I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second Senator Higgins's amendment to the Order of Business. This morning, a Speak Out against Racism event was launched in the Leinster House audiovisual room. Young women, many of them students, spoke out on the impact of racism. Yesterday, I asked about the progress of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 but did not get a reply. I would like to know where it is at and whether we can have a debate on these issues in the House. I bring up this topic nearly every we…

I second the proposal.

Hear, hear.

My mother used to say - Senator Black said it is a real Dublin thing - that self-praise is no praise. I had a question for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, if he was here. Did he ever go into a hotel where there was a mother and five or six of her children living in one space? Did he ever go in and meet the people on the ground who are living in hotels? Why is the Government paying millions of euro to hoteliers to profit off the back of people's human rights and off i…

We have to say that. What this Government has done, which is sad, has been to divide and conquer on the streets among poor people who are homeless, including mothers. Yet the Government could not extend the ban. I am not in government and I might come across as a bit of an eejit but by God if I was in government I would be the first to say that we need to give ourselves room to be able to fix what the system created. If you ring up looking for a house as someone from the Traveller community, you may not know what a…

There are 11,000 people who are homeless.

I wish to raise the issue of online abuse to Members of both Houses. We still have not had a discussion about this. There is no solution for protecting Members and protecting people in general from online abuse and from hatred and discrimination. Senator Ruane and I had a conversation about six months ago. In this House and the Lower House Members can talk about and insult people and be racist, and they are doing their job. If Senator Ruane or I, however, stand up and say they are not allowed to say that and they a…

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

My proposal is very simple. I have just come from the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. I live in rural Ireland, in Ardara in County Donegal. We have a lovely playground. It has been well invested in and the council has done a good job with it. Unfortunately, there is no play space or even a swing for disabled children or children who are autistic. It is a conversation we all need to be having around the right to play for children and how important it is for our children to have equality of opportunity, even i…

Yesterday was the international day against racism. A very rushed action plan against racism was launched. I thank the committee, which worked really hard on the plan to tackle racism within Irish society. I request that we have statements on the plan, because a lot of the time we have great plans but we do not have action. That is one point. This evening there will be a vote in the Dáil on the removal of the eviction ban. Sometimes when we speak up, we are seen as being far left or that we do not have any common s…

We are allowed to speak.

We are allowed to comment.