The Bill before us can be viewed as technical and complex, and when taken with the AHR Bill, it is many of those things. However, at the heart of this debate and this Bill is one simple question - should the children born to LGBTQ+ couples have one legal parent or two? It is that simple. We cannot accept the nine-month delay, given the reasons that have been outlined, the life cycle of this Government and what the Minister said about the AHR Bill and having two parallel processes. We understand the complexities of …

My question relates to funding for cancer care programmes arising from the decision not to award any new development funding to the national cancer strategy in budget 2024, specifically on the planned centralisation of surgical cancer services, the new model of patient follow-up and survivorship and plans for acute oncology nursing services.

That is recognised. The Minister mentioned the €40 million but that is since 2017, when this national cancer strategy came into being. It is said that we need €20 million per year to implement the national cancer strategy. While the funding for new medicines and increased capacity across the health service will help, the Minister will note that the national cancer strategy is aimed at early detection and prevention. We need to see investment in that. The surgical oncology centralisation project, which supports canc…

As the Minister knows, the national cancer strategy is an ambitious but realistic document. There is a real risk that cancer outcomes, which have been trending in a more positive direction in recent years, will begin to go backwards if we do not see that funding continued in the specific areas that have been outlined. There seems to be a disconnect between what the Minister is saying here and what the advocacy groups, the Oireachtas cross-party group on cancer, the Irish Cancer Society and other groups are seeing. …

My question relates to transgender advocacy groups and the Minister's engagement, or lack thereof, with said groups. It is a request that he and senior officials in the HSE commit not only to having one meeting but holding a series of ongoing engagements with the relevant transgender advocacy groups.

In terms of the appointment of the HSE clinical lead, while the groups are obviously aware that they have no formal role in such an appointment, given that this is a small and vulnerable group of people, they feel that engagement regarding that role or position would be important. This community has insights in terms of who provides the specialist care and who would give confidence in the provision of the care that is needed. The National Gender Service, NGS, at the moment is not national. It does not reach many co…

Regarding the model of care, the NGS states that patient support and advocacy organisations will be involved in governance and service development. However, after five years there is still no member of the trans community on the NGS governance committee and no member has been invited to participate in the development of the service. These are some of the tangible improvements that could be made to increase confidence. Across the NGS, the Department of Health, and among senior figures, including chief clinical offic…

Returning to the area of school transport and its reform, I know the review of the school transport system is with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. How long it remains with her remains to be seen. We need it to be published urgently. As it stands, though, there are still cohorts of children all over the country who have been left behind by a school transport system that is not fit for purpose. In our own constituency, 17 families plus from Swords have students going to Coláiste Ghlór na Mara, Balbriggan. A…

The Minister of State referred to how disappointed we would be with a timed amendment. It pales in comparison to the disappointment that many women and couples will have who have had their eyes on this legislation for the last three years. We believe the Government is making a huge error, politically, in what it is doing here. Regardless of when the next election is going to take place, we know that a 12-month timed amendment in the life cycle of this Dáil means this Bill will never see the light of day again. It w…

With the permission of the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach I will speak for the first three minutes and Deputy Sherlock will have the remainder of the time.

Before I begin, my thoughts and those of my colleagues are with the children in Parnell Square who have been impacted by what has been reported as a serious incident in the centre of Dublin city. All our thoughts and prayers are with them. I wish to speak to the Minister about a review of the carer's allowance. It is an issue that crops up an awful lot. These are people who are in receipt of carer's allowance and at some point they receive a letter for a review. That is understandable but the content and tone of th…

The Labour Party will be supporting this legislation. Every year we have this same debate, in which we amend the Health Insurance Act to modify the regulations governing the private health insurance sector. This is in the context of the goal of our health policy being the drive towards the delivery of Sláintecare, a universal, single-tier healthcare system that has the support, at least in theory, of all sides of this House. It would provide access for all and service free at the point of use. It causes me great co…

This is a very good, simple, to-the-point motion that we wholeheartedly support because it goes to the heart of what is going on in the health service at the moment. The Minister's response was to begin talking about the aim to eliminate cervical cancer in Ireland. This is a very laudable aim, which we all support 100%. By God, what a legacy that would be for Vicky Phelan, just over a year on from her passing, if we were able to achieve it. However, that is not what this motion is about. Even if it is, achieving th…

It is good to see further debate on vacancy and dereliction. The Labour Party had a motion on it in the Seanad last night. I wish to focus on transport, specifically the lack of funding and the systemic issues with have with our infrastructure with respect to both capacity and the supply of services. We have packed buses, packed train carriages, chronic delays and congestion and poor driver behaviour on the road as a result. This crisis is felt countrywide. I experience it and see it every day of the week, living i…

The fare reduction is welcome and we need to see more, but it is useless if the public transport does not exist or is bringing people on a route that is already congested so they are missing buses or being left behind. Giving increased funding to the Department of Transport when it is not spending the money it already has is more or less pointless. It is not just us saying this, as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned capital spending will need to be on average €2.7 billion higher than it is now from 2024 t…

Tuesday was National Diabetes Day. Diabetes is a condition with which approximately 300,000 people in this country live. We do not know the exact number because we do not have a national register. I have been working with Labour Party councillor, Mr. John Maher, in Cork, who lives with diabetes, on raising awareness and trying to force the Government into more action in this area. I have three different requests and I would like the Minister to bring to Government. Will the Government commit to providing a national…

I thank the Social Democrats for this excellent motion being brought to the House. I will start with a quote, "[We all know the European] Union was ... founded as a peace project." That statement was made less than a year ago in this Chamber by Ursula von der Leyen, right there between where the Minister of State and the Acting Chair are sitting, where she proudly extolled the virtues of the European Union as a force for peace and for good, before going on to describe the virtues, as she saw it, of the Irish people…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that: — there is still no statutory right to home help or legislative underpinning for the home support scheme despite long standing commitments to act; — the delayed referendum to replace Article 41.2 of Bunreacht na hÉireann , if passed, will finally insert language that recognises and values care within the home and the wider community; and — the Commission on Care for Older Persons is due to finally get underway in January 2024, and while Ireland has a growing population,…

We know that, regrettably, lamentably and tragically, we are going backwards in terms of road safety and road deaths. We saw 25 road deaths in August alone. We nearly had one death every day during what should be one of the safer months. As of Tuesday last, 24 October, we have seen an increase of 36 in the number of road deaths as compared with the corresponding date in 2022. We have also seen 31 more collisions in this timeframe according to An Garda Síochána. In May, I called on the Road Safety Authority, RSA, to…

I thank Deputy Connolly and the Independent Group for bringing this very timely motion for discussion. Discussing our neutrality against the backdrop of what is happening in the Middle East is very pertinent and very important. It brings that debate through our lens, which is needed. We, in the Labour Party, are on record as saying we were not happy with how the consultative forum was set up. It was nothing to do with personalities as the Tánaiste put across to Opposition Members this morning. Instead, we would rat…