The Minister is very welcome to the House. I thank him for the sensitive approach he has taken to deal with this specific issue. The society I grew up in took young women who became pregnant - and they did not become pregnant on their own - and sent them off to institutions. The society I live in today likes to blame those institutions for the way those women were treated. The first time RTÉ did a documentary on Bessborough House I got a phone call from a woman I knew as a young girl in Galway who, like many young …

Hear, hear.

I might be so bold as to suggest that at some stage we would refuse to process legislation while our secretarial assistants are being treated the way they are being treated. This came before the commission three years ago, when I was sitting on it and nothing has been done. It is really outrageous. In any other organisation the secretarial assistants would be supported. We should consider whether or not we would be unwilling to process legislation until there is some action. I spoke yesterday about the overarching …

Yesterday, I attended the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, biannual conference. It was probably one of the most depressing conferences I have ever attended. Clearly, nobody in government takes the Defence Forces seriously. Nobody cares about the way the organisation is being run into the ground. Yesterday, we had a Minister for Defence tell the assembled group that the conciliation and arbitration adjudicator, which RACO has been waiting for since June of this year, is awaiting authorisati…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. In his speech to the Dáil last evening, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, should have clearly and unambiguously informed the House that there is no Act of the Oireachtas on the Statue Book giving legal responsibility for Irish SAR to the Irish Aviation Authority. I will say that again: today, as I speak, the IAA is not legally responsible for Irish SAR. This is a jaw-dropping scandal of monumental proportions. It is distressing to have to address this House on the tragic loss …

Yesterday, I spoke about the frustration I was experiencing with respect to vaccine boosters. I was contacted shortly afterwards by a member of the public who heard what I said and he was, in effect, a facsimile of my case as his underlying conditions mirrored mine. His consultant told him to contact his GP and get vaccinated. He contacted the GP but was not on any list he could find so he contacted the HSE helpline. By the time he contacted me yesterday, the man was extremely angry. I said I would try it myself to…

Ireland set up in recent years technological universities throughout the country and we are very proud of that. I was present of the Teachers Union of Ireland during the initial stages of that and I was struck by the commitment of staff in all of the former institutes of technology to get behind the drive to bring the technological universities about. There were difficulties, which we resolved as we moved through them. However, I am deeply, deeply concerned now to find that Munster Technological University is on a …

I will be brief. The amendments tabled collectively by me and Senators Keogan and Boyhan have been requested by the Association of Irish Local Government which is a cross-party group. It involves all parties and none. I must bow to its members' knowledge. They are the people on the ground who must oversee planning in their areas. I accept the Minister's bona fides and I do understand the difficulties he has in some areas in getting planning through. However, I find it deeply disturbing that amendments being brought…

I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach for allowing me in even though I was not scheduled to speak. The death of Austin Currie, as many of my colleagues have said, is a tremendous loss to Ireland. My sympathies go to his family. It is a pity we do not have more people like Austin Currie now working in Northern Ireland, people with nothing but peace in their minds, hearts and everything they do. As Senator Ned O'Sullivan said, Mr. Currie did not need guns or bullets. He did it with language and talk. We need those kinds…

I second the motion.

Last Saturday, we gathered in Cathal Brugha Barracks to remember the men of Niemba and the Niemba massacre. It is timely to remember that members of the Irish Defence Forces lose their lives, sometimes brutally, as they serve overseas. Next Sunday in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and many other cathedrals around the country, we will remember the Irish who fell in the first and second world wars. I hope to get to one or two of the ceremonies. I encourage colleagues to do so also. Today I want to talk about Rescue 116. The…

It is in the report. I am not saying anything that is not public knowledge.

It was reckless in its behaviour with respect to safety.

The name of the one-person company is long in the public domain.

The Minister named the company, not me, so-----

My point is-----

These issues have to be aired in public.

We are about to reward a contract to a company again for ten years. If, for example, the incumbent is part of the tendering process-----

Do I not have an obligation as a public representative to raise these issues?

-----and the only place I can do that safely is in here because I have been threatened by the Department-----