Together in Dignity Ireland, Tara Doherty, Craig Byas and Nessan Vaughan; from the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland, Paul Gin…

Before we move on, I welcome the Front Line Defenders award winners who are in the Public Gallery and are guests of Senator Stephenson. They are very welcome.

I raise an issue that has been the subject of discussion in the Lower House, namely the Grace report. Two days have been afforded in the Lower House to discuss that report. It falls upon us in the Seanad to also discuss the Grace report and the wider context of safeguarding for our vulnerable adults. We owe it to those who have no voice. We owe it to Grace to recognise that a 2,000-page document was produced that found for nothing. We are not judges in this room, but we should have the opportunity to discuss it fro…

The Minister is very welcome. I am delighted he was here to hear the entire debate. I am delighted to speak in support of the Bill and to commend Senator Fitzpatrick, who has introduced it today. The conversation so far has been very open and engaging. It also widened my perspective as to other pieces that may be within the Minister's grasp to include within the cusp of the Bill. In rural Ireland, as my colleague from Roscommon said, the local shop is where our children get their first job. The local SuperValu or G…

I thank the Minister of State for being here and I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this. I thank Senator Flynn for her personal contribution and for sharing her lived experience with us. It is important for us all to acknowledge that lived experience. I was doing research in advance of coming in here and I agree with Senator Gallagher; the Minister of State's opening statement was very welcome. Like many colleagues, I was not aware of the Greentown project. It is based on pillars, facts and evidence. My ques…

The Minister of State is very welcome. His visit gives me the opportunity to wish him well and show the hand of friendship to work with him. Where I come from in Portumna, on the banks of the Shannon with the bridge, flooding is a huge issue and has a huge impact on our lives. I have no doubt my colleague in Fine Gael, Senator Murphy, will be talking about the south Galway floods when he speaks and, therefore, I will focus solely on the gate in Portumna under the CFRAM. A gate was designed in line with the CFRAM pr…

This is autism awareness month. Notwithstanding that the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities will be before us this evening to take statements on disability and that there will only be one week left in the month when we come back in the week of 29 April, it would be fantastic if we could have a session on autism. In the previous Seanad, a committee led by the Leader's good colleague Deputy Carrigy, then a Senator, produced some fantastic reports on it. One of the reports has 109 recommendations. …