I welcome the review of the hot school meals scheme for children. I encourage the Minister to examine the timing of the lunches for children. Many are expected to have a hot meal at 11 a.m. The Minister needs to look into that. I heard many of my colleagues speak about how young people have to leave the country. I have been in contact with numerous youth organisations over the past two weeks. They are extremely worried about funding for communities and young people in the country. We hear about young people leaving…

Travellers know what it means when politicians make a habit of standing outside our sites, pointing cameras at our homes and speaking as though true criminality is somehow written in our blood. When a Senator invokes Garda patrols in the same breath as warning Travellers, it does not feel like a concern for safety. It feels like a collective punishment and an attempt to mark a whole community as dangerous because of who we are, not because of individual actions. That is an unethical abuse of power. The Garda is sup…

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I want to bring to the attention of the House that this week is Traveller Pride Week. It runs from 18 to 29 May. Events will be happening up and down the country. We are hoping to have an event in Leinster House in two weeks' time with the Traveller committee. It will be a meet and greet with members of the Travelling community. There will also be a bit of music. It is really important to celebrate young Travellers during Traveller Pride Week. It is celebrated with awards in education, youth community and sports. I…

I welcome this motion and thank the Fianna Fáil Senators for bringing it forward. I notice there are few men in the Chamber. We need men to be part of the discussion of this issue. I want to highlight that. The zero-tolerance strategy committed to delivering at least 280 refuge spaces by 2026. The Council of Europe states that a country of Ireland's size needs at least 500 units. We are nowhere near that target. Women turned away from refuges do not disappear. They go back to their abuser, face homelessness and in …

We need protection for women. I have had to put safety measures in my family home where I am trying my hardest to rear two lovely children. I am never going to be the same public representative that I was four weeks ago. The Garda has been absolutely brilliant. I have been working with the guards over the past four weeks, but it does not stop the impact of having to look over your shoulder afraid. The majority are men and it is gender-based violence. You are living in fear in your own home. I have had to talk and c…

Senator Ahearn, who is the Acting Leader, is doing a brilliant job. I rise to speak about kinship care. It is where children are raised full-time by relatives, close family members, friends, grandparents, aunts or uncles after a parent has passed away. Kinship Care Ireland is not fully supported by the State. It gets little or no State funding. Payment grants for children are little supported by the State. My ask this afternoon is that we have a debate on kinship care, the vital work of the organisation and, most i…

When I first came into the Seanad in July 2020, I remember the Cathaoirleach presented to me with a lovely Irish flag. It is identical to the one behind him. Of course I am proud to be Irish. First and foremost, my identity is Irish Traveller. In this House, two days ago, I spoke about the shame I felt about how our flag has been used to create hatred and division and to terrify people with old folks afraid to live in their homes due to the far right. I am speaking out against the far right because it is not attack…

I call for a debate on Traveller accommodation. Labre Park is the oldest halting site in Ireland. Since the age of 18, I have been working on the redevelopment of Labre Park. Two years ago, we got a playground for the children. It has been wonderful for all the children on the site. It is very unfortunate that the redevelopment of Labre Park is no longer going ahead. The residents of the site are devastated. With all my heart, I say that really wonderful people came from Labre Park, people like the Keenans and othe…

I also welcome the guests from Ballymun this evening to the Visitors Gallery. We are the only country in Europe that has a Youth Work Act. We value youth work as a society. We know the important role youth services and youth workers play in any young person's life. Youth work is not a luxury. As I got up to deliver this speech, I thought about Bernadette Devlin's quote about how we live in an unjust world; we are not meant to grow up in one. It is really unfortunate that many of the young people in this country are…

I welcome a young woman from Youthreach who is on placement with me for the next two weeks, Martina Quinn. I do not know whether Leinster House does work experience with Youthreach. It is an absolute pleasure having a young woman from the Traveller community who is very passionate about the rights of young people and especially young people in care. Martina was part of Comhairle na nÓg and spoke on the floor of the Seanad last year. She is a very intelligent young woman. I hope someday she will have the equality of…

I want to start by saying very clearly that I understand why people are on the streets. The cost of fuel and energy is breaking people and the Government has been far too slow to see this and act. Energy prices have gone through the roof in recent years. Research from the ESRI and others show that around three in ten households are now in energy poverty, the highest level ever recorded in this State. Hundreds of thousands of families cannot afford to keep their homes warm and cover basic energy bills if prices rise…

That is fine.

What I am going to say will probably get a lot of hate comments on social media. However, I will say it anyway. Today was a complete waste of time and energy by all political parties. It was a day that we could have used to work with communities. The Government needs to listen to people. It needs to change what it is doing right now. A decrease of 10 cent per litre in fuel is not good enough. The Government should not wait for roads to be blocked and tempers to be high. It should sit down now with anti-poverty grou…

This whole Bill is a shame, to be honest. How could you say you are Minister for justice and believe in justice when we are supporting children to live in these horrible conditions? Direct provision was set up 23 years ago as a temporary solution for refugees. Who do we think we are, putting one set of children above another? I refer to how we are treating children who are already fleeing war, who have already been through so much trauma. We are not listening to the Ombudsman for Children. We might as well get rid …

-----or if he has ever seen the living conditions of the children. We have got thousands of children in this country living in hotels. That is a story for another day - children who are homeless. We have children living in direct provision who have to be in at a certain time, they get certain foods to eat and they have little or no choice in their dinners. They cannot stay back for after-school activities because they have to be in what I would say is the wee prison for a certain time. We cannot stand by this. In 3…

It is to the Bill. It is to the rights of the child and to justice. These children have no justice, no rights. If I am the only Senator in here who is annoyed because of that, shame on everybody else.