I echo Senator Wall's call for more changing places, toilets and facilities. He is dead right that the northern part of this country does these things an awful lot better than we do and we need to improve. It would be remiss of me, as a Member of this House and proud County Louth woman, not to mention our proud son, Joe Biden. I must also take umbrage at the fact that County Mayo is getting ownership of all his genetics when we all know the Biden clan came from Owen Finnegan and Ms Kearney from Templetown in Cooley…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I seek an update on the unique and dire situation of travel agencies. The companies are operating at a loss of about 130% in refunding all revenue for a year and a half, pretty much without Government assistance. Moreover, with 3,500 staff throughout the country, the sector is by no means insignificant. The Irish Travel Agents Association has continuously voiced its concerns about the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on travel agencies and has called for the Gover…

I thank the Minister of State for the clarity on the Covid restrictions support scheme. He and I are in complete agreement. This is a unique industry that is not at all like normal retail. The doors of travel agents are open virtually at the minute and the money is constantly flowing out. I appreciate the Minister of State's time and the clarity he has provided. I understand the refund credit note was intended to give customers assurances but it did not really help the travel agents. I look forward to giving back s…

There is an incredible body of legal experts taking one side or the other side. The Data Protection Commissioner is now saying that this Bill could potentially break the law. We have the Attorney General with one-----

My apologies. I retract that.

Yes, of course.

Perfect. I thank the Senator.

My point is that there is an incredible body of legal experts with a diversity of opinions. A question arises over people having to take the Government to court. Why can the Government not pursue a test case? We all agree across this House that the women in question own their histories. We have all heard the testimonies. I do not know how many buckets of tears I have shed this week over the women, and I am about to shed tears now. We need to test this law. We are passing this Bill today. I absolutely agree that the…

I would like to request a debate on equality, or more importantly inequality. In the programme for Government we have a commitment to a national strategy for women and girls. I would like to invite the Minister to the House to discuss this issue, to set out when work on the strategy will begin and to clarify when it will report. In light of the debate we have been having this week, it is really important that we have a proper national strategy on gender equality and inequality across the Houses and across the count…

I have a few brief comments. First, I wish to thank the Minister. Clearly, he has listened. There have been many conversations and back-and-forth between me and his office, and I have been bothering the Minister for the past week or so. I appreciate his candour and his listening to the debate. I enjoyed the excellent discourse today. I echo Senator Fitzpatrick's views on the anonymised index. I made my view on that issue very clear to the Minister previously, as well as on the site on Sean McDermott Street.

I thank the Minister. He listened to all our concerns throughout the week. We are all worried about the impacts this Bill could have on the families, mothers and children involved in this story. The Minister listened to our concerns and took them on board. The remit of the Bill was narrow. We extended what it was meant to be for the better of the record of the mothers, families and children in those homes.

I welcome the Minister of State. I reflect on this opportunity to speak here today on the mother and baby homes as an honour and a great responsibility. What the State, the country, the church and our people did to these women and babies was disgusting. It was wrong and I am ashamed that this is the story of our nation in terms of the way it treated women, girls and children. It is incredible that we, as a nation, we were so cruel to the most vulnerable. That we abused that vulnerability in ways that were so deprav…

I welcome the Minister of State. It is good to see her in the House. I thank her for the opportunity to raise this issue, which many people have been contacting me about in recent days and weeks. Indeed, many of my colleagues across all parties have been raising it as well. I must stress the disbelief I felt when I heard that the Covid centre in Dundalk was to close and that Ardee was to become the testing hub for Louth. The county has the two largest towns in the country and neither town will have a Covid testing …

I thank the Minister of State and I accept that there has been a great increase in the availability of testing. The main problem with the testing in Ardee is not the capacity or sustainability, or the service itself, but the fact that it is so far away from a lot of the constituents of north Louth. I will not be satisfied until there is a testing centre in Dundalk, which is the main town in County Louth. I accept that the testing service is excellent but it does not have the geographic spread required to suit the p…

After that contribution, I may as well throw away my speech and just thank the Minister. It is great to have a Minister come into the House who is so open to improving the lives of children and all citizens of our nation. All Senators agree that the screening of newborns is among the most important screening programmes. I know people who, because they were born in Newry, were screened for cystic fibrosis. They were born before 2011. Their quality of life was improved because they got the heel prick test. It was nor…

I apologise, I thought I had longer. I just want to ask the Minister-----

That is fine, I just want to ask the Minister to prioritise childhood development checks. I appreciate his time, effort and candour here today.

I echo Senator Seery Kearney’s views on disability permits. The system is antiquated and the exact same issues are raised with me constantly. I want to raise two issues. First, I would like to hear from the Minister with responsibility for communications on the roll-out of the national broadband plan, which has been unacceptably delayed. I have been contacted by many parents worried about lack of access and about their children not being able to complete their studies, log on to lectures or even download course not…

The Minister is very welcome. I congratulate her on the reopening of schools, which was a mammoth task. Things are not perfect, but in the main it is positive that our children are back at school, back with their friends, and are working well in the bubbles and pods. I know my children are very happy with the rules. They are so happy to be back with their teachers, their routine and their learning. It is a pleasure to send happy children out to school every day. I congratulate and thank all our teachers, SNAs and o…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for this opportunity to speak on the Bill. I congratulate the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, on bringing this Bill to the House. It must be a great honour to be here as Senator and Minister of State, only the fifth in the history of the State and the first in my lifetime. It is a truly historic day for Senator Hackett, standing as a Seanadóir in this Chamber for the first time also. It is great we feel like we are finally home. I welcome this Bill. I welcome any Bill that will fix the…