Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber today and in particular for all the work she is doing and the commitment she has made in the past two years in regard to special education and inclusion. It is hugely significant. The impact is evident from the numbers of people working in the sector such as special needs assistants, SNAs, and the number of new classrooms being opened. Another 315 new classrooms are being opened in September. The impact of that in recent years is visible in any school or const…

I thank the Minister of State for her response and I am grateful that she will examine this issue. The problem will become more serious as time passes because of the amount of money the Minister of State has allocated to special classrooms and occupational therapy classrooms. If the Minister of State were open to this suggestion, it would be important for her to visit Ardfinnan National School. She has family connections in Kilcash. In her role as the Minister of State with special responsibility for special educat…

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome the Bill and it is not before time that it has been brought through. I recognise the amendments have been ruled out of order due to the potential cost to the Exchequer but, to be fair to small businesses, this is in recognition of the fear they have of the cost element of this measure coming through. To be fair to the Tánaiste, when he was here on Second Stage he recognised that and he has not ruled out some sort of rebate being brought in at a later stage. Obviously, the bu…

I want to pick up on the comments from Senator Mullen earlier on comments made by Deputy Nolan. I do not doubt the Senator's sincerity whatsoever but I am from a constituency where this sort of conversation or tone has been happening in recent weeks. Colleagues might have listened to a disgraceful interview on "Today with Claire Byrne" this morning. Those are not the views of people in Tipperary but I have been hearing an undertone for weeks that we need to have a cap on refugees coming in because we need to look a…

Before I start, I wish to welcome my colleague, Senator Maria Byrne, and her guests, Phyllis Quinn and Elenora Corneille. We are glad to have them.

I thank the Minister for coming today. My colleague, Senator Joe O’Reilly, who is the spokesperson on foreign affairs and defence could not be here, so I am covering for him. As the Minister said, this is a technical Bill but, essentially, it is quite simple as well. All we are trying to do is have the military and the Defence Forces be in line with what An Garda Síochána is doing with its colleagues across EU member states. When the Bill went through the Dáil, as the Minister said, it received backing from all sid…

Next Tuesday.

Now.

Now.

I acknowledge the role of the Cathaoirleach in Senator Norris's portrait being displayed in Leinster House. It is very fitting. I was going to say it is long overdue. It is not long overdue but it is certainly very fitting that it has been done. It is well deserved given Senator Norris's time, service and dedication to the public over a long period of time. As someone who is a relatively new Senator, I know from other colleagues from all parties that we always find it a privilege to be a colleague of Senator Norris…

I welcome to the Gallery the Cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Council, Councillor Marie Murphy. I thank the Tánaiste for bringing the Bill before the House. At the end of his contribution, he said some people will think we have not gone far enough and others will say we have gone too far. What everyone agrees on is that this Bill is needed. As a committee, we had countless discussions while working through the Bill and each member had different proposals and ideas. It is good that we are now at this stage. I note …

The Minister is very welcome. I will put this in a way that the people who are in the squeezed middle have been described to me recently, namely, those who feel that they have to pay for everything and have nothing left. They have their monthly income. They then have their mortgage and childcare - which amounts to a second mortgage - to pay for. As a result of what has happened in the past six months, they have the equivalent of a third mortgage to pay as a result of the increase in the cost of living. This is not …

There is a phrase used quite often in Ukrainian politics that states this is not how they normally do things. This is not how we normally do things and this is not how this normally comes about. I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing it to happen. I thank Ms Bridget Doody, the Seanad team and Ms Sheila Ryan in protocol. How this came about was unusual and I acknowledge on the record what they have done to make it happen. Ms Vasylenko spoke about genocide in her contribution. The definition of genocide is displacing…

I am sharing time with Senator O'Reilly.

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute. I had a busy morning and have only just come back on time, as I wanted to make a contribution on this important matter, which affects many people in Tipperary. We have many beekeepers in the county and Clonmel is the home of honey. It is an important sector for us. I acknowledge the work that the Minister of State has done on this matter over the past two years in her role in biodiversity, which will play an important part over the coming years. It is great that we a…

I join previous speakers in offering my condolences to former Senator Mary Jackman's family. She was a very distinguished public representative for many years. This is a very tough time for her family. Not many people will know that Mary Jackman was originally from Tipperary and was a member of the Furlong family from the Cappagh White area. I pass on my condolences to them. She was a colleague of my mother's at one time when there were very few women in politics. They were quite good friends. I want to let the fam…

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach very much. I welcome Senator Carrigy’s class here today. It is a very proud thing to have one’s own primary school come to visit Seanad Éireann. Senator Carrigy does a great deal of work for and on education in this Chamber and when he talks about it, he is thinking about the school in Ballinalee. I thank my colleagues for acknowledging the presence of Cara Darmody here today. She is one of the most amazing young people one is ever likely to meet. She is an 11-year-old and is here wi…

I almost knocked down one or two of our guests when I was racing to the Chamber too but they kindly left me a gap. I welcome the kids from Longford and acknowledge their local Senator and the work he does for education in this House. It is timely because my question relates to my own primary school in Grange. I would like a debate with the Minister for Education. Schools around the country have been lucky in terms of the funding available for extensions and the building of new primary and secondary schools. We in G…

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank Senator Sherlock and the Labour Party for tabling this Bill. It is important to have a good discussion about it. It comes at the right time to increase workers' protections and rights. As most of us who are on the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment know, the Tánaiste and Minister of State are progressing much legislation to protect workers' rights, whether it relates to sick pay, remote working or the right to disconnect. Much of what the committee is doing,…