I would just like to follow up on that. European, Dutch and Belgian trials confirmed that very low dose CT screening in people at high risk of developing lung cancer demonstrated a reduction in mortality rate of 26%. This is factual scientific evidence. The European Respiratory Society has urged countries across Europe to implement lung cancer screening programmes without delay. The technology in this area is advanced. As legislators and policymakers, we are always going to be a little behind the technology and the…

All of us in the Seanad and the Dáil have had much communication from people and proponents against the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022. Some are well-meaning and others are not but for many people, there is a huge feeling that we need to properly debate this Bill. The House should be used as a forum to deliver legislation on racism and hate crime. There is definitely more of it around as we have more people coming into our communities. Our colleague last week gave a …

I also want to mention the auto-enrolment scheme. When the Deputy Leader was Minister for Social Protection it was something she was working on. Ultimately 750,000 are possibly holding off getting a private pension because they are waiting on the auto-enrolment scheme. It is great to see the Oireachtas committee working on it but we have been waiting on it a long time. I hope that finally there is a good push to ensure that it is brought in without delay, as soon as possible. I was very disappointed to read a repor…

I wish to mention today’s presentation by Cara Darmody in the audiovisual room, which was organised by my colleague, Senator Keogan. Cara has been here 13 times since January. She is a 12-year-old girl who sat her junior certificate last year in aid of her local school and the school of her young brothers who have severe autism and are non-verbal. She is now sitting the leaving certificate maths to raise money for AsIAm and Family Carers Ireland. It was important to listen to her voice as a sibling and also her fat…

Today I raise the issue of July provision. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Autism which is chaired by my colleague, Senator Carrigy. Last July that committee issued a report which made a number of recommendations relating to July provision. We are getting a lot of feedback from parents who are telling us that many schools still do not have their July provision in place for this year and parents do not know what they are doing. In fairness, the Department has brought lots of schools into the programme and pr…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I welcome the Minister. I am pleased, together with my colleague, Senator O’Loughlin, to bring the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2023 before the House today. This Bill is of significant importance to me. A huge amount of time and effort has gone into bringing it to this point, including hours of consultations with patients, doctors, stakeholders and meeting with the Minister’s office back in 2020. My colleague and I owe a huge gratitude to the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, and Kate Butle…

It has been really worthwhile coming in today. It is great that the Minister has been able to give us an important update in regard to the AHR Bill and the work that has been going on in the background, including the criteria and the roll-out of the fertility hubs. I commend the Minister on all the work he has done in women's health and the facts speak for themselves in regard to spending. I know documents produced by the Department show that, in 2021, €17 million was spent on women's health and we are now at a fig…

I thank the Senators who have tabled this important motion. As my colleague mentioned, we are inundated with report after report of current and historical abuse of women, children and men who are vulnerable people. Fianna Fáil believes in the delivery of fundamental public health services to the highest standard through investment, innovation and reform. We will not oppose the motion, which we welcome. We encourage St. John Ambulance to conduct an independent review of the handling of past allegations against the o…

I second the proposal that No. 23 be taken before No. 1. This is a Bill I and my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, have been working on. It essentially brings in publicly-funded IVF. It is something I have spoken about previously in this House. My husband and I had to go through five rounds of IVF to create our beautiful family. It takes an emotional toll on you and also a huge financial one. I probably spent the last Seanad going in and out of IVF clinics on my own and I hope this Bill will not only address the taboo…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today. One of the first acts of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, was to open Our Lady of Hope School, Crumlin, with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. The school is a beautiful art deco school in Crumlin village and is a real flagship for what the Department can do in terms of retrofitting buildings. There is a stunning occupational therapy room and fabulous classrooms but there are no therapists in this school. Our Lady of Hope School has been open…

I thank the Minister of State. We will know the school is working well and has the therapists when I do not hear from it. Principals and parents do not contact me when they have the proper resources. These parents, principals and teachers now have to be not only OTs and speech and language therapists, but also advocates. That should not be the case. They need to concentrate on the kids in the class. We need to know if there is a plan for our CDNT in Crumlin. There is a huge shortfall. It is not just missing it by 5…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for taking this debate. The Bill was laid before the House by my colleague Senator Crowe and me. Across the world, there has been a pay transparency movement. Our former colleague Deputy Bacik, who is now in the other House, brought in the original pay equality legislation highlighting pay transparency in respect of salary scales within organisations. This Bill is an add-on to that legislation. It is envisaged it will improve …

It is not in this Bill

It is just asking for former payslips.

I thank all the Members who contributed today and thank them for their support. It is great to see that everyone read the Bill. I can understand where people are coming from in regard to the arbitrary figure of 50 employees, given Canada started with 250 and the United States then went very low with 15. We followed the European Commission discussions. I want to thank those in the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers for helping us to draft this Bill. We have been working on it with them since 2021 so it is just a…

Next Tuesday.

Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

I join my colleagues, Senators Wall, Ó Donnghaile and Fitzpatrick, in condemning the horrific attack on Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in the presence of children on the junior football pitches in Tyrone. There are no words to describe this attack, but we are all horrified, stunned and saddened. Ultimately, I always thought there was a generation shielded from the violence in the North. There is now a generation of children who witnessed a shooting on a football pitch. As my colleagues said, I just hope th…

I join Senator Black in commenting on the increase in the number of far-right anti-immigration protests across the city. We have seen lots of them in Ballyfermot and Drimnagh in the constituency of Dublin South-Central. Thankfully, and really encouragingly, local groups are coming together and hold protests against the far right. We have the Drimnagh For All and Ballyfermot for All groups. Since these groups were set up, the number of far-right protests in our area has decreased. The last protest the far right trie…