I, too, want to show our solidarity to the poor people who died crossing the English Channel in an absolutely awful situation. This pandemic has shown us many of the good and not so good things about this country. It has shown us who we are and where we want to go. It has brought out the best in our people. Collectively, we have responded to the call of social solidarity to watch out for one another. It has brought many of us together who were never brought together before. The ongoing public health emergency conti…

I acknowledge that. It is good for a society to have more capacity, beds and staff. It still does not answer my question of why more than 50% of people in Ireland have private health insurance. In general, people want good healthcare, whether private or public. The sentiments and patterns across the world are a public, universal one-tier health service such as exists in Britain under the NHS. The outcomes for everybody are really good when there is a health system from cradle to grave. A creeping privatisation has …

I did not-----

I never said we should outlaw private health insurance.

There are many things we cannot change in the past even though we would want to. The past is the past and the present is the present. For survivors of mother and baby institutions it was a deeply painful past. Mother and baby homes were institutions of the State and the Catholic Church. They were for "fallen women" to be banished and punished for the crime of having children out of wedlock. I will get to my own personal experience of that. There are many flaws in the scheme, particularly around the arbitrary condit…

I probably will not need all my time. These are slightly surreal circumstances. Normally, I would not moralise about attendance at debates, but this is pretty pathetic. It is a poor attendance from other Teachtaí, and that is a pity because this is an important subject. I thank the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, and those in our party for their fantastic work on this legislation. It is a good and timely Bill. As Deputy Boyd Barrett said, the onset of Covid-19 has caused a light to be shined on migran…

Sixteen years ago today, the then Minister for Health and Children, Ms Mary Harney, stated that a national emergency should be declared in relation to our accident and emergency units. Ms Harney stated at the time, it "is not acceptable to the public, not acceptable to me, and not acceptable to the HSE" but 15 years on, we have over 2,000 patients waiting on trolleys in our hospitals and, in regards to ICU beds, we have fewer than half of OECD rates. I say this very genuinely but what does it say about Fine Gael an…

I raise an issue that I have probably raised countless times in my five-and-a-half-year tenure here. It is about access to medicinal cannabis. I do not give the Taoiseach too many compliments, but I will give him one. I know he personally got involved in a number of cases in the past, which is to his credit, because this issue sometimes transcends politics. I have some good news. In the next week, three people will be registered and will get prescriptions under the medical cannabis access programme. That is very go…

I will share an encounter I had today in the canteen in Leinster House. I spoke to one of the service officers who I had not seen in a considerable time. He said I could mention his name, John. I said I had not seen him in a while and he said that he had been very sick with Covid. It was very touch-and-go as to whether he lived or died. He lived, but he wants to say a big thank you to all the staff in the Mater hospital who saved his life. It just shows that, through this pretty awful virus, people survived and can…

My question relates to the State policy that has led to 25 years and more of failure in respect of those in society who take drugs. We need to have a grown-up conversation about this. The Taoiseach spoke at a meeting of the CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign last week. The figures are pretty sombre, to say the least. In the past 25 years, there has been a 225% increase in drug-related deaths. The statistics go on and on. These people fell through the cracks and their deaths have had a terrible effect on their communiti…

It is in everybody's interest that the environment we live in is sustainable and that we can cohabitate with the natural world and the animal world. That is in all our interests given the damage done to, and the potential damage that will be inflicted on, this planet. We have come across environmental and social issues in the last seven or eight years where young people have engaged. I would compare what is going on now with the civil rights movement in the 1960s. People are at the cutting edge. People demand radic…

Most of my questions have been answered at this stage but I welcome the Minister's statement and his attendance at the PDFORRA conference in October. Some of the claims in the radio documentary "Women of Honour" were deeply unsettling. There existed a culture of misogyny, bullying, discrimination and harassment. That culture went on for decades and targeted both women and men. People who want to go into the Defence Forces will be fearful about doing so in future if this culture still exists. The independent review …

I wish to share time with Deputy Barry. I am not sure if we will use the entire 20 minutes. We will see how we go.

Yes, ten and ten. I do not think I will use the whole ten minutes.

This is very profound and complex legislation. Sexual crimes are a very important subject. Sexual violence of any kind is utterly hideous. Gender-based violence and toxic misogyny are reprehensible in any form but they exist and manifest and, unfortunately, they are on the rise in society. The profound effect on the victim is incalculable. For people who have been sexually abused or had sexual violence committed against them, that effect stays with them for the rest of their lives. It will also have a profound effe…

I want to raise an issue relating to the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. The guidelines announced by the Government yesterday will have an knock-on effect, particularly for the entertainment industry. The PUP has been a lifeline for many workers over the past 18 months. Will the Government review the issue in respect of those who cannot get access to the PUP because of guidelines announced by the Government yesterday?

A number of weeks ago, six human rights organisations were designated as terrorist organisations by the State of Israel. A number of these organisations receive funding from Irish Aid. The allegations made against them are extremely serious and are designed to smear anybody who stands against Israel's continued brutal occupation of Palestine. Israel will continue to do this with impunity and will give the Minister and his EU counterparts the complete runaround regarding its crimes. If that is the case, as we have s…

I want to raise an issue that I and other Deputies have raised countless times, namely access to medicinal cannabis. Many families and campaigners would have been joyous during the summer when the medicinal cannabis programme was to commence. Sadly I learned in a parliamentary question response today that not one patient has been given access to the programme thus far. That is a huge disappointment to the families that this treatment could provide life changing benefit to. What does the Taoiseach say to families wh…

This matter is not in the Minister's area but it is important to raise it in the House. Last month was breast cancer awareness month. Two weeks ago, this House heard statements on breast cancer and its prevalence. Screening was one of the main issues to emerge from the debate. At the moment, screening for women is provided at age 50 and beyond. There is growing international evidence that lowering the age of routine screening to 40 years results in better detection and saves lives. When Sweden lowered the age to 40…

I express our gratitude to those in the nursing profession and healthcare workers who kept us all safe in this terrible time. Those in the nursing profession, not only in Ireland but across the world, have never been as challenged. They lost colleagues in a battle to protect all of us. Over the past 17 to 18 months, many things have changed, some for the good and some for the bad. We have seen how the vocation of nursing has been undervalued in Ireland, especially student nurses. That was exposed last year regardin…