I warmly welcome the ambassador of Bulgaria. I wish everybody well on this Bulgarian national day. I was at an absolutely harrowing briefing this week on Yemen and what is happening there. I want to give a little bit of detail of the reality of what is happening. In the past seven years, 377,000 Yemeni people have died due to direct and indirect causes of war, 10,000 of whom are children. It is shocking. That is going on today. The director of the UN World Food Programme has stated that 400,000 Yemeni children are …

I welcome the Minister of State. I can only imagine how busy he is and particularly the Minister for Foreign Affairs at this time with everything that is happening in Ukraine. I imagine it must be taking up the majority of the Minister of State's time. It is a very worrying situation and I express my sympathy for the Ukrainian people, who are being subjected to terrible violence, and I condemn the invasion by Russia of a sovereign country. Our Government along with our European partners have rightly condemned the b…

Hear, hear.

I commend Women's Aid on the phenomenal work it has done. I totally agree with my colleague on the impact coercive control has and how it can be devastating for any young woman or man who is living in such a situation. I commend Women's Aid on the great work it does. I am here today to-----

I formally second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by my colleague Senator Higgins.

I wish to raise the issue of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland's report into the collusion of state forces and unionist gangs in the murder of innocent people only 100 miles from here. The report by the ombudsman details how informers were retained even after they were suspected by the RUC of having been involved in murder. The use of murder gangs by the British was a tactic in many of their colonies, so it should not be surprising there was a policy of state collusion with loyalist gangs. The report states…

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I am in broad support of the Government's proposed legislation and welcome its provisions on the welfare of certain farmed animals in Ireland and related biodiversity. However, I have significant concerns about the sections of the Bill that relate to forestry licences. As previous speakers acknowledged, the practice of farming animals specifically for the production of pelt is outdated. In saying this, we are not condemning in any way the three farms in Ireland cu…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, for joining us in the Chamber. Earlier this week, the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, advised that it had decided not to press charges against officials or agencies who were responsible for the care of the intellectually disabled young woman at the heart of the Grace case. I am absolutely appalled and confused by this decision. It is my hope that the Minister of State might be able to provide some much-needed clarification. What was allowed to happen to Grace, as…

I thank the Minister of State. While I welcome the implementation of a number of measures to protect vulnerable people, including the revised national safeguarding policy, what happened to Grace, and what was allowed to happen to Grace and other young people who suffered abuse in the same foster home, is shameful. The fact that the DPP did not follow the recommendations of the Garda is scandalous, as is the fact that we do not know why that happened. It is, however, good to hear that Grace is receiving support now.…

It is lovely to see our colleague, Senator Norris, back in the House this morning. I want to commend my Civil Engagement colleague, Senator Flynn, on the introduction of her first item of legislation in tomorrow’s Private Members’ time. I am very disappointed I will not be able to be here tomorrow due to another commitment but I will be here with her in spirit. The Bill addresses outdated references to child pornography in Irish legislation and seeks to replace the term with child sexual exploitation material. Thes…

I welcome the Tánaiste. I am pleased to see this legislation being debated in the Chamber. I thank the Tánaiste and his Department for their work on this matter. I commend Senator Gavan, who introduced the National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017. It laid the groundwork for the Government's legislation. The restaurant industry and the wider hospitality sector have undoubtedly had a challenging time over the past couple of years. We saw unprecedented levels of unemployment in the sector, with a …

This is my first Order of Business of the year and I did not get a chance to come in last week. I take this opportunity to express my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Ms Ashling Murphy. She was a beautiful young woman who was needlessly murdered. I also express my condolences to the family and friends of all the women who have died needlessly and violently at the hands of men in Ireland. I welcome today's statements on gender-based violence and violence against women. The murder of Ash…

I find the debate very moving and upsetting. It was very powerful listening to Senators Boylan and Hoey. I do not think there is a woman that has not been impacted, including myself. It is amazing how from a very young age we learn as young female children to protect ourselves. We have to. There is no other way about it. We have to learn to protect ourselves from when we are very young female children. I know today that even when I walk from my house to the shop I am scanning. We have to. Even during the daytime wh…

I welcome the Minister to the House and acknowledge that he is always willing to come to the Seanad for debates such as this. I commend the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on its work over the course of the last 12 months in preparation for its final report. I highly commend Senator Chambers. I know how passionate she was about this matter and how much work she put into it. I was sorry to leave the committee when I did. Well done to the Senator on all …

The Minister is very welcome to the House. I wish her and her family, including the new grandchild she had only this year, a really happy Christmas. The first Christmas is always a very special one. I must highlight a few issues, however. Now, more than ever, is the time to invest proactively and strategically in our public services. While the nominal increase in welfare payments will no doubt be welcomed by recipients, we could see better value for money. People living in Ireland would see a greater return on publ…

I thank my colleague, Senator Warfield, for allowing me to speak next in case we run out of time. The Minister is very welcome to the Chamber. This is a critical debate. As the Minister can imagine, I am very concerned about the music industry. We need to act now to save the music and live entertainment industry in this country. Some action has to be taken. The long and short of it is that music and live entertainment are an intrinsic part of what it means to be Irish. They are so much part of who we are and we can…

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I am so proud to co-sponsor this motion with my colleagues and friends, Senators Higgins and Ruane. I commend Senator Higgins on her leadership on this issue and her passion for fighting for what is right. I am just blown away by this debate. I commend Senators Malcolm Byrne, O'Loughlin and Garvey on the stand they have taken. It gives me hope. I am not sure whether any of us two years ago would have anticipated that we would still be talking about Covid-19 today …

This Tuesday a letter was sent to the EU high representative vice president by 370 parliamentarians across Europe calling on the EU to take immediate steps to prevent the displacement and forcible transfer of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory and to actualise differentiation between illegal Israeli settlements in all dealings with Israel. I was hugely proud to be a signatory of this letter and I commend the 69 other Irish parliamentarians who did the same. In the letter, we expressed our deep conce…

The Tánaiste is welcome to the House. It is hard to believe but here we are again, speaking about the reintroduction of restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19. As we have seen on too many occasions throughout this pandemic, the road ahead is full of twists and turns. It is very upsetting. I recognise the need for the public health guidance and guidelines to help us in preventing the spread of Covid-19 in our communities. I know how important it is, particularly as we head into the winter months. We need to mov…

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank my colleague Senator O'Loughlin and all those on the administrative panel for introducing this topic for debate. I thank also the Cathaoirleach for introducing this additional format whereby we can discuss and debate matters of importance in this House. The matter of providing for maternity and paternity leave for county and city councillors is vital. That we are even in the position to debate the issue in this way is almost disappointing. In this day and age, you would assu…