I thank the Minister of State for conducting a review of the process and of reading classes. She said it was an operational error, but an operational error does not give any comfort to families whose hopes were raised and who have now been disappointed. I refer to the postcode lottery in that children in certain areas may be able to access this type of education, facility and service, and yet children in Dublin West will not. I know how much we are investing in special education. It is only right and it is a very p…

This morning, I want to raise the wedding industry, which is worth approximately €2.3 billion per annum. I understand it is worth more than the conferences industry. We all know the impact of weddings on our local economies in terms of the business for venues, caterers, bakeries, florists and hair and beauty salons, all of which services attract VAT at 23%, not 9%. There is a wedding ecosystem. Ireland is a top international destination for weddings. It competes with other markets in that regard and had been doing …

I welcome the Minister. For me, housing is the biggest issue that our country faces. Covid has been an inconvenient distraction from that but it has evolved the thinking on housing, community, quality of life, how and where we can work and, consequently, how and where we can live. By restricting their movements, we restricted spending so more potential buyers have been able to save up deposits. Both Covid and Brexit have affected building materials and costs and we face the knock-on effect of the closure of constru…

I thank the Labour Party Senators for bringing the Bill forward. I acknowledge anyone in this House or in the other House who has been affected by this issue. All Senators know the anguish many people and families suffer in trying to have a child, as well as the physical or psychological pain of miscarriage, IVF, and other fertility and reproductive treatments. It is so common. Every time I hear the number of people who are affected, I am shocked at how common it is. Every circumstance and experience of fertility i…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. My Commencement matter concerns a licence agreement for a green field beside a school in Dublin 15, St. Patrick's National School in Diswellstown. The agreement is with Park Developments Group. It is a local agreement between the school and the developer for the use of the land. It is zoned for community infrastructure and will not be used for housing. The agreement has worked very well. The school needs it for playing. It is the only green space it has. On 30 June, …

I thank the Minister of State for that response. I am glad to hear that the Department is committed to this project and understands the urgency behind it. This issue has been going on since December 2019 so I sincerely hope a resolution and an agreement can be found and I hope Park Developments will come to an arrangement with Fingal County Council and the Department. The school would like to have space for the provision of a special class as well. It is in all our interests that this proceeds as quickly as possibl…

Apologies for cutting the Senator short. I wish to commend my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, on putting forward this motion, and on her hard work and commitment in this area and her empathy for young people. I feel it too. I feel it for my own children who are now aged six and eight. There is a massive about of mother's guilt for when we were both working full-time and they were knocking around the house by themselves. They have grown up in many ways over the past year, but in other ways they have also remained …

I want to talk about a youth strategy for this summer as a spectrum of support is required. We have seen the awful video filmed at Howth Junction train station. There were various incidents in Dublin 15 over the weekend that could have been even more serious. On the other hand, children are hanging around in public spaces because they have nothing else to do. There is a spectrum here and while there has definitely been trouble, at the same time not every teenager hanging around a street corner is a hooligan. For th…

I, too, welcome the motion. Tomorrow, a coroner will deliver the findings of the inquests into the deaths of ten people from Ballymurphy in Belfast in August 1971. That period was a tumultuous time and the political landscape had been changing dramatically since 1968. The British Army that had arrived on the streets in August 1969 was supposed to protect Catholics. Instead, an element took over where the B-Specials and RUC left off. The policy of internment, directed at the IRA, was imposed indiscriminately on Cath…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. I am very grateful to the Minister of State for attending today. To put this very simply, we need more psychologists in Ireland. Why, if we are in chronic need of more psychologists, do we put so many barriers in the way of getting them? It is not because we do not have the talent, commitment and ambition. I am aware the Minister of State is familiar with and cares about this information. Just to recap, staff in the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMH…

I thank the Minister of State for that response. He correctly mentioned the Psychological Society of Ireland, a fantastic organisation in setting out good standards and best practice. I have worked with it regarding a charity called Social Anxiety Ireland. If it is setting out the academic and professional requirements, it will be done with best practice and standards at its core. I am glad to hear that the project team has been reconvened and that a review of the current funding model to ensure the appropriate sup…

I welcome the Tánaiste and commend him on launching his pathway out of the pandemic which successfully combines hope and caution. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, summed up our health approach quite nicely on Wednesday when he said that we need to keep the numbers low and the vaccines high. I would add that we need to continue to limit our contacts but widen our access to services, allow the movement of people but continue to restrict the virus. We have always focused…

I thank the Senator and apologise for the confusion. We had the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, down to speak. I apologise again and thank the Senator for her commitment with regard to this very sensitive issue.

I wish to speak about litter and the preparation for what we hope will be an outdoor summer. I live in a small rural part of Dublin 15 which has looked a bit like a rubbish tip in recent months as people literally throw their rubbish out of their cars. It is now spreading to some of our public parks and other public spaces across the city and throughout the country. We are heading for a litter emergency during what we are branding as our outdoor summer. In Dublin alone, in the Phoenix Park, at the Royal Canal, in P…

I will bring the Minister of State back to October 2018, when I first met representatives of the Autism School Dublin 15 committee, which campaigns for a dedicated special school. They spoke about how autism spectrum disorder units would not meet the complex needs of all their children, many of whom are non-verbal, have behavioural challenges and might be flight risks or suffer from violent outbursts or self-harm. They can also experience sensory overloads, which can be overwhelming. Mainstream schools and their cu…

I thank the Minister of State. I am very appreciative of the work that has been done to date and the action that has been taken. However, there is a strong feeling that a separate site is what is needed for this school and, in fact, that is what parents were led to expect. When we look at the numbers for the area, they are only going in one direction. I know how difficult it is to get a school site in Dublin 15 but here is a site that we have, where we could potentially build a dedicated state-of-the-art school tha…

I am sharing time with Senator Carrigy. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will be measured in what I suggest. I ask her to be realistic about both the numbers and the restrictions. The numbers are volatile and people are struggling, as can be seen with slipping compliance to the rules, so I ask her to be conservative but compassionate. I back increasing the travel restriction to perhaps 10 km, or something more realistic for rural areas, and allowing people to meet one other family outside in a public…

I apologise for not being here earlier. I was at a shared island conversation organised by Young Fine Gael. I thought it was a brilliant conversation and the more of these conversations we have, the better. I am not interested in shutting down these conversations. It is good that we, as an island, begin to really see and engage in conversations in the North and on what is actually happening in the North. That can only bring good things. The more we talk, the better things get. The Cathaoirleach will know I have a s…

Lá lus an chromchinn sona daoibh. I hope everyone knows what that meant. I thank the Irish Cancer Society for everything it does. My mum had oral cancer over ten years ago and we are very lucky to have her. She lives with chronic pain but she is with us and she fights every day because she wants to see her grandkids grow up and she wants to give out to her own kids. She wants to be a typical Irish mammy. The Irish Cancer Society provides counselling, a support line, volunteer driving, research and so much. It is a …

I agree with Senators' remarks on that matter. The Covid numbers at the moment are worrying, and it is natural that the Government will feel it could send mixed messages by lifting some restrictions. We are all familiar with the expression "if you give them an inch, they will take a mile", but I think we are at the stage that if we do not try to give people an inch, they will run a mile. I also speak as a mum to two young children who, like others, desperately need to go back to school but who are still suffering w…