We cannot say anything, can we not?

The Minister of State will come back.

I welcome the Bill. It is important that laws relating to European arrest warrants are brought up to date with the European Council's framework decision of 2002. That is long overdue. As a result of the delay in doing it, infringement proceedings were initiated in 2020 by the European Commission against Ireland. What is proposed with regard to the European arrest warrant will update the current extradition system between member states. There is a clear objective here, namely, to permit the free movement of judicial…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion which in reality reflects people's everyday circumstances. The rising cost of living is being felt across communities, whether in Ringsend, Donnybrook, Kimmage or Kevin Street. It is the issue that people are raising with me. People have to decide between heating or eating. That is of huge concern to everybody in this House. Everyone is feeling the pressure of these rising costs. Recent research from Red C on behalf of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul found that 3…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in to take this important issue. There is a real sense of fear among residents in the City Quay area in particular. They are worried about the ongoing street violence that is occurring almost every day. They are virtually being held hostage. Last Saturday week, a young 13-year-old was hospitalised after being stabbed. Thankfully, he will make a full recovery, although I understand it will take a while. It is amazing that someone has not been killed because when you see the k…

Talk about Youth, which is a fantastic youth project in Pearse Street, has no dedicated space. The Minister of State said that he visited different youth clubs. I ask that he also visit the Talk about Youth project and see for himself the great work they do, their lack of resources and their needs, and perhaps work with them to ensure they can have a dedicated space to work with the local community and young people. The north and south inner cities are one community. They need to be treated as one community, they n…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. Senator Sherlock has put a great deal of work into it. It is a very timely motion. Prior to Covid, I would have been a sceptic about flexible working. I always believed it would not work. Following on from Covid, I am a strong advocate for it. It can make a significant difference to employers and employees. I understand why employers would be reluctant. It is a big change, but the reality is there is no going back. Everything has changed. From an employer's perspec…

Despite the Minister and Sport Ireland committing to tackling the serious lack of gender balance on governing boards, progress has been very slow. Will the Taoiseach consider introducing penalties or incentives to encourage national governing bodies to increase women's representation on their governing boards?

I thank Deputy McNamara and the Independent Group for proposing this motion on the NDLS. It is a really important service. Various issues with the issuing and renewing of permits and driving licences have had a severe impact on the lives of workers and their families over the past two years. We heard from numerous front-line workers about the difficulties they faced in renewing their driving licences and the impact on their work. It is disappointing that the NDLS no longer offers a walk-in service and that it refus…

Unfortunately, I have no Irish. I would like to be able to speak Irish and probably should have done more when I was younger to allow me to do so. Despite that, I feel strongly about how important Irish is in protecting our culture and identity. There is significant growing demand across Dublin Bay South for access to secondary school education through the medium of Irish. This creates a serious issue. There are a number of primary Gaelscoileanna in the area, such as Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, Scoil Bhríde in Ranelagh,…

I am sharing time with Deputy Ward. I welcome the opportunity for Members to speak on this groundbreaking report by Amnesty International. I commend the team at Amnesty on the years of research that went into it. I understand it took four years to complete and it is a solid piece of research. Ireland has a long and proud tradition of support for and solidarity with the people of Palestine. While many of the crimes of Israel's apartheid have long been raised in the Dáil, the EU's central involvement in the arms trad…

Given that ongoing street violence is keeping residents in City Quay hostage most evenings and a 13-year-old was stabbed on Saturday night, there is an urgent need to increase resources in the south inner city in the same way the north inner city was resourced on the back of the Mulvey report. We need increased Garda resources and youth and community resources. The Talk about Youth project on Pearse Street, for example, has no dedicated youth space from which to work. Will the Taoiseach commit to resourcing the sou…

I acknowledge the presence of the ambassador and I welcome her. For weeks we have seen the geopolitical battle between NATO and Russia being played out and the ordinary people of Ukraine getting caught in the middle. It has received prime coverage from almost all Irish media. On Monday night came the news from the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, that Russia had formally announced recognition of the two breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. Until then we had been watching the slow demise of the Minsk II agreem…

Everybody welcomes the package of supports as part of the delivery of Ireland’s residential retrofit programme but I suppose the devil is in the detail. As Deputy O’Rourke mentioned, the 80% scheme is very limited. We are effectively funding the well off in that we are giving wealthy people, in particular, 50% of their upgrade cost. Just like homeowners, those renting from Dublin City Council would love the opportunity to have their homes insulated. Commitments were made years ago to insulate the flats at Glover Co…

Harcourt Terrace Educate Together National School is located in temporary accommodation in a building that was not designed for primary or secondary school children. In September 2021, Harcourt Terrace Educate Together National School opened its second autism class in order to support further the autism community. The school has applied for an additional special needs assistant, SNA, to combat health and safety and child protection concerns which the building presents, but it has been refused. The Minister of State…

Yes, and it is refusing.

The Minister has responsibility.

This is a technical Bill and I acknowledge the commitment and hard work the Minister of State puts into her brief. I know she shows huge empathy with the people she works with. That said, I cannot see this Bill making a huge difference, or any difference, to neurodiverse children who are being bused out of their communities with strangers. More than €70,000 per day is being spent in south Dublin alone to transport autistic children out of their communities in this way. That is just south Dublin and it would be inte…

I welcome the opportunity to support this motion. The word "crisis" appears to go hand in hand with this Government. We have gone from one crisis to the next and now we have reached a crisis in the cost of living. Some in the Government seem to think the solution is to stop complaining and to shop around. People do shop around, but some cannot do so because of barriers. Those people who are struggling are invariably on low pay and the minimum wage. The reality is that working on the minimum wage puts individuals an…

The rising cost of energy and the overall costs of living are on the minds of everybody. When meeting residents and community groups, whether it is in Donnybrook, the inner city or Rathmines, we see that everybody is feeling the pressure as costs continue to rise. In the 12 months to December, inflation reached its highest level in 20 years. These high levels of inflation impact heavily on the daily lives of people in the State. We know who feels these sharp increases in inflation most. It is the working families w…