I do not want to take much time either. Amendment No. 41 in my name has been ruled out of order. As a result, I plan to speak to amendment No. 42 in Senator Dooley's name because it refers to the same section and provision. I was not trying to impose a charge on the Exchequer, as has been deemed to be the case for the purpose of ruling my amendment out of order. That is an entirely spurious argument, and the amendment would not and could not impose such a charge. I proposed several amendments for parts of the legis…

No, I am not. That is it.

I accept the Minister of State’s bona fides in relation to charging. I do not consider this to be a huge transfer of power to any given Minister. The reality is that we do not know how the landscape will change in the coming years. The Minister of State is quite right in saying that the Government can come back and amend the legislation. We already have in this Bill, which is an amendment Bill, a huge volume of amendments that make it even more impenetrable to ordinary people and more difficult. Another amendment B…

It has been ruled out of order. That is the difficulty.

I spoke to amendment No. 42.

Today is Thalidomide Memorial Day. Up to 40 people in this country are victims of thalidomide who have lived lives in various states of disability as a result of the injuries they suffered in the womb. They have to date received no apology from the State. They have received no proper medical compensation. A compensation scheme is in place from the company in Germany but it is inadequate for what they have suffered. It is unfair that the Government has not moved to compensate and acknowledge those people and the mis…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit ar na rúin thábhachtacha seo. I am a huge fan of juries. They are a fantastic part of our criminal justice system. They take out of the realm of tired and jaded lawyers and judges questions of fact that should be determined by people who are fresh to the system, instead of people who are used to the system. They are people with fresh eyes, fresh perspectives and represent the strand of common sense that runs through our criminal justice system. Let us be in no doubt, therefore, tha…

I have raised this as an issue on the Order of Business a number of times. I know there are no amendments to the Bill. As for its general application, however, in the context of this section and the application of military law to serious criminal offences, has the Department given any consideration to, for example, application beyond the court martial for people accused? There is a concern, which other Senators have raised in the Chamber, that somebody who is the subject of military law and who may have been accuse…

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Madigan, freisin. Tá díomá orm nach bhfuil an tAire Oideachais í féin, an Teachta Foley, anseo agus ba cheart go mbeadh sí. It is a shame that the Minister for Education has not seen fit to be able to be here today. This is a matter I have put tabled on a number of occasions and the Minister of State has come to the House on a number of occasions to reply on issues relating to this school. It is a shame that the Minister …

I accept the bona fides of the Minister of State and I acknowledge the efforts she has made to facilitate the school community. I welcome the fact that the application will be made in short order. It should have been made weeks ago. The reality is that it is unlikely I will have an opportunity to raise this issue again before the end of this session, but I am not letting this go. I may come back here in September. So help me God, if the school community in Gaelscoil Laighean has been left in the lurch again there w…

Cuirím fáilte roimh an Aire. Déanaim comhghairdeas léi as ucht a nuachta pearsanta. I welcome the motion and its contents on behalf of the Fine Gael group. The motion is very much appropriate. What is perhaps shocking is that it is the first piece, as the Minister said in her own words, of European Union legislation to recognise this area of criminality. In many respects we in Ireland are used to taking our lead from Europe and being led by Europe in certain areas like employment law, health and safety law, and env…

Ba mhaith liom labhairt inniu faoi parental alienation. This is a situation where parents are estranged and one parent acts decisively to alienate the other parent from their children, be it psychologically or physically preventing them from accessing their children. It is an awful thing. It is not just hard for the parent but it does terrible damage to the children, and we have spoken about the damage done to children. This is something that is done deliberately by an adult to his or her own children. It is pervas…

I second the proposal.

I agree with everything Senator Black has just said. We cannot be strong enough on that issue. I am sorry I was not able to be there yesterday but I wholeheartedly support what has been said in regard to Palestine. Particularly in Ireland, we have a groundswell of support that needs to be recognised and activated in terms of Government policy as well. Today is Bloomsday. I come from Dún Laoghaire and it and Blackrock, Sandycove and Glasthule are areas that are intimately associated not just with James Joyce himself…

The Senator-----

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Currie freisin as a cuid ama a roinnt liom. A Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh, when I came to the Seanad people told me how much better it was here than in the Dáil because there was a higher quality of debate. That has not been the case this evening and I have been very disappointed with the tone of this debate. It has been reduced, instead of focusing on the issue in the motion, to political mud-slinging and point-scoring. I do not accept that the Governmen…

That is the difference between Fine Gael and Sinn Féin in this debate. As a Government party and one that aspires to be a responsible party of Government, we have to stand over the commitments we make. We cannot simply come here with a shopping list and say "you should do X, Y and Z" without any attempt to explain how we are actually going to pay for it or justify how it could be delivered. When criticism was made of other speakers, they were shouted down. Senator Gavan has intervened possibly in every speech since…

He has also got up here and told us how awful things are. He seems to think that the solution to the best funded health service in Europe is to put in good money after bad when in fact it is a management issue. Of course there is legitimate criticism to be made across this country. The difference is that Fine Gael, instead of trying to score points, is looking for solutions, trying to tweak things to make life easier for those who are working and trying to deliver for their families. That is what this motion is abo…

Ar dtús báire, cuirim fáilte roimh ár gcairde uasail ón Úcráin. I extend a very warm welcome to our friends from Ukraine. I congratulate them on making the journey because what we have learned from them over the past few days has been so important. As the Cathaoirleach knows, Senator Ahearn and I left Ireland to visit Ukraine on 4 May. It is a process getting to Ukraine at present. I learned a great deal on that trip. It was not my first time to visit Ukraine but I discovered a very much changed country, a much qui…

It is 25 million tonnes.