I am sorry, I was not in any way being disrespectful. It very much relates to amendment No. 172.

Can I ask why?

What do trans issues have to do with the Bill?

On a point of order-----

On a point of order, we are already guillotining the debate on the Bill. The Senator is speaking on trans rights; he is not speaking on the Bill.

Senator Mullen is speaking about trans rights. Earlier, the Cathaoirleach told me to stick to the Bill. This Bill is not about trans rights, so we have gone way off point. It is about children in international protection.

I second the amendment.

I will follow on from Senators Ruane and Higgins. This is all related. I am not going to get time to come back in because the debate has to finish by 6 p.m. The Civil Engagement Group's amendments are based on human rights and dignity. The Minister said it was as if Senator Higgins thought there was a movement or campaign to torture refugees. Maybe he used another term but it was something like that. I do not believe that to be the case. For us, the members of the Civil Engagement Group, this is about human rights …

We are not a crazy bunch that does not want protection for refugees. What we want is to have refugees, when they are here, treated with dignity and respect, not have somebody in a hotel or direct provision centre search another human being. Would the Minister let someone in the Department of justice search him every day when he comes in to do his job? No, he would not. It is not acceptable. Why does he think it is acceptable that people working in direct provision centres can search others? This is a nasty day for …

Last week, Donald Trump made a comment about people with dyslexia and said they were dumb. Over 63,000 children in Ireland have dyslexia. I want to send those children a message to say that they are not stupid or dumb. He is the leader of a country who can say what he wants to say, cause as many wars as he wants and is accountable to absolutely nobody. He is a simple man with a simple mind who judges people. He is a narrow-minded man who does not care about other individuals. How many mothers have children with add…

I stand once again to call for a debate on buildings in Donegal with mica-affected blocks. Every single day, I send my little girl Lacey to a crèche that could fall down at absolutely any point. This is not the fault of the childcare providers in Donegal. There are over 25 childcare providers in Donegal whose buildings are impacted by defective blocks. I am aware that Deputy Charles Ward has done a lot of work advocating 100% redress, but we are forgetting about the community organisations that are also impacted by…

The theme of this year's International Women's Day is "give to gain". I was in Ballyfermot yesterday to attend an International Women's Day event. I saw the poverty and homelessness there. Today, I visited the SAOL Project and spoke to women who were recovering from addiction. They are giving it their all and gaining fuck all. It is as simple as that. These are women who are homeless on our streets. We come in here every year with the same auld copy-and-paste speeches about how much we want to stop poverty for wome…

I am just going to follow on from Senator Black. I was privileged to serve on the Committee on Disability Matters with the Minister of State as the Chairperson. I remember his passion for equality in education, especially for people with additional needs. I would welcome a review of the SNAs. Language is really important and when we talk about special education, what kind of stigma is that? I would love to look at changing the name of SNAs. It is something the education committee is currently looking at. We will ta…

I thank Senator Ruane for her dedication and hard work for mothers and their babies, not just today but in the last Seanad as well. She has worked hard to bring justice to the victims and their forgotten children. Today in the Dáil there was an apology around institutional ill-treatment. The State has always had scandals. This evening, why give an apology in the other House and come in here and not support a Bill that also talks about institutional ill-treatment? I cannot figure it out. However, I will move on and …

Hear, hear.

Other Senators spoke about the tragedy over the weekend when we lost seven members of society due to car crashes. One young woman was knocked down and six more people were injured, including a child. In 2007, in my first time to ever be in a national newspaper, I was referred to as a smash crash girl; a young woman who had broken her two arms, two legs and two ankles in a really serious car crash in the year 2000. I know from first-hand experience after numerous operations, spending time in critical care and spendi…

For the past seven months, I have worked closely with the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, on a detailed and careful Bill to tackle fake sexual images created by artificial intelligence, AI. Other parties have brought forward strong and important ideas on this issue. My Bill builds on that work and adds extra tools to protect people. It makes it a clear crime to create fake sexual images of a person using AI without the person's consent where it causes him or her harm. It also makes it a crime to ask o…

I am. I will see how it goes. I will give Senator Higgins one minute or five minutes. I will say a few words, if that is okay. May I share my time with Senator Higgins?

I thank the Minister of State for being here. When I first came into these Houses, I had a wee girl who was five months old. She is now six years of age. I remember those early days. As a member of the Traveller community, I knew that my child was at more risk of cot death than the children of the other women in the unit with me. I felt overwhelmed at being a first-time mother and as a woman from the Traveller community, not feeling good enough. I had Billy before I came to this House. I remember trying to go to th…

I rise to speak about mental health, Traveller mental health and health in general. Under the previous Government, Travellers were promised stand-alone budget services for Traveller mental health. Unfortunately, none of that has carried through for our community in the past six years. One in 11 deaths is caused by suicide. An all-Ireland health study was carried out over 12 years ago within the Traveller community. That health study needs to be updated. Pavee Point is looking for resources and funding to be able to…