As I mentioned in the Second Stage debate, Sinn Féin is opposed to section 6 and seeks to delete it. We do not know why it is in the Bill. It has nothing to do with large-scale residential developments or SHDs. It is just a change in the procedures for appealing a judicial review decision of the High Court. We wonder why it is in the Bill and who asked for it. It was not in the general scheme on which the Oireachtas committee carried out pre-legislative scrutiny. Of the 50 strategic housing development judicial rev…

I am not against this but would it not be better to let local authorities decide on the tenure mix, based on local need?

What percentage will be involved?

I move amendment No. 38: In page 16, line 18, to delete “16 weeks” and substitute “8 weeks”. I know it is late. I did not expect us to get to this point. This amendment deals with a big part of what we discussed on Second Stage in terms of the transitional arrangements. The strategic housing development, SHD, scheme was obviously due to expire in December of this year but now it looks as if we will, in reality, be living with the SHD legislation until June 2022 and beyond. Legal action may take that well into Octob…

There is a difference between being cognisant of the law and issuing an invitation for everyone to get their applications in before SHDs are banned. I have drawn parallels with co-living and the botched ban on co-living. I do not need to do so again at this hour of the night. This is another long goodbye to bad policy. It is an invitation to get applications in. Primarily, we do not accept that developers should be able to continue with SHD applications until the middle of next year. We can end them sooner. These a…

I move amendment No. 39: In page 16, line 33, to delete “within the period of 16 weeks” and substitute “to the planning authority within the period of 8 weeks”.

I wish to speak about something serious, and I am sure the Minister, Deputy Harris, and his Department are also concerned about it. It is very disappointing that as we mark Science Week, in the same week we must ask Government the current situation regarding the Science Gallery in Dublin. It would be a huge blow to the city, to the arts and science to lose the Science Gallery on Pearse Street, which at the moment looks set to close in February. There has been huge public support, with people sharing their stories o…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I also thank his departmental officials for yesterday's briefing, which was very informative. I had to be in the Chamber's ante room so I could not put my video on but I appreciate the briefing, as did my colleagues and Senators across the House. Sinn Féin supports the legislation. We have some significant concerns about it, which I will come to a little later. When it comes to planning the type of city I want to live in, I want to live in the best place possible. I want good pl…

I am sharing my time with Senator Ó Donnghaile.

I commend those who have drafted the Bill. Together for Safety was set up by a group of women in Limerick in response to protests at their local maternity hospital. Members of this group are not faceless. NGOs and civic society groups play an important role in our democracy. On this narrative of a policy capture, people have campaigned on social issues for decades in this country and now, all of a sudden, there is a policy capture when we start to make progress and the empathy of the Irish people becomes clear and …

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I apologise for missing her contribution because I had to attend a briefing provided by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage ahead of tomorrow's legislation. In advance of this debate I took the opportunity to read the discussion that took place at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters in May on the topic of the progressing disability services model and the withdrawal of occupational therapies from schools. Much of this has been di…

I second the amendment.

I will use my time to bring Members up to speed on two reports launched yesterday on which I had the pleasure of working with other Members of this House and the Oireachtas over the past many months prior to the summer recess. The Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media produced its pre-legislative scrutiny report on the online safety and media regulation Bill yesterday. The Bill is an immense piece of legislation to come before the Houses and will place Ireland among the first countries in the w…

I welcome the MEPs to the Chamber. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is the only international instrument that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. While an increasing percentage of Europeans support equal rights for LGBT people, they are facing increased discrimination in the EU. There are obvious moves in some EU member states to exclude and discriminate against LGBT people. I do not need to talk about Poland or Hungary, where a new law means that only married heterosexual couples can adopt ch…

Can I offer my minute to Senator Ruane?

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank the Dyslexia Association of Ireland for the meeting today with Oireachtas Members and staff, which was informative. I grew up with a family member who is dyslexic and it was interesting to see the demand for policy change that exists. We heard earlier that dyslexia affects 10% of the population. At the meeting, the representatives spoke about the importance of early identification. How can we deal with dyslexia if we have not identified it? Only 23% of parents h…

Members will be aware that there are approximately 13 institutions that archive everything published in the State, including physical documents and books. These institutions are legal deposit libraries. The National Library of Ireland is one, Trinity College Dublin is another, as is the University of Limerick, UL. I raise an issue that has been going on for some years now, which is the inability of the National Library of Ireland, to, for example, to archive the web. In the past, I have met representatives of the D…

I propose to share time with Senator Boylan. This plan was an opportunity to move on from the failed policies of Rebuilding Ireland and to introduce a radical new plan for housing. Instead, this is a plan that is wedded to the status quo . It is lined with figures that are disingenuous and projections that are meaningless. It is disingenuous to claim that €4 billion will be spent annually by the Government. This is a fiction because the real figure is €2.5 billion of voted capital expenditure. The Minister, Deputy …

I wish to second Senator Higgins's proposed amendment to the Order of Business to take No. 16 before No. 1. It has been almost a year since the House passed a motion calling on the Government to roll out free access to contraception for women and girls aged between 17 and 25 years. The programme for Government also commits to providing free contraception over a phased period for women and girls aged 17 to 25 years. The Minister for Health has said universal free access to contraception is a ministerial priority for…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I will not repeat what others have said but will focus my contribution on the school completion programme. Sinn Féin will be supporting this Bill. As others have mentioned, the school completion programme was originally with the Department of Education but was transferred over to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with the formation of the previous Government. The programme is a fantastic resource and is particularly crucial following the closures that have taken place…