This amendment would require that the Minister shall, within the two years following the commencement of this section, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas detailing the following: the level of effective implementation of the designation of persons who perform a controlled function; the effectiveness of the identification and designation of persons who perform a controlled function; the potential to expand the range of functions under this designation; and the extent to which there may be persons not c…

I move amendment No. 9: In page 52, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “(ia) whether it has had a widespread impact on the welfare of the State generally,”.”. The amendment seeks to stipulate that when imposing a sanction on an individual, consideration should be given to the effect of the prescribed convention with regard to whether it has had a widespread impact on the welfare of the State generally. This is a slight alteration to our amendment on Committee Stage as its narrowed to only include the…

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I thank the Labour Party group for tabling this really important and timely motion which I wholeheartedly support. I sit on the Joint Committee on Health and the Joint Sub-Committee on Mental Health with Senator Hoey and was present during the recent shocking health committee meeting where trade union officials representing healthcare workers detailed the horrific level of violence to which the workers are subjected. I am sure the Minister is aware of it himself. It had a prof…

I want to speak about the protest I attended yesterday outside the gates of Leinster House. It was organised by adult education tutors. They were highlighting the fact that almost three years after the Labour Court recommended in March 2020 that they be given proper employment contracts, it has yet to happen, unfortunately. Three years is a long time. In July 2022, the adult education tutors were told they would receive an offer by September, but they did not receive one. The delay seems to be coming from the Depar…

I will do my best. The Minister is welcome to the House and, like others, I want to wish him well in his new role. I congratulate him. I am glad that we have set time aside to talk about this important issue. The position of women in Irish society has transformed in recent decades. Irish women have fought for, and won, important battles that have facilitated greater gender equality but there is an important caveat to that: women can never be truly equal when all levels of society, at home, at work and elsewhere, ar…

I too offer my condolences to all those people from Syria and Türkiye who lost their lives in horrific circumstances. I want to highlight some issues raised in our very alarming and disturbing session in the health committee I attended this morning. We heard from representatives of trade unions representing healthcare workers about the shocking degree of violence and risk to which workers are subjected. Healthcare workers already labour under unbelievably difficult conditions to provide the care we all rely on. The…

It is lovely to see the Minister of State in the Chamber. I congratulate her on her new role and wish her well. As we all know too well in Ireland, misconduct by those in the banking sector has the potential to destabilise the entire country. We are 15 years on from the banking crisis. In those 15 years, we have evidence that the culture of greed and impunity within the banking sector has not abated. The tracker mortgage scandal of recent years saw banks knowingly overcharging customers, in some cases by tens of th…

-----of the regime in this House. As the Minister of State outlined, the regulations will be drafted following a comprehensive consultation process, so it is very important we ensure that the public's input is given the maximum possible weight within that process. I fear we will see, as we have seen many times before, the outsized influence of banking lobbyists. A recent article in The Irish Times highlighted that 84% of compliance officers in relevant financial services firms said this accountability regime would …

I want to start by congratulating those involved with the launch of Dublin Communities Against Racism over the weekend, including my good friend and colleague, Senator Eileen Flynn. I found the recent eruption of racist anti-refugee protests to be deeply disturbing, and many of the leaders of these protests are spreading misinformation that plays on the fears and prejudices of ordinary people. It is commendable that in the wake of these protests, community members in places like Finglas and East Wall have banded to…

The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is very welcome to the Chamber. I thank her for coming to the Seanad to update us on the issues in this important debate. I agree with colleagues who have said that when CAMHS works, it works really well. I thank her also for her commitment. Nevertheless, the recent report of the Mental Health Commission regarding the state of CAMHS is truly alarming and very upsetting. I am grateful to Dr. Susan Finnerty and everyone else at the commission who worked on the report and brought …

It is great to see the Cathaoirleach in the Chair. I congratulate the Leader on her new role. I hope everybody had a very peaceful and restorative break over the Christmas period. I am sure that many in the Chamber will be familiar with the disturbing findings in the most recent report on child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, from the Mental Health Commission. It paints an absolutely stark picture of the state of CAMHS in this country. The report describes a disorganised, patchwork system operating in…

Hear, hear.

The Minister is very welcome to the House. I hope she and her team had a nice break over the Christmas period. I would say it was a well deserved break. I want to be associated with the congratulations to the Oscar nominees, especially "An Cailín Ciúin". It is one of the finest films I have ever seen. Even thinking about it makes me emotional. It is powerful and I recommend that anybody who has not seen it do so. On our first day back in session, it is lovely to be speaking about unmistakably good news. The Bill fo…

I congratulate the Minister of State on the Bill. It is definitely long overdue and it is very welcome. Credit to the Minister of State and his Department for all their work on the Bill. The swiftness of this Bill’s journey through the Oireachtas signifies both the importance of the legislation and the broad support for it that exists in the Houses. It is rare for us all to be in agreement but I am glad it is recognised collectively that we need to make structural changes to make space for women to participate equa…

On behalf of the Civil Engagement Group, I offer condolences to the friends and family of Private Seán Rooney, the Irish soldier who was killed in Lebanon. The soldier who was injured, Private Shane Kearney, is also very much in my thoughts. I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery. It is an horrific and awful tragedy. My thoughts are with all of the soldiers serving in Lebanon and their families who are no doubt worried sick about them. Irish peacekeepers are the pride of our nation. They are ambassadors of our …

I look forward to reading the Joint Committee on Gender Equality's report. I commend all who were involved in that report. I congratulate Senator Mary Fitzpatrick and the 1916 Relatives Association on their briefing yesterday about the campaign to name the new children's hospital after Dr. Kathleen Lynn. It is a fantastic idea. I want to add my name to the long list of Members who are backing this proposal. Dr. Lynn was not only a leader in the 1916 Rising, she was a medical innovator and a friend to Dublin's poor.…

I welcome the Minister. I am disappointed that, once again, right before recess, the Government is rushing legislation through this House with no regard for proper parliamentary process or legislative scrutiny. That is disrespectful in the context of how our parliamentary democracy should function. I urge all Members to reflect on the fact that our constitutional role and mandate here are not being respected. The Bill was only published in full at the end of last week. Second Stage is being taken today. On Thursday…

I just want to congratulate Al-Haq, Palestine’s premier human rights organisation, for the launch of its new report entitled Israeli Apartheid. It truly is an expansive and rigorous piece of research. Some of its authors are legal academics from National University of Ireland, Galway, NUIG. It is the latest in a series of reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem, which have found that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, the Irish Gove…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 8, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: “(e) section 85(7);”.

I welcome the Minister. I have a number of amendments in this group dealing with the issue of the exclusionary invalidation of the advance healthcare directives, AHDs, of some people who have been involuntarily detained. It is such an important issue that impacts people's health, autonomy and dignity. Because time is short, I will try to address all of my remarks on this issue when dealing with this amendment. It is a deeply complex area of law. I want to highlight the assistance and support I have received from so…