I will let the other Members speak but when it is my turn to speak, I will get up and speak.

I said we would only be lying if we said it was not discrimination.

That is not how I said it.

As a member of the Traveller community I believe that not accepting amendments Nos. 16 and 17 is discrimination towards my community.

I just want to make sure to make it again, please. To believe that we are not being discriminatory is being part of the problem. For me, I am not, as I have tried my best to get these amendments put in. I say to the Minister of State that I am in support of the Bill, 150%, but I am not in support of the three amendments which we submitted on behalf of the Irish Traveller movement and its members which were not accepted. I have lived it, breathed it. We have seen with the trespassing Act, and I can be told that that…

This is a little bit personalised.

I did not make my point.

As I was saying to the Minister of State, I support the Bill and I did not wish to cause offence to anybody but I live and breathe in this community and not to accept those amendments is very disheartening. I do take it personally. Sometimes one has to take it personally when you are the one that is living in it and working with the people on the ground. For many of the Members, for the majority, it is not personal but for me it is. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Foley, to the House. She will have six minutes and group spokespersons will have seven minutes.

I thank the Minister. The first spokesperson for Fianna Fáil is Senator Chambers.

It should not matter if people are cohabiting or if they are married but the fact is that it does matter. If it did not matter, John would not have had to take a case against the State. It matters financially. When I was ten years of age my mother passed away. It was her anniversary this time last week, the same great, wonderful person - I speak about her very often. If my father had not been entitled to the widow's pension, I do not know where I and the rest of my family would be today. It was by a stroke of luck …

No, it is absolutely fine. I thank the Minister.

I thank the Minister for coming here himself. I hope to receive an update about the White Paper on the end of direct provision. I understand there are additional pressures on the system this year. I am aware the Department stated this week that it is accommodating more than 58,000 people who arrived in Ireland this year, including 42,000 Ukrainians and 16,000 people seeking international protection. However, we must also acknowledge that this year marks the 22nd year of direct provision in this country, which was o…

I thank the Minister for his honesty. We are looking for clarity and, most important, people living in direct provision are looking for clarity. We are discussing HIQA and integration, which are critical for people living in direct provision, but for people who have been living in direct provision centres for three to four years, or even ten years in the odd case, having a home after leaving the system and being able to participate in society is what they want. There are people living in direct provision centres wh…

As the other Senators were speaking, I was thinking about my own life experience in poverty. My mother was 22 years dead last Wednesday due to pneumonia and bad living conditions. I remember growing up on a halting site in a three bedroom house where five of us used to sleep in the one room and where my mother would light a candle. I remember one time a producer asking me in RTÉ was I ever cold. No, I was never cold. I was always warm and had plenty of love but we were very poor. We would do the markets and did not…

Over the past few weeks, I have called for the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to come to the House to debate ending direct provision. I again thank the Leader for writing in and for supporting it. Unfortunately, I will need to submit a Commencement matter for next two or three weeks until I can get him in the House. It has come to my attention and to the attention of many other Senators that people in direct provision who are employed, no matter how small their job might be, will be required to pay rent. The Government…

I thank the Acting Chairperson. My daughter Billie has been promoted by the Civil Engagement Group. This morning I would like to raise an issue that I do not believe has been thought about in the transport committee or by the Minister, which is the pre-booking of bus tickets for women who are fleeing domestic violence situations and who are at risk if staying in the area where their abuser is. Two days ago, when I was getting on the bus it made me think. Because I did not have a pre-booked ticket I had to wait at t…

-----where I am sitting. Yes, let us have the conversations, but they cannot be racist conversations. My child, who is here beside me, cannot help that she is a full member of the Traveller community and a full member of the settled community. She was born into this world. We cannot help it if we are working-class people, if we are black people or if we are Traveller people. We did not ask to be brought into these communities, but we are trying to make the most of it. The last thing we need is public representative…

Last week, yet again, a local representative, a county councillor, was racist towards Travellers on local radio. This was around Traveller accommodation. Some of my Fianna Fáil colleagues have come to speak to me about it and about how disappointed they were to see this kind of behaviour. I know the Taoiseach has also expressed his disappointment in this behaviour. It is important for all local county councillors to not come out publicly with racist comments. You cannot be racist any more in this country; it is not…

Hear, hear.