The House passed a motion this morning to extend the life of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. The Government facilitated this by not opposing the motion. On foot of the motion, the Minister needs to update the House or introduce the necessary legislation tomorrow. We have called on him to do so and we will call a vote.

We were not allowed. It was ruled out of order.

The motion that was passed today pertains to extending the commission of investigation into the mother and baby homes, which dissolves a few days hence. The fact that the House passed the motion requires the Minister to act and to tell us what he is going to do. We must create space for that and that is the reason we will push for a division on this issue.

I had not intended this but I am returning to the matter of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation. Why did the Government allow a motion to be passed earlier in respect of extending the term of the commission if it was not going to act upon it? That is a really cynical exercise in politics. It brings to mind stroke politics. If the Government is not going to act on the motion, why allow it to pass? Why do such a disservice to the House, to the contributions and to the testimonies of survivors who co…

-----and the survivors take a judicial review, will this State defend the findings of the commission?

Will the Taoiseach and the State defend the findings of the commission should anyone take a judicial review?

When we are given long presentations, such as those we have heard this morning, I am often fascinated by what is missed and what is not said. I am quite surprised that the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, did not refer to drug-related debt or intimidation, which are endemic not just in my community in Dublin Central but in communities all over Dublin and - I imagine - all over Ireland. I ask the Minister of State to tell me if I missed such a reference in his presentation. Issues relating to drug-related debt can…

The Minister of State referenced the drug-related intimidation project work, which was an initiative of the National Family Support Network. It is very important to state that the role referenced by the Minister of State ceased almost a month and a half ago. It was a success, but has now been defunded. One of the last acts of the project was the commissioning of a report which demonstrated that in a very small part of the north inner city more than 20% of respondents who were surveyed said they had suffered from dr…

Over the weekend, the Tánaiste was reported discussing the future of social welfare, and social welfare reform in particular. He mentioned that the cessation of the pandemic unemployment payment, whenever that happens, will provide the opportunity for reform of social welfare. Rather than highlighting the fact that the current social welfare rates are set below the poverty line and perhaps taking the opportunity to bring them in line with the minimum essential standard of living, there seemed to be a suggestion tha…

I am sharing time with Deputy Whitmore. I commend Deputy Kerrane and Sinn Féin for bringing forth this motion. I acknowledge that across this Chamber there is nobody, be that in opposition or in government, who wants to see a scenario in this country where people are cold. This motion seeks to address a very simple but cruel reality, namely, that in our Republic, people are cold. Often in this Chamber we can get lost in the adversarial nature of politics and it becomes a Punch and Judy show between the larger party…

I wish to raise the need for the re-establishment of the NPHET vulnerable people's subgroup. The work of this subgroup under NPHET was invaluable in the planning for the most vulnerable groups and individuals in society and enabled representation and clear communication with Government from those working on the ground, particularly in disability and voluntary groups. As the Tánaiste will be aware, the group was dissolved after it was deemed that it had met its terms of reference on 28 August and its last meeting wa…

I will begin by commending the Department on what has been excellent work over almost a year now. When we engage with them on any sort of issue, they are very fast and prompt in their response, so I commend her and her Department on that. Has the Minister seen the ten demands outlined by the National One Parent Family Alliance, which recently wrote to her with those ten demands? I would be interested to know if she has seen those demands. The alliance has put them forward as a manner in which to alleviate the depri…

While the Minister is encouraging people to use the payment, will her Department initiate an advertising campaign letting people know that the payment is available? One of the issues is that when the announcements are made, they often go unannounced in the media and people do not know the payments are available. I see that two of the asks of the National One Parent Family Alliance pertain simply to advertising - for example, "Run a widespread public information campaign and issue a clear communication that parents …

Although the Minister and I can absolutely get that message out there, a sustained campaign run by her Department, whether through Facebook advertisements or whatever other way in which it can reach people, would be most welcome. No. 9 calls on the Minister to "Prioritise lone parents in the provision of childcare services for essential workers and extend access to childcare facilities to all working lone parents of preschool and school-age children in line with public health advice." Obviously, that is motivated b…

Will a double payment of fuel allowance this month be considered?

I agree with the Minister's last statement that this is a time of high anxiety for everybody. I would go further and say the anger in the air is palpable. One can hear it on the radio, on the airwaves, and in all the communication that is happening. One can feel it in the Chamber at the minute. It is the Government's responsibility now to attempt to de-escalate that and some of the commentary has not been helpful. I particularly want to take issue with this idea that one must pick a side. I was disappointed when th…

In the brief time available, I wish to touch on two aspects of the Minister's opening statement. He referenced the interdepartmental group which will assess the provision of a form of enhanced medical card to everyone who spent more than six months in mother and baby institutions. I join Deputy Sherlock in urging the Minister to lift the six-month limit. The trauma of those who spent a week or a month in those institutions is no less than the trauma of those who spent more than six months there. A reduction in that…

Given the events that took place in the Chamber yesterday, today might be a good day to highlight promises in previous State apologies that are as yet unfulfilled. I refer in particular to the apology to survivors of Magdalen laundries in 2013 and the recommendations from Mr. Justice Quirke's commission that have yet to be implemented. Previously, I raised recommendation 6 relating to memorialisation, but today I wish to highlight recommendation 1, which relates to full medical cards under the Health (Amendment) Ac…

The fact that I was not called for my allocated slot gives me an opportunity to challenge some of the revisionism and scapegoating that I have heard in the past 11 minutes. I hope to take the opportunity to do that, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I will use my time to ask questions and, hopefully, to receive short answers. I will defend my time against any attempts at evasion in that regard. In the week from 20 to 26 December, 412 cases of Covid-19 were detected among children or students between the ages of 13 and 18 ye…

I have the point. If I can finish, the Minister can come back in.