Yes.

Like the Tánaiste, in recent months I visited Colombia. I did so with the human rights organisation, Christian Aid. While there I visited the La Guajira region and the notorious Cerrejón coal mine, from which Ireland, through the ESB, purchased much of its coal supply until 2018. As a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we rightly will not be engaging with Russia on the purchase of coal but is it our intention to purchase coal from Colombia once again? Will that coal come from the Cerrejón mine? If so, …

Is this area in the portfolio of the Minister of State? Does he have responsibility for it?

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am delighted to be able to take part in the Second Stage debate of my colleague Deputy Whitmore's Wildlife Bill 2021, a day before National Biodiversity Week commences. She could not be here today due to a family bereavement. All our thoughts are with her on the loss of her sister, Lilian. I am standing in for her today and, in doing so, I acknowledge the work of her parliamentary assistant, Councillor Jodie Neary, in bringing this Bill together. National Biodive…

I thank the Minister of State for his contribution. I intend to be quite brief. I listened to the Minister of State's comments and I drafted some notes. I welcome the Minister’s contribution, but it has taken 12 months to get to this point. The fact that it is still being said that work is underway does not instil a huge amount of confidence in me. I note that the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, has on a multitude of occasions highlighted the work that Deputy Whitmore has done. If you are going to celebrate the w…

The writer John McGahern once wrote that Ireland was a peculiar place in the sense that it was a 19th century society right up to the mid-1970s and then it almost bypassed the 20th century. As we are asked to celebrate and reflect upon Europe Day in the national Parliament, that quote above all captures for me the pace of change that occurred in Irish society after we joined the EEC in 1973. My party, members of my generation and I were proud Europeans. We are Irish and European. The EU has its faults and I intend …

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education. This week we heard reports of a school that, in correspondence with the parents of its students, stated its relationships and sexuality education, RSE, programme will not include contraception or LGBTQI+ relationships, or what it called "same sex friendships". I will quote from the letter that was sent from that school to the parents, although I do not want to personalise the issue. While this school made the newspapers in…

Before I comment on the Minister of State's response, which was in line with what I had expected, I might ask him a question in respect of his role in the Department of Justice. Where does he foresee the provision of RSE in the combating of gender-based violence? In the cross-departmental work being carried out by the Minister for Justice, the fourth pillar is education. Does the Minister of State foresee that being implemented through the RSE programme? I raised this issue yesterday with the Taoiseach, who replied…

I acknowledge the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. We are in the midst of an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis, with inflation running at nearly 7%, the highest it has been for more than 20 years. The carbon tax is not the predominant cause of this inflationary spike. We must be clear about that, but carbon tax adds an additional cost to energy prices. The coming increase next week will add approximately €17 to annual gas bills and it will add an extra €20 to a fill of home heating oil. I…

Yesterday, a school in Wicklow made headlines after details of its relationships and sexuality education programme came to light detailing the deliberate and conscious aim to exclude and erase LGBTQI+ people and their community. To quote from a document shared with parents from that school, teachers do not cover topics such as contraception and same-sex friendships, and children who ask questions in class on content outside the designated curriculum are encouraged to discuss the issue with their parents. Last week'…

The Social Democrats welcome this People Before Profit Bill which provides for a referendum to properly define our neutrality stance. As it currently stands, Articles 28 and 29 of our Constitution outline our position of neutrality. However, the wording around the definition of neutrality is vague, to say the least. Essentially, in the main it allows the Government of the day to determine how the country responds to threats. Irish neutrality has been a core principle of our foreign policy since the foundation of th…

I wish to raise the scenes in Dublin Airport over the weekend. We all watched on with a sense of dismay and bewilderment at the scenes of would-be travellers crammed into the departure lounge, some unable to go on their holidays owing to the absence of security staff. What assurances has the Government sought from Dublin Airport Authority that these scenes will not be repeated? Although 1,000 redundancies were offered to security staff in Dublin Airport during Covid, only 100 people have been rehired. There is a re…

Undoubtedly, nobody in the Chamber condones the behaviour of a landlord exploiting somebody who is seeking accommodation for personal sexual benefit. Condemnation is not the same as action, however, and I thank my colleague Deputy Cian O'Callaghan for being the one to take action against this predatory behaviour, as well as journalist Ms Ann Murphy of the Irish Examiner for her critical work in highlighting the matter and bringing attention to it. I also acknowledge the Cabinet for accepting the Bill and I ask it t…

I just came from a meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in which we had a presentation from Dóchas, the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, and others. It was a really sobering and genuinely terrifying presentation. I wanted to wait until I heard some of the testimonies from those witnesses on the ground in Ukraine and elsewhere before I came into the Chamber for statements on the European Council meeting. I will begin with the figure we heard several times today during differen…

What is the status of the Education (Health, Relationships and Sex Education) Bill 2021 and will the Minister make a statement on the matter to update us on the work that has been ongoing since it was brought to the House five months ago? If possible, will she expedite the Bill?

I would like an update on the Bill, which was delayed by nine months. We are more than halfway through that period, at five months. Is it the Minister's intention to bring the Bill back on Second Stage, as was agreed to when the Bill received cross-party support in November? Will it be brought back before or after the summer? I might highlight some of the issues that were raised during the debate on the Bill. This week, we marked International Women's Day. The Minister for Justice is working on a Government strateg…

Has the Department of Education been involved to this point? What are the timelines for the involvement of the Department with the Minister, Deputy McEntee's cross-departmental approach to combating men's violence against women? Can the Minister, Deputy Foley, update us on that particular work? Specifically, what role has the Department of Education had to this point? Will this feature in the work of the NCCA? Can we see a progress report?

I begin by expressing my revulsion, the revulsion of my party and I am sure the revulsion of all of us across the House, at the latest war crime committed by Russia in Ukraine, namely, the bombing of a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol. A picture from that atrocity of a heavily pregnant and bloodied woman being stretchered away from the smouldering ruins of the hospital is on the front pages across the globe today. It should remain burned into all of our brains. This is Putin's Russia, an evil regime th…

Many of the ideas the Minister has suggested are welcome. They are good ideas. In the first instance, as the Ukrainian people arrive here we need to recognise the trauma they have experienced. That needs to be met first. The idea of employing Ukrainian teachers has a lot of merit. The people coming over here are going to be looking at their cities under siege, maternity hospitals being struck with missiles and their husbands left with AK-47s in their hands. In addition to wanting to employ them, I want to ensure th…

Has the Minister's attention being drawn to the lack of eligibility to student grants for persons who hold stamp 4 visas and will he make a statement on the matter?