I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, for coming to the House to introduce this legislation, which I very much support. Immigration is one of the biggest challenges facing European nations, including this country. It is important that we have legislation like this to tackle the smuggling of persons. Interestingly, one of the first sentences for involvement in human trafficking was handed down in Mullingar criminal court yesterday. The Minister of State has acknowledged the dedication of An Garda Síoch…

Next Tuesday.

I raise the lacuna in the national childcare scheme. This issue may have been raised before but thousands of children, especially in the inner city of Dublin, are going to lose out on after-school places because of the October 2019 changes. Many childcare providers are still staying afloat because of the current wage subsidy schemes, which will end in September. Those schemes have given childcare providers some respite and space to figure out what to do. We know the part of the national childcare scheme that affect…

I congratulate Senator Chambers for bringing this legislation to the House. We were fortunate enough to meet the protagonists, Una and Eve, today. I understand the Senator heard them on the radio, contacted them and was able to support them in their mission to get to this stage. They must be thanked. The women of Ireland owe them huge gratitude for being so brave. We are also grateful to Senator Chambers for running with them and supporting them through the legislative process to where we are today. I listened to m…

I support the points raised by Senator Seery Kearney, who is a great advocate for families going through surrogacy. It is important that the Minister listens to her point that there must be a pathway found between his Department and the Department of Justice in regard to international surrogacy. I have heard anecdotally that there is an impasse on the issue. The Minister needs to find the political will to address it. We are here to discuss the cervical screening programme and, as I speak, there are only women in t…

I congratulate our former colleague, Senator, now Deputy, Ivana Bacik. I got to know her in 2016 when I became a Member of this House and she has been a pleasure to work with. She is always very kind to new Members and is a terrific role model for women of all parties and none who wish to enter politics, so I wish to put my congratulations on the record. Today, I will raise the issue of cancer care. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has impacted severely on cancer diagnosis and treatment, with many people getting delayed dia…

I support my colleague, Senator Flynn, with regard to her call that a high-tech, state-of-the-art school be built in the new amalgamated school in Ballyfermot and for that to specifically include a canteen and sports hall. We know Ballyfermot is a very working-class area. The children there need every advantage to level the playing field in order that they have every opportunity, like the rest of the children in Ireland. It is not good enough to build this school without those facilities, which are very much basic …

Today I would like to raise the Miami building collapse. I send my thoughts and prayers to the survivors, the families of survivors, the families of the victims, and the families of those missing. There are still 156 people missing. It is a tragedy of a huge scale, where a building collapsed during the middle of the night. There are terrifying, heart-breaking images of bunk beds hanging out of windows. It is completely unfathomable and deeply upsetting. We learned also that an engineers’ report was commissioned a f…

I wish everyone a happy Pride Month. We need clarity on our licensing laws. It is basic legislation. Perhaps it can be done by some sort of order from the Department. If legislation is required in this case, then bring it on. It is unfair to those attending premises, as well as to restaurants and bars throughout the country, and it needs to be rectified. I also want to speak about the epidemic of knife crime that has hit our city. An Garda Síochána is investigating three separate incidents of knife crime last weeke…

I will start by commending my colleague, Senator Clifford-Lee, for highlighting the online survey commissioned by the Department of Justice. I also encourage everyone to participate. It is open from 18 June and five workshops will be online. It is really important that we develop an up-to-date, modern strategy to combat domestic and gender-based violence. We learned so much from Covid-19 and how women were to the fore. As my colleagues mentioned, many people were homebound in a really awful situation and it was des…

I commend my colleague, Senator O'Donovan, on telling his personal story. It is National Epilepsy Week and 40,000 people in this country suffer from epilepsy. As such, I support his request for a debate on this important matter and I hope the Deputy Leader takes it on board. I wish to raise the issue of antigen testing, which I also raised last week. On Thursday, the European Parliament came closer to opening up our skies by agreeing a digital green certificate, central to which is the use of rapid antigen testing.…

Like Senator Higgins, I had the privilege of being a Member of the Twenty-fifth Seanad and discussing the legislation. Not in our wildest nightmares did we think that we would still be here discussing it and extending sunset clauses. I am on the record as saying that the legislation was draconian at the time, and it is still. No one is happy that our lives are being micromanaged at a very personal level and so many of us are being affected but no one is happy that the coronavirus is taking over all our lives, all o…

I join other Senators in welcoming the revision of the schedule to discuss issues in Palestine and thank Senator Black for sharing such a poignant poem. We have a seat on the UN Security Council and it has been recognised that we are doing good work on promoting de-escalation. As we know, however, words are not as strong as actions and much more needs to be done by the United Nations. I wish to express my disappointment at the discussion and handling of the use of antigen testing in this country. We have been fight…

I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber to address us on the future of banking in Ireland. We all know there has been a flurry of activity in the Irish banking market and in the world banking market in regard to the development of cryptocurrency. As legislators, we have to ensure that we put consumers first and that we have the consumer's back, not the bank's back. It is our job to do all we can to make sure consumers get the best possible deal. Like other speakers, I want to speak about the two high-level b…

I join others in passing on my condolences to Senator Mullen on the death of his father. I know my colleagues in Fianna Fáil will also join me in sending on those condolences. It is my first time in the House with my colleague, Senator Horkan. It is great to have him back. I wish to tell colleagues about an amazing brave lady who gave a presentation to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence yesterday, Ghufran Khoulani. She is a Syrian refugee living in Ireland. She bravely spoke of her brother who was d…

Lá lus an chromchinn sona daoibh go léir. It is Daffodil Day today. As my friend said, many of us have been touched with cancer. The Irish Cancer Society does an unbelievable job. When one is brought into the cancer realm, one's whole life changes. One is always asking questions and learning about blood and platelet counts. It is another world that many families across the country are living with. It is a hard world. The Irish Cancer Society makes it that little bit easier because its volunteers help by driving pat…

I will speak on the issue my colleague, Senator McGreehan, raised in relation to the conversation about women feeling safe on our streets. The conversation arises after the tragic death of Sarah Everard in the UK. We should be asking ourselves what we can do about this in this House. We could look at our sentencing laws to start with and outlaw any sort of concurrent sentencing for sexual offence-based crimes. It is outrageous that if someone rapes ten people they will serve one sentence. It should be the case that…

It is great to see Senator O'Loughlin in the Chair today. I have been sitting in on this debate since it started and I have been so moved by the contributions from my friends on both sides of the House. The debate has been enjoyable. There have been so many different perspectives on International Women's Day and I have dwelled on them. I thank my wonderful, beautiful colleagues for their contributions. We have all heard the statistics on the gender-pay gap and women working two months for free every year but we do …

Roinnfidh mé mo chuid ama le mo chara, an Seanadóir Murphy. Tá an-áthas orm go bhfuil an tAire agus an tAire Stáit anseo inniu agus fearaim fáilte rompu arís go dtí an Seanad. Táimid ag ceiliúradh Sheachtain na Gaeilge agus Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan freisin. Bhí díospóireacht iontach againn níos luaithe maidir leis an mbearna pá inscne agus lena lán téamaí eile a bhaineann le mná. Maidir le Seachtain na Gaeilge, tá a fhios againn go léir go bhfuil sé mar choincheap ag Fianna Fáil an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn. Is féi…

I also welcome the White Paper. In 2014, Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon said that anyone forced to live in a system that denied them the right to work or study and determined almost every aspect of their life without any indication as to when their circumstances might change would go mad. Some of them said to him that they would prefer to go to jail because they would have a definite sentence and would know when they were getting out. Many of us have been championing this cause for a long time. One of the first motions …