Does the Tánaiste see the date on the occupied territories Bill? It is 2018. It is now 2025. I welcome that some progress has been made. However, it has taken the deaths and slaughter of 54,000 Palestinians, and that figure, which I read out this morning, is totally inaccurate. According to The Lancet , the figure is much higher than that. At the very least, this occupied territories Bill needs to be pushed through before this summer to ban goods and services, if our word is to mean anything. I do not mind or care …

The occupied territories Bill, however limited, has to be passed for goods and services. It is the least we can do. The constant refrain that Europe might take infringement proceedings against us is unacceptable. Let us face that if it happens. There is a genocide happening in our name while we stand here and talk, so we need to take action. The limited way that the Government is dealing with the Central Bank's role and its refusal to look at that is also part of this discussion. It is limiting it to the three Cs, …

I have no difficulty with the technical amendments, but I will use my time now and at the end of the debate to say that I am most unhappy with the Bill. I cannot support it in its present form. The Minister said she is responding to the needs of survivors. We have a special advocate, and when that special advocate was appointed there was a press release which stated the Government would value and listen to survivors. I will refer to a little part of that press release. It stated the role of the special advocate wou…

I will speak specifically on the amendment but first, regarding what the Deputy Ó Muirí just said, the Ombudsman's report on the Magdalen scheme was utterly scathing. It is worth reading what was said. While I am not going to read it again, it was utterly scathing of the way the scheme was administered. Prior to that, Mr. Justice Quirke, a High Court judge, had recommended that the special medical card be given to the Magdalen survivors. That was not done either. On the amendment, I had not spotted the issue but I …

Can I speak on this? I was not sure what the format was. I want to support any Bill that gives supports to survivors. I am now in a dilemma as I cannot support this Bill. I will outline why this is the case. I will go back over 22 years of apologies. As usual, I thank the staff in the library for their wonderful work setting this out. I recommend it to any new TD. The library can set out the whole background to a topic. I have been here for some of that background. I am no expert but, I repeat, I have both personal…

I welcome the family. I wish we did not have to welcome them here. I welcome the apology and I welcome the changes that are proposed for a review of the bail laws, particularly that relating to a four-month time limit. I welcome that there will be a change in legislation regarding a direction from a judge to allow lesser charges to be put. I welcome that there has already been a change to legislation to make leaving the scene of the accident an indictable offence. I also welcome the scholarship. While I welcome all…

This is our second report and we are waiting on a third one. In this second report, we are told the percentages of the pelvic procedures carried out not reaching the criteria are so high that a further inquiry is mandated. The Minister is doing this now in respect of a look back at all of the patients, and I welcome it. We then look at what the percentages were because we cannot repeat them often enough. At CHI at Temple Street, 60% did not meet the clinical indication requirement, while at Cappagh 79% did not meet…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this Bill to the House. I refer to the legal opinion the party received. The Minister might have looked at it. It said there was a strong argument for putting forward this Private Members' Bill based on public policy. They see no difficulty in putting that forward based on public policy. "Public policy" is a phrase the Minister did not use. The Minister also did not refer to international law and did not use the word "genocide". I listened carefully to the Minister. He was very specif…

My question relates to student accommodation in Galway. Where is the national strategy? I ask this in the context of a city where a recent survey found that almost one fifth of students at the University of Galway are living with family members or are in emergency accommodation. Those surveyed represented 8.5% of the student population. About 12% of respondents reported that they were living with family, while 5% said they were living in temporary or emergency accommodation.

Will the strategy be published later this year?

I welcome the standardised design. It is very practical. That has been done all over England with great cost savings. Let us go back to Galway. Approximately 19,000 students are in what I still call the NUIG. Then there is the Atlantic Technological University, ATU. There are more than 40,000 students in Galway in just two third level institutions. I know the Minister does not like the term "vulture funds", so I will use "investment funds". The Government has given carte blanche to investment funds to come in and b…

I am not straying into the housing area. I am putting the issue into the context of a city where we have a massive housing crisis. I do not exaggerate. People have been on a waiting list for 20 years. We jump for joy when someone gets a house after 15 years. That is the context. In addition, we have two universities. A disaster of a decision was taken years ago before the arrival of the ATU. The Corrib Great Southern hotel should have been bought by the Government, as it would have solved half the problems. Of cour…

I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an ngrúpa teicniúil. I thank the technical group for once again putting the spotlight on the absence of services and the failure of successive Governments to recognise the invaluable work that caregivers give us. I am not going to use my own words. I am going to use the Policy Statement on Care published by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, in 2023. As the Minister may recall, IHREC was set up in 2014 to shine a spotlight on human rights and…

It is okay.

There are two of us left, so it is-----

That is okay. I just wish to be fair to the other speakers. I know it is difficult for the Chair. I have attended many protests, as all my colleagues have done. There was a time when I was most uncomfortable with the chant "Israel is a terrorist state" because I am an absolute democrat. I have no such reluctance now and I am ashamed that I was not comfortable with that chant because Israel is a terrorist state. It is out of control, it is a rogue state and it has got that far because it has done everything with imp…

I wish the Minister of State the best. I welcome his passion today and his invitation to all of us to go out into the country. There is a lot more than that to be done, however. He knows that more than anyone. If we go back, we declared biodiversity a climate emergency back in May 2019. The Minister at the time, Josepha Madigan, said that, “We are losing biodiversity around the globe at a rate unprecedented in human history”. She said that on 29 May 2019. The former Minister of State from the Green Party and curren…

Every single member of the Opposition has put their name to this motion. I welcome Cara and her father. It is an indictment of this Government and previous Governments that Cara Darmody, a young teenager, has had to come back two years after she addressed an Oireachtas joint committee in November 2022. At that time, she said, "I am here to tell you what it is like to live in a family that has severely autistic children in it." She goes on to say that they have been treated disgracefully and she is angry. She is jus…

Baineann mo cheist le rialacha nua atá ag teacht ón Aontas Eorpach agus ag cur freagracht ar tháirgeoirí bia tuilleadh eolais a chur ar fáil. Is maith an rud é go mbeidh dualgas orthu tuilleadh eolais a chur ar fáil maidir lena gcuid earraí. An fhadhb ná go mbeidh sé sin uilig i mBéarla agus ní bheidh dualgas ar bith orthu an t-eolas sin a chur ar fáil i nGaeilge. Rules are being drafted as we speak. I understand there will be a cross-departmental working committee set up in relation to those rules that will place …

It is specifically this issue.