We need to have a specific debate on public transport with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. There has been much focus this week on the unacceptable level of bus services in Dublin 15. There has been an acknowledgement of that but the issues keep arising. This is an ongoing real-time issue involving late buses, no-shows, buses that are full or buses that are grouped together. I get reports about the 40, 38, 38A, 39A and N4 bus routes in Dublin 15. The bus company said it would minimise the cancellation…

The Minister is welcome. It is obvious from her presentation that she has invested much work in this. Well done on securing €500,000 in the budget. I like proposals like this because it is not just a strategy. The Minister is backing it up with the mechanics of how it will work in a 360° approach. I wish all of our strategies were as clear-cut as to how we will address cultural changes and backing that up with the code and regulations around it, the expectations and the recognition that there is more work to do. It…

I concur with my colleagues, Senators Carrigy, Lombard and Ahearn, that we should have a debate. It should be specifically about special schools to ring-fence some time on that. School building responsibilities sit with the Minister, Deputy Foley, whereas special education is with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. We need to balance that because it is about school buildings and then the supports within those buildings. In Dublin 15, we fought for years to get our special school, Danu. A committee of parents dr…

I support my colleague Senator Ward. Representatives of IHREC were in Leinster House recently to update us on the public sector duty. This is to ask public bodies to have a positive provision on equality and diversity. This does not line up when I compare the general scheme with the text of the Bill. The Bill does not have a specific provision for a nominee from IHREC. We need to listen to the commission on this. It is an independent body. Diversity has featured throughout the Bill. There is a diversity statement. …

I welcome the Minister of State. I hope she can catch her breath now. In August, it was announced that a new multidisciplinary primary care assessment hub for children under the progressing disability services, PDS, programme was to open in Castleknock. That is very good news and is much welcomed. Obviously, it has prompted a lot more communication from parents to me about the children's disability network team, CDNT, waiting list in the area. I will give an overview of some examples I have received. I have been co…

I would like to see the progress the Minister of State is seeing. I do not know how I will get to see that by tabling a parliamentary question to the Minister every month. I need to see it so that I can tell the parents who are in contact with me. The communications they are receiving indicate it will be three years. They are not getting the communication they used to have and need and want. The Minister of State spoke of targets of eight months and six months and I will hold her to those. I will ask her again abou…

Last night, I felt so much pride as an Irish woman and as a mother of two girls to see Ireland's women's football team reach their first ever world cup. It was touching that a Donegal woman scored the goal. It came against the backdrop of one of the most traumatic weeks that we have experienced in a long time. We saw the PSNI and Garda working side by side in Donegal, we saw emergency services from the North and South working side by side and we saw politicians standing shoulder to shoulder. It is devastating that,…

I thank Senator Pauline O’Reilly for this motion which I wholeheartedly support. The figures really illustrate how startlingly different Ireland is when it comes to breastfeeding rates. At birth, the rate here is 62% but in the UK it is 81%, in the US it is 79% and in Australia it is 90%. By the time women leave hospital, the rate has fallen to 37% but the fact that at three months old the rate is 31% shows that the most vital period is in the hospital. It is so important to make sure people are getting support in …

I am standing in for Senator Ahearn who has been leading on this legislation in the joint committee. As the Minister of State noted, this is a good day for consumer rights with regard to goods and services, and also digital services. I hope today is the day our consumer rights catch up with the digital transformation. This Bill has been a long time in the making. As the Minister of State said, the former Minister, Deputy Bruton, the former Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and now the Minister of State himself have a…

I thank the Minister of State for stepping in today. This is a Commencement matter on education addressed to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I hope the Minister of State can relay my messages back to her. We need more psychologists in the HSE. We need them working in schools, in primary care, in child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and on our children's disability network teams. I very much welcome the decision to pilot in-house mental health counselling for primary school pupils, amounting…

The last paragraph is my update. I welcome the high-level working group to look at this in the round, but the issue of fees is urgent and it needs to be addressed as soon as possible for equity and for these people to feel valued. I ask the Minister of State to bring that back to the Ministers if he can. Something else that has come to my attention is the good news that the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, announced that therapists would be reinstated in special schools and our special school in Dublin 15, Danu,…

I am honoured to thank Lord McFall and to do a summary not only because I am a Senator or because I am chair of committee A at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, but also because I am from County Tyrone. I am a proud Tyrone woman. Lord McFall is very welcome. The theme of today has been relationships. I reassure Lord McFall that is on the agenda of BIPA. On the sovereign committee, we are currently doing a report about the future relationship between Britain and Ireland or England and Ireland. The report tou…

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber for the second time today. I have never spoken on this Bill but I recognise, as the barristers in the room have said, that we have a strong record of judicial excellence and independence. This is about opening a more transparent process, which is welcome. The Minister mentioned diversity many times in her speech. It is obvious much thought has gone into this. There is the diversity statement and two appointments from the Judicial Council, including one man and one woman, while …

It was most definitely the summer of the passports. All of us had nail-biting moments and long telephone waits. I thank the brilliant Passport Office staff who went out of their way to help people as much as they possibly could. An incredible 1 million passports will be issued this year. This, in itself, is good news and something to be welcomed. We must also thank the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Coveney, for the response to address the volume of applications. They moved mountains to bring in the res…

We know the crisis point we are at regarding therapeutic services for children, such as psychology. That has an impact on our disability services, child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and schools. Families are telling us we simply are not supporting them with what they need. It was announced in the budget that psychology traineeships for counselling psychologists would be funded in the same way as clinical psychologists. That means that, when they are doing their traineeships, they get 60% towards th…

I am thinking of all of the doors I have knocked on in the past three to four years and the issues that have come up time and again. People care about their families, communities and those who need help most and they want to see this modern, progressive Government provide the services that people need. Today has been a good day for that. Childcare fees will be cut by 25%. That is the beginning of it. Some €2,500 will be put back in the pockets of people in west Dublin who are paying €200 per week and might be payin…

Today has been a very important day. The Government has delivered a rounded package for people that reflects where we are, particularly with regard to the 25% cut in the cost of childcare. It will be good to hear confirmation that it is a starting point and that we will be able to signal this. There is core funding of €121 million. We see the difference the employment regulation order will make to pay and conditions. We still have a big problem when it comes to the supply of childcare and capital funding for it. An…

I will raise the issue of the pandemic recognition payment, which is the tax free once-off payment of €1,000. People working outside the HSE still do not know when they are going to access this payment and their employers cannot tell them. The latest news is that there will have to be a tender for a company to organise how to do this. There is no solution in sight. The morale of those I know working in private nursing homes is at rock bottom regarding this. We are coming out of a crisis, and heading into another cr…

We have covered the cost of energy a lot, and our response. I must, however, raise the point that we have a Parliament to discuss this whereas in the North at the moment, there is no Assembly. They are looking at £400 million sitting there that they cannot access while there is no Assembly. I was lucky enough to be in Oxford for the British-Irish Association conference and I heard Commissioner Šefčovič. I believe there is an appetite for a negotiated deal. Over the past years I have witnessed how the Good Friday Ag…

I wish to raise the issue of the community services programme, CSP, managed by Pobal, as we are in the run-up to the budget. This issue affects the Huntstown Community Centre and various other community centres in Dublin 15 and nationally, as represented by the national CSP managers' network. As people will be aware, the programme ensures that community centres are provided with support, which is topped up through the social enterprise aspect of the centres and the shortfall is met. The programme creates employment…