I am conscious of time and do not want to prolong the debate. I thank the Minister for his very comprehensive response on our amendment No. 1 and this group of amendments. I fundamentally disagree with his analysis of what it would take to implement a more aggressive suppression strategy, in particular his analysis of how long it would take. However, there is clearly a disagreement. I will press the amendment. It has been an important and constructive debate and generally a very courteous and respectful one. I than…

I welcome the Minister to the House. On behalf of the Labour Party, I again welcome this important Bill. I am glad that we are seeing it move swiftly through the Houses and that we are all on the same page with it. However, I support Senator McDowell's proposal to present the amendments in a way that is more coherent. I spoke on Second Stage about the piecemeal way in which, unfortunately, the principal Act, the Children Act 2001, was commenced and implemented. Many Members, including me, have spoken on previous oc…

I join other Members in expressing my solidarity and great concern for the many staff of Ulster Bank who are facing such devastating news about the job losses resulting from the closure. I urge the Government to do all it can to ensure jobs may be saved in the sector. I wish also to ask the Leader to raise some matters with the Cabinet sub-committee on Covid. As Deputy Alan Kelly said at the weekend, we in the Labour Party are seriously concerned about the lack of a coherent strategy on Covid from the Government. A…

I ask the House for permission to share time with Senator Mark Wall, with four minutes and two minutes.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to the House. I thank the Minister for coming in to personally take the Bill. I commend my colleague, Senator Annie Hoey, on her great and passionate commitment to bringing the Bill before us and to ensuring the work of student nurses is recognised in this tangible way. This very simple and straightforward Bill seeks to ensure adequate payment and remuneration for work being done by student nurses. As other colleagues across the House have said, all of us must acknowledge an…

We did. Senator Sherlock who spoke previously did so.

Yes, we submitted it.

I wish to second the proposal by my colleague, Senator Moynihan, to take No. 11, the Student Nurses (Pay) Bill 2021, at the end of the Order of Business. We are hoping to debate that on Second Stage on Friday. This, of course, is the Bill being proposed by our colleague, Senator Hoey, on payment for student nurses, which I know is a hugely topical and important issue. I also welcome the roll-out today of the vaccination programme within the community to over-85s. It is a real piece of good news in the context of wh…

I second the proposal.

I join in thanking the Minister of State for moving these amendments, which I fully support on behalf of Labour. It is very welcome to see common sense prevail, as Senator McDowell said. It is a good day for the Seanad as regards reforms being made here as a result of Private Members' and Opposition amendments being tabled. Clearly, however, there has been a problem with the overreach, as I said the other day, of these provisions. I should hasten to say, in the spirit of levity, that Deputy Howlin first raised the …

-----who are covered. Joking aside, this is clearly a serious matter as regards political organisation, democracy and attracting people to become involved in political parties. That is why I very much welcome these amendments. I also welcome the Minister of State's positive comments on the previous Stages regarding the Magnitsky Act that Deputy Howlin and I, and others in Labour and other parties, have been proposing. It is a long-overdue reform, so I thank the Minister of State for that. I ask the Minister of Stat…

I welcome the Minister to the House. On behalf of the Labour Party I welcome this important Bill, which we are glad to support, and I commend Senator McDowell and his colleagues for bringing it forward so swiftly after the judgment was delivered in the Court of Appeal on 29 October 2020. Senator McDowell had this Bill in with us in the first week of November. Other Oireachtas Members, including Deputy O'Callaghan, also brought forward legislation to deal with what others have rightly described as this unforeseen co…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. She is always very welcome. I thank the Leader for setting up this important debate. It is good to have the opportunity to speak on mental health and Covid. The number of speakers lined up this afternoon shows just how important it is and how seriously we all take it. I join with my Labour colleague, Senator Hoey, in acknowledging the immense impact that Covid has had on everyone, as well as on mental health, feelings of isolation, loneliness, distress and stress. Other…

With the permission of the House, I will share time with Senator Sherlock.

This Commencement matter is in the name of all the Labour Party Senators – Senators Hoey, Sherlock, Moynihan, Wall and me. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, to the House and thank him for taking this important issue. In late November, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, announced an eagerly awaited ban on the development of co-living schemes. His announcement was welcomed by all of us. The Minister was quoted as having expressed concern at the volume o…

I thank the Minister of State for setting out the legal position. Of course, all present respect the independence and integrity of the planning process. However, as my colleague, Senator Sherlock, stated, the unfortunate net effect is that the ban announced by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, really does not amount to a ban. As Senator Sherlock and I have outlined, there is immense dissatisfaction and discontent in communities across Dublin about the manner in which these applications continue to be live and t…

I, too, support Senator Ward's amendments and the intention and spirit behind them. I have raised the important issue of codifying our criminal law to ensure consolidation of criminal statutes over a number of years in successive Seanad terms. There are some glaring areas of criminal law, not just money laundering and financial offences as Senator Ward will appreciate, such as, in particular, sex offences, where the law is unnecessarily complex and we have never had a single codifying Act of the sort we saw in Engl…

I should have welcomed the Minister of State to the House in my earlier contribution. I support the spirit behind the amendment tabled by Senator McDowell and I thank him for putting it forward. On Second Stage, I agreed with him and, indeed, with other colleagues who also raised this concern about what I might describe as an overreach of provisions relating to politically exposed persons. As I stated on Second Stage, I was not aware of how far the measures extended until I heard the comments of my colleague, Deput…

I also thank the Minister of State for his very constructive response, both in respect of Senator McDowell's amendment, which we all support, and as regards my question about the Magnitsky legislation. I am grateful and delighted to hear that plans are under way to introduce an Irish version of the Magnitsky Act. It is long overdue and my Labour Party colleagues and Deputy Howlin will be very glad to hear it too.

I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for outlining the position on special education provision. I think all colleagues across the House very much welcome the announcement that special schools will reopen from this Thursday at 50% capacity. As others have done, I acknowledge on behalf of the Labour group the hard work that has gone into ensuring that reopening and I commend the hard work of all those involved: parents, parents' representatives, unions, staff and education partners. I welcome the fact that c…