That is okay. The Senator went off track earlier, too.

It is personal to me. This is the second time today the Acting Chair has told me to stop being personal.

I take this extremely personally. We have to live in these conditions and the Senator does not know what it is like to live in dire conditions. Nobody gives a damn about members of the Traveller community. I am here as a member of the Traveller community and I have to stand up. My colleagues and I will keep standing up and doing the right thing. It is personal.

I will just keep saying it is personal, because it is. To me, it is very personal.

I move amendment No. 99: In page 72, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: "(i) provision of suitable Traveller accommodation;". I withdraw it for re-submission on Report Stage.

I move amendment No. 105: In page 72, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: “(o)integration of accessible urban design and the provision of accessible and inclusive facilities as required under the United Nations on the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons;”.

I will speak briefly on amendment No. 121, which seeks to insert protection for cultural infrastructure and facilities. These are the spaces where living culture exists. As a member of the Traveller community, I have seen my culture regularly dismissed and even criminalised by wider society. Earlier I touched on the damaging impact of the report of the commission on itinerants in 1963, which is still felt by the Traveller community after more than 60 years. The report framed Traveller culture and the Traveller way …

I find this very disheartening as the only member of the Traveller community who comes in here and speaks very openly about culture and way of life, working on amendments with my colleagues. I am talking about infrastructure, spaces where Travellers can celebrate our way of life, be that during Traveller Pride Week or at equine centres for Traveller men to be able to create jobs. It would create so many opportunities for members of our community if the Minister of State were to accept amendment No. 121. Again, it i…

I am sorry if the Minister of State heard the word "discrimination". I am sure I did not say it was discriminatory that the Minister of State is not accepting amendment No. 121. I did not say anything about discrimination because I would not-----

Amendments Nos. 138 and 139 seek to address the need for local councillors to access independent political and technical advice. When we vote for our local councillors, we vote for a person who will represent our communities. We must make sure they have all the supports they need to make these decisions in our best interests. These amendments would empower local councillors by giving them important tools to use when considering and acting on issues that come before them. Amendment No. 142 would allow the Minister t…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, line 39, after “imposed” to insert the following: “or allocated to such a fund relevant to the functions of the Commission, as the Commission and the Minister may deem appropriate”. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

I understand that we are coming to the end of this term. However, I, along with its other members, would love the opportunity to discuss in this House the pre-budget submission that the Joint Committee on Disability Matters has worked on. We talk about the rights of people with disabilities, which needs to be represented in the media but which gets very little representation either in the media or, unfortunately, in the Houses. Yesterday, Dr. Niall Muldoon, the Ombudsman for Children, said that very little has chan…

Senator Sherlock will get the chance to come back in. I call the Minister of State.

The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is welcome to the House.

The Minister of State, Deputy Collins, is very welcome.

I was not going to speak on this issue this evening but as my colleagues would be aware, as a child, I spent many a time with my mother in women's refuges in Ireland, through barring orders and so on. I can give one example. I remember my mother calling the Garda and gardaí saying that this is how Travellers are and this is a family matter. I am talking about 1996 or 1997. Unfortunately, that is how it was back then. As a woman, the Minister has made some positive changes around domestic violence and controlling be…

I wish to talk about the cervical scandal that stills exists in Ireland. If a woman is going for a cervical check, her swab gets sent to America or Germany. Can women in this country trust the cervical tests? As someone who has been there and done all of that over the last year and a half, I can say we cannot trust them. It takes six weeks for the test result to come back. We should also lower the age for cervical screening. In secondary schools, young girls can have the HPV vaccination and I welcome that. Travelle…

It is a pleasure to be here with Mrs. Robinson today. When I was six years old, I met her in Rathmines Women’s Refuge with my mother. To be here and have my picture on the wall next to her and other great women here in the Seanad is an absolute pleasure and privilege. When someone meets a six- or seven-year-old in a refuge or homeless accommodation, they might make an assumption that they will grow up to be nothing because we do not believe that young children can grow up and be anything they want to be. In Ireland…

Two years ago, I introduced a Bill that would replace the phrase “child pornography” in Irish law with “child sexual exploitation material”. Today in the Seanad, a recent EU directive comes before us to strengthen the measures to combat sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Among many measures in the directive, it calls to replace the phrase “child pornography” with the phrase “child sexual abuse material”. I would like to have a debate in this House again on changing the phrase in Ireland. I was in discussion…

I call Senator Carrigy and he will be followed by Senator Malcolm Byrne.