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 …

I also wish to raise the issue of Ulster Bank raised by some of my colleagues. It is the end of a 160-year era. We all remember the Henry the Hippo money box growing up. Today is a huge blow for the 2,800 staff. It is also hugely worrying for those customers who have non-performing loans or who may have restructured their loans recently due to being put on the pandemic unemployment payment. We therefore need to ask the Minister what we will do for these customers. Where do they land? Will their loans be taken over …

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I wish to take this opportunity to thank him for all the hard work he has done on Covid. He should congratulate himself and his staff in the Department of Health on the vaccine roll-out plan. People wrongly compare us with New Zealand regarding zero Covid, but when our vaccine roll-out is compared with New Zealand's, they will start on Saturday with only 60,000 doses, so we need to look at ourselves and say "Well done". As supplies come in, we seem to be administering t…

I ask the Leas-Chathaoirleach to allow me some indulgence in respect of my time. I raise the issue of cancer services during Covid and post Covid. I was shocked to hear that Professor Seamus O'Reilly, an oncologist from Cork, told the European Parliament that the impact of Covid will set cancer care services back ten years. I am asking the Minister and the Leader to ensure this does not happen. We cannot afford for cancer services to be held back or to go back in time by ten years. Very disappointingly, BreastCheck…

Beannachtaí Lá Fhéile Bríde oraibh go léir. I will be quick as I am sharing time with Senator Fiona O'Loughlin, who has a long track record of advocating in the Dáil for a publicly funded IVF system. As we know, the statistics show that infertility affects one in six couples and affects men and women equally. Having lived through the highs and lows of five IVF cycles, with the worry, waiting, failures and pain involved, I strongly believe the State does not do enough to support couples facing this challenge. I was …

The provision of a third stage of free IVF is what we are really looking for as it is the cost-prohibitive factor for couples. When the Minister is bringing the AHR Bill forward he must accept that many couples in Ireland travel to other jurisdictions to escape the restrictions in their own country on egg donation and surrogacy. I would really like a debate, both generally and in the House, on how we can deliver these practices in this jurisdiction.

Guím beannachtaí lá fhéile Bríde ar gach duine. I would like to join Senator Frances Black in her comments on the destruction of nearly 550 tapes of oral testimonies without a transcript having been made. It is shocking, appalling and gut-wrenching. I hope the Minister comes to the House to explain what exactly happened and who made the direction to destroy the tapes. Like my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick, I welcome the fact that, hopefully, we will get clarity this week in respect of the leaving certificate. I be…

I join colleagues in congratulating the Minister on the birth of her grandchild. I hope she gets to spend some time with the new arrival on Zoom or in person. I also thank the Minister and her staff for their ongoing commitment to the provision of social protection supports during this pandemic. The Minister and all of her staff have been working unbelievably hard. Her office is very efficient and we are all very grateful for that. We all know that unprecedented social protection supports have been provided during …