Yes, absolutely. I will not oppose-----

I thank the Minister for her full response. It is helpful to hear the commencement date of the legislation is likely to be soon. I think the Minister said it will be a matter of weeks. It is also helpful to have the Minister's clarification as to who is covered and what is meant by the phrase, "a personal injuries action commenced on or after the date". In respect of the 19,000 claims currently before PIAB which have not yet reached assessment stage, there needs to be utter clarity as to what is the cut-off point. …

I support the amendment put forward by Senator Ruane and ask the Minister, as Senator Higgins has done, for positive engagement on these important issues. We have all been supportive of the Bill on the expansion of family leave provisions generally but the purpose of the amendment, as so eloquently expressed by Senator Ruane, really does deserve positive engagement from the Minister and his Department.

Guím beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig ar na Seanadóirí go léir. Gabhaim buíochas as an nGaeilge agus as na seamróga. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. I also wish colleagues a happy International Women's Week, given the week that is in it. I thank the Leader for hosting Monday's debate on International Women's Day. On that day I spoke about women's representation and the need to ensure we do not perpetuate obstacles to women's representation. In that vein I welcome the news that the Minister for Justice, Deputy Helen McE…

I welcome the Minister to the House. On behalf of the Labour Party, I welcome the Bill of which we are very supportive. Indeed, the Bill has cross-party support, which is very welcome. As Senators said, and the Minister has acknowledged, the legislation is eagerly awaited and anticipated, in particular by parents who look forward to parental leave being extended from two to five weeks paid leave and, of course, to the expansion of the category of children who are covered from the first year to the first two years o…

I welcome the Minister to the House and I wish him a happy International Women's Day. On this day, the Labour Party Senators have asked the Minister to give us a proposed timeline for the introduction of gender pay gap legislation. We are all only too well aware of how urgent this is. Every year, 9 November marks Equal Pay Day, which recognises that Ireland’s gender pay gap of 14.4% effectively means women work for free for the rest of the year. To put it another way, women stop getting paid at around 4 p.m. every …

I thank the Minister for setting out so clearly the proposed timeframe. I am glad to hear that he proposes to bring legislative amendments to the existing Government Bill from 2019 and that he plans to do so in the next fortnight. We will work constructively with the Minister to ensure the legislation is swiftly enacted and that, as the Minister said, it languishes no more. In particular, we will ask him to adopt some of the principles that were in the Labour Party's gender pay gap Bill which made it a stronger Bil…

I welcome the Minister and thank him for attending this morning to deal with the Labour Party's Commencement matter on the gender pay gap. I wish colleagues a happy International Women's Day. Today has a long and proud history. We started International Women's Day as a day of protest, struggle and socialist and feminist campaigning for women's rights. It was only in 1977 that the United Nations recognised 8 March as an international day for women everywhere. Only in recent years in Ireland has it become a day of ce…

Gabhaim buíochas, a Chathaoirligh, agus ba mhaith liom freisin a bheith in ann níos mó Gaeilge a labhairt sa díospóireacht le linn na seachtaine atá ann, Seachtain na Gaeilge, ach I will try to improve, which is the mantra for today. Gabhaim buíochas, a Chathaoirligh, for reminding us that it is Seachtain na Gaeilge. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to take No. 13, which is Labour's Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2021, before No. 1. We published this Bill in January in light of the report of…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for improved information and tracing for adopted persons in relation to their adoption, for that purpose to amend the Adoption Act 2010 so as to provide for access by adult adopted persons to the index maintained by an tArd-Chláraitheoir of connections between entries in the Adopted Children Register and the register of births, and to provide for connected matters.

Next Friday.

I second the amendment.

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am glad to second the Senator's proposed amendment and echo his comments about the need for coherence in drafting and making legislation, particularly criminal legislation, accessible. I know that is the spirit in which he brings this amendment.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to the House. On behalf of the Labour Party I voice my support for the Bill, although we do not believe it goes far enough. Others have pointed out that we are in an emergency, and indeed we are debating this Bill in emergency time. I am glad the time has been extended somewhat. To take all Stages of such a far-reaching Bill in one day shows just how urgent matters are. With more than 4,000 deaths and more than 200,000 people infected with Covid, we know exactly the sort of …

I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, to delete line 2 and substitute the following: “ ‘designated state’— (a) on the coming into operation of this Act, means any country, territory, region or other place outside the State other than Northern Ireland, (b) if at any time after passing a resolution under section 9(5) of the Health (Amendment) Act 2021 both Houses of the Oireachtas so resolve, has the meaning assigned to it by section 38E(1);”. I will speak specifically to amendment No. 1 although I realise it is part of…

I will use a sledgehammer if necessary. Covid is much more than-----

I was not going to come back in but I take issue with colleagues in government who have suggested our Labour Party amendment is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Covid-19 is very far from being the latter. It was unfortunate language and I am sure it was not intended. Unfortunately, this is an emergency and we are all well aware of it. We all know how many people have died so tragically after being infected and how many lost their livelihoods or had businesses disrupted or shut down for good. There has been a major im…

On a point of order-----

The Senator is personalising the debate-----

I do not wish to prolong the debate, although I am going to call a vote on this amendment. I just want to state we should not personalise the debate and I have resisted doing so. We should be courteous and respectful.