I accept that is what the Minister is doing and that this is not a policy decision of his. The advice is the advice and he has to act on clinical and medical advice. It strikes me that a more sensible approach would have been for progressive disorders to have remained subject to a clinical recommendation by a specialist. That probably would have been a better way to approach it. As Deputy Shortall said, concerns have been raised. It is our job to raise them. I assume the Minister will accept the medical advice he h…

Yes.

Hear, hear.

As with Deputy Shortall, it has been highlighted to me by a number of professionals working in this field that there is a very small number of specialists in the State operating in some of these areas. We see this in a number of unique specialist areas where it can be difficult to recruit as there are very few of them. This amendment seeks to provide AHRRA, the assisted human reproduction regulatory authority, with the authority to recognise other equivalent specialists trained at a different level, as may be appro…

We would all have regard to patient safety grounds and the patient safety advice that is given. Again, this is advice that the Minister sought and was given, and I accept that it came in good faith and that he is accepting it in good faith. There is strong pushback from the HSE and the pushback is on patient safety grounds. However, what the amendment is seeking to do is to give the authority to AHRRA to make that decision in regard to the specialists who would be used. I hear what the Minister is saying. Of course…

If we could avoid sending them abroad, would it not be better?

This is complex legislation. This amended version of it is lengthy and covers many areas. I have in the past commended the Minister's officials on the work they have done. It has been phenomenal but we will get to that later as we conclude the Bill. In all the exchanges we had with the officials and the Minister on many issues, the Minister always said the best interests of the child have to come first. Everybody accepts that. That has always been the starting point when looking at these issues. There are rights th…

I supported the retrospective parental recognition for the same reasons as the Minister and others did. It was because it was the right thing to do. I also support putting in place a new regime, a new set of regulations and a new process that allow for international surrogacy in a way that no other country has done. We are agreeing here. I have to put my cards on the table and say that we are all signing up to this process. There cannot be any bypassing of the process. I have made it clear publicly, and I will say …

We discussed this earlier, perhaps with officials or the Minister. When concerns were raised, that was the exact advice we got - that the Bill already deals with this. That there is now legal advice that says, hang on a second, we may well need to do something else, means we have to do it. All of those scenarios the Minister pointed out could happen. We always look at worst-case scenarios but sometimes the worst-case scenario happens. Circumstances in which someone who is an abusive partner or an abusive individual…

I know it all.

These amendments provide beyond reasonable doubt that a medical professional will not be criminalised for offering genuine medical advice. There is a difference between amendment No. 51 and amendment No. 52. My amendment No. 52 permits the courts to exercise reasonable discretion in determining this, and I think that is a better course of action. I understand the logic of amendment No. 51 from Deputy Shortall but I think the most appropriate way to proceed on this issue is to permit the courts to exercise what my a…

I move amendment No. 52: In page 85, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following: “(c) The giving by a medical practitioner of genuine medical advice.”.

I just want to make a number of remarks because this is a groundbreaking Bill. We have been through a very lengthy process and I genuinely do not believe that this Bill has been rushed or that we have done anything in haste. We have done our job very diligently. There was a lot of pre-legislative scrutiny. In fact, there was an Oireachtas committee that did a huge amount of work on this and I want to commend those involved, including my own colleague, Deputy Funchion, and the many others across all of the political…

I thank Deputy Shortall and the Social Democrats for moving the motion in the first instance. I do not know if the authors of the motion received any prior notice that the senior Minister would not be here but it is not acceptable that the Minister is not. There may be a reason for it but I heard the Chair himself raise this issue this morning-----

-----with regard to senior Ministers not coming in. Particularly when people are putting forward very substantial motions, the senior Minister should be here. That is what Opposition time is for. Time and again we are seeing it where a junior Minister is sent in and senior Ministers seem to think it is not their role, but it is. It is their job to be here and to answer the questions that are being put. Looking at all of the issues in this motion, and I have been raising some of these issues myself over recent weeks…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

There are a number of areas in housing where the Minister has delivered, which should be recognised on the floor of the Dáil. First is rising rents - well done. Every year, month on month, year on year, rents have increased. In my own constituency of Waterford, rents have increased 6.5% on last year. That was up on the year before and the year before that. Well done. You delivered that as did your colleagues in Waterford, Deputies Mary Butler and Marc Ó Cathasaigh, and let us not forget Senator John Cummins for his…

We support reform of HIQA’s enforcement powers. HIQA’s current enforcement powers are blunt and we have been saying that for some time. We will support the Bill but the Government has been far too limited in its approach. I met HIQA officials on a number of occasions in recent years on many of these matters. The Bill provides for compliance notices for the Chief Inspector of Social Services at the authority. This is something I called for in a policy document I launched two and a half years ago. It provides for com…

Covid should actually have been the battle cry or the rallying cry to this Government to actually deal with these issues. The Minister of State is actually making the argument for me. Covid was the big disrupter that said to the State that we need to do more about adult safeguarding legislation, homecare and a statutory homecare but the Minister of State did not deliver and she has to accept her own responsibility for those failings.