I thank the Minister for attending. I have a particular interest in this legislation, having been a member of the governing body of the UCC and the HEA board in a previous life. This legislation has been mooted for a while and it is good to see it come through the Houses. I welcome the fact that the Minister has had extensive engagement both with the joint committee and in the Dáil on amendments and stuff like that. I hope that he is just as enthusiastic with amendments in this House. A number of issues that I wish…

Following on from Senator Buttimer's comments, I also want to reference what has been happening over the past week and the incidents that have occurred during Pride month. I thought I would be standing up here during Pride month, as an out member of the LGBT community, to wish people a happy Pride and to list all of the things that we still have to do. I expected to put on my glad rags and head to the Pride march, which is a standard thing that we do as members of the community every year. I did not expect to be st…

I second the amendment.

The Labour Party's substantive amendment is amendment No. 68 which Senator Higgins mentioned. That will be dealt with separately. We tabled amendments Nos. 33 to 40, inclusive, which precede amendment No. 68 which is the substantive amendment. These deal with the mandatory information session which is the big sticking point for the Labour Party. We are disappointed that we did not see progress made on this in the Dáil. My colleague, Deputy Bacik, had a full debate with the Minister on Committee Stage and on the flo…

I am seeking clarity. The Minister stated that we have moved on since 2017 and that there have been conversations. Was he given an explicit reason for why it cannot be by registered post? Was that legal advice or was it just the preference? I am not clear on that. We initially suggested that it could be done via phone call instead of in person, but our own thoughts on this have evolved. Is there a specific reason that it cannot be done in this way? Is it a legal reason or is it just the preference of the Minister a…

I share the sentiments expressed by Senator Black and others on the utterly horrific and brutal behaviour of Israeli forces. It was unbelievable to see the footage. The lack of coverage of the incident was also shocking. On International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, I congratulate Jake Daniels of Blackpool Football Club who recently came out.

It takes no small amount of bravery to come out in an industry with thousands of players, some of whom may still be in the closet and fear how they will be treated by supporters, teammates and opponents. He is the first active male professional footballer in England to come out since Justin Fashanu did so 30 years ago. Justin's tragic death has cast a long shadow over professional football. Ireland is a country of sports lovers and football plays a huge role in that so it is beyond time for us to grab the thorny is…

Before I get to the substantive issue of childcare provision, I want to take a moment to comment on the operation of this House. I know we have done this many times of an evening here. It is now 8.15 p.m. and the Seanad is due to sit until 8.30 p.m. tonight. That makes it a very unfriendly working environment for family life. When I began in the Seanad, there was a lot of talk about creating a family-friendly set-up and a family-friendly Oireachtas. Obviously, the Ceann Comhairle is not here at the moment, but I ho…

I have a couple of issues I am going to try to fly through. First, I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Health to appear before the Seanad to discuss workforce planning within the health service. I know it sounds a little bit niche but I believe it is an issue that goes to the heart of many of the issues facing healthcare staff, most especially nurses. As the Leader may have seen, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, at its recent conference launched a report on the experience of physical assaul…

I thank the Acting Chairperson for sharing his own experience and stories so eloquently. I also thank the Minister for coming to the House to discuss the Bill with us. I pay tribute to him, and I know it is not something he hears often coming from Opposition politicians, even in the friendlier of the two Houses, namely, the Seanad. It bears saying that the Minister has done important and difficult work in this area and nobody could question his intention around it. It is beyond time to see this matter being progres…

I am here to talk about Bank of Ireland's announcement that it is withdrawing the graduate entry medicine, GEM, loan, the only loan available that is specific to graduate entry medicine students. It came with conditions such as a moratorium on paying back the loan before four years. I am not asking any Minister of State or Government to interfere in the commercial or operational decisions of any bank, even if we have a shareholding in that bank. I recognise that banks need to be able to do whatever they want so the…

I know the Minister of State read from notes on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, but what she read out were all of the problems with GEM. The solution seems to be that the Department is looking into the matter, which is not much for me to go back to the students with. While it is welcome that the Department is looking into the matter, students need to know what they are going to do and what will be available for them. I have read the statement from Bank of Ireland – we have had some back-and-f…

I was lucky enough last week to attend an incredible production of Who’s There ? by Droichead Youth Theatre, my alma mater and most important stomping ground in growing me into the person I am today. This ensemble production was directed by one of my longest and oldest friends, Christina Matthews, the creative director of Droichead Youth Theatre. I was struck by the content of the play. Droichead Youth Theatre always leads on brave productions. It always challenges us. This play was no different. It was about teena…

When I read the subject of this debate, I wondered whether it was statements on third level funding and the costs of going to college for Ukrainian students. I wondered where the commas were. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss this wide range of topics, each of which could have taken up an entire debate on its own. The situation around Ukraine is complex and ever-evolving. No one knows how or when it will end or what it will look like. I commend the Department on all the work that is b…

I thank and acknowledge the work of Senators Doherty, Chambers and Pauline O'Reilly for moving this Bill. As already referred to here, I doubt that I am the only Member to believe that if we did not have female leadership, and women leading on the Government side of the Chamber, we would not see legislation like this make its way through the House. The Senators are to be commended on that. It is a sad state of affairs that this is how we have to get stuff done. We just have to get women in and we have to get women …

It is hard and the Senators have dealt with the issue with great compassion, sensitivity and kindness. This is not often seen in politics and it is great to see it for such a difficult topic. I was talking with a former Seanad colleague, now Deputy Bacik, and she told me how in 1998 she was doing research for the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre around this, which resulted in previous legislation on the right of legal representation for complainants in sex offence trials where the defence seeks to produce evidence of prio…

I stand here as a member of the LGBTQIA community to express my condolences and sadness at the murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee that happened during the Easter recess. I am thinking of all of us in our own community and the community of Sligo as we process these senseless acts of violence. These increased acts of violence against LGBTQIA people have not happened in a vacuum. Homophobia, transphobia and biphobia are scourges. Some things the Government can do now to improve LGBTQIA people's lives are to ban…

As no other Senators are indicating, I now invite the Minister to reply.

When is it proposed to sit again?

I would like to address the frightening rise in transphobia, trans hate and trans abuse that has swept over from the UK. This week, which had Trans Day of Visibility, the Tory Government moved to ban conversion therapy for so-called members of the LGB community but not for the T or trans family. Conversion therapy is a discredited, dangerous and unethical practice that has long-lasting psychological impacts. Research shows that trans people are more likely to endure this practice that absolutely and utterly has no …