It has already been grouped with amendment No. 6.

I welcome Professor Daniel Carey from the University of Galway who is in the Gallery here today. He is very welcome to the House for this discussion.

Amendments Nos. 70 to 73, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Amendments Nos. 74 and 75 are related and may be discussed together. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I ask the Minister of State to outline the rationale for the Department's funding of the role of safeguarding officer in St. John's Ambulance Ireland and to explain if such a funding mechanism will be available for similar organisations. In the reply to a parliamentary question tabled by my party colleague Deputy Ivana Bacik, the Minister stated that the appointment of the national safeguarding officer to St. John's Ambulance Ireland was recommended by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon in his report. The Minister indicated that…

Perhaps the Minister of State knows the answer to this question. On 4 January, during that meeting with Department officials, St. John Ambulance made the Department aware of the need for financial support in order to fund the post of safeguarding lead. Is the Minister of State aware that all of these legal cases are being taken? How does the organisation not have the finances for this post if it has the finances for legal cases? Is the Minister of State aware of this? I want to make sure I am reading this right. Is…

Well done to the Minister. I thank those from the Together for Safety national campaign and those in the Gallery who have been with us throughout this process. I also thank the officials in the Department, and of course Senator Paul Gavan for initiating some of the legislation on this. It is a great day for the Senator and his team, and for the women and pregnant people of Ireland who will have this legislation going forward.

I thank the Green Party for bringing this motion. At our Labour Party conference in March, my Labour Party colleague for Blackrock, Councillor Martha Fanning, brought a motion on this very topic. In her motion, she recognised the prevalence of loneliness in our society and she further noted that local authorities, as the custodians of many of our indoor and outdoor community spaces, should be central to a national plan to address loneliness. She called not only on our own conference but also on the Department of He…

When coming here today, I was reflecting on a quote from James Larkin of 110 years ago, "Intolerance has been the curse of our country." Looking at some of the things that have happened over the past couple of weeks, it is unfortunate that 110 years after one of our greatest revolutionaries said that, we seem to be facing into it again. In the part of Dublin in which I am based, over last week graffiti was sprayed on social housing. I will not read out what some of the graffiti said but it was absolutely appalling.…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I am raising the need for the Minister for Health to address issues relating to the state of trans healthcare in Ireland and the need to move to informed consent, gender affirming care at community and primary care level. I will give some context of our trans health care here in Ireland, although frankly, that is something that I do not think we really have. We are ranked worst in the EU for availability and accessibility for trans health by TGEU, despite the fact we hav…

I note the mention of the Cass report. I will not go too much into it but there were questionable methodologies in the research of that report. It is disappointing that there has been wilful misrepresentation in the media and by some bad actors of the report. It is being used to deny, restrict and cut off services to very vulnerable people. I hope that is borne in mind as well. Trans people, like all of us, need healthcare services that are centred on the principles of bodily autonomy, person-led decision-making an…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I have a health topic for the Minister of State, as he peruses different topics here today. Following on from the "RTÉ Investigates" programme broadcast last night - I hope the Minister of State has seen it and, if not, I would certainly recommend he take a look at it - I want to ask the Minister, or the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, on behalf of the Minister, when the recommendations of the O'Shea report will be enacted and what timeline the Government has put in pl…

Many of the changes outlined by the Minister of State are not the required legislative changes that we need to see. That is what we want. The recommendations that emerged from the review have a robust evidence base and are rooted in qualitative research of the lived experience of women and pregnant people who have accessed abortion services since the commencement of the Act. This is a Government-commissioned review, so we need to immediately progress legislative amendments and service developments that accurately r…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, to the House. As someone who grew up on a tillage farm and dabbled in the agriculture sector, I will keep my comments mostly to those areas I am familiar with. I certainly welcome the Minister's comments and his outline supports for tillage farmers. Once a tillage farming girl, always a tillage farming girl. Over recent months I have found myself peering out the window daily and muttering about planting weather and wet sodden land. I must have picked it up off my dad over…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. We welcome the Research and Innovation Bill, which will be a strong foundation for promoting and advancing research in Ireland and ensuring that research bodies and individuals get easy and equal access to funding and opportunities. There are, however, certain points that require a more detailed approach to ensure the Bill will function as intended and I will briefly address them today. First and foremost, the Bill promises to place arts, humanities and social sciences …

Today I draw attention to the dire conditions in the pig industry revealed yesterday by both the National Animal Rights Association and Animal Rebellion Ireland. They partnered a few months ago in January 2024 to investigate Ireland's pig industry. They chose at random the pig farms to go into in an effort to give an honest insight as to what happens in Irish pig farms. The results were absolutely devastating and horrific. They are available online if anyone wants to see. It takes a strong stomach to watch the vide…

Forgive me for not staying for the remainder of this session. I have an audiovisual room briefing with the Acting Leader and my former comrades at the Union of Students in Ireland, where we will discuss their digs research and legislation.

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I note the recent formation of the Ballymun implementation board, which will tackle some of the deep-rooted issues that exist in Ballymun and bring together relevant social service providers and An Garda Síochána. It is based on the Drogheda model. It is a real example of how communities and gardaí can work together towards improving safety. I do not need to go through all of the figures again as they have already been gone through. We know the shortage of gardaí and th…

Many here will have been at last week’s launch of the report compiled by AsIAm and Inclusion Ireland. The report contains survey results which show that 35% of disabled children endure seclusion and 27% suffer restraint at school. Children have a right to feel safe at school. AsIAm and Inclusion Ireland have called for guidance and regulations in schools. Anyone who saw the reporting on this since then would be horrified to think that children continue to be treated like that simply because they have needs that are…

I extend my welcome to the ambassadors of Ukraine and Lithuania. I thank the Ukrainian ambassador especially for showing resolute steadfastness in the face of the untold horror in her home country. She has kept all of us reminded of what continues to happen in Ukraine. Since Russia's full-scale annexation of the Donetsk region in Ukraine, military deaths have reached 500,000 and civilian deaths over 10,000, including 560 children. This imperialistic invasion is obviously unnecessary and is an abhorrent breach of in…