It is the other way around.

Why not simply move to State ownership?

The people have spoken.

Rights can be undone.

I am conscious we have had an exchange on the national maternity hospital issue, but the key question is why we do not see it moving into public ownership if it is, indeed, to be in public ownership in all but name, given the 299-year lease. That question has not been satisfactorily answered. Might we amend the Order of Business to take some time to tease out that question and debate why we cannot look at a compulsory purchase order to see the State finally take effective and legal ownership of the site on which th…

If I may, the Ceann Comhairle suggested a good compromise.

The homelessness figures published on Friday showed an increase of 23% in the past year. These are alarming figures. We know a major cause of homelessness is the lack of protection for renters against evictions and simply a lack of supply of sufficient homes for rental. In my constituency of Dublin Bay South, we have a particularly high proportion of households and individuals who are reliant on private rental accommodation. It is one of the reasons that last autumn, the first Bill I introduced in this House as a D…

I thank the Taoiseach for reporting on his engagements with the President of the US. I commend him on his strong words condemning the recent Russian video purporting to show a nuclear attack on Ireland. I am conscious, as we all are, that the war in Ukraine was a significant backdrop to the Taoiseach's visit to the US and was the subject of many of his engagements. I also note his conversation with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Given the recent developments and the growing evidence of Russian complicity in war cr…

My question-----

The Northern Ireland Assembly elections will take place on Thursday. I had the pleasure of canvassing on Saturday in Belfast South with Matthew O'Toole and Elsie Trainor of the SDLP, along with Claire Hanna, the MP there. The concerns that so many people share in the North are about what will happen after the election takes place and, in particular, what approach the DUP, which is likely to remain the largest unionist party, will take regarding the return of the power-sharing Executive. Has the Taoiseach had any di…

I ask about a matter related to the serious and urgent question of how we in Ireland can best manage our collective response in offering support to those who have come here fleeing Russian brutality in Ukraine. This morning, Labour Party Deputies and Senators wrote to the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, who is taking overall responsibility for co-ordinating the national response. We wrote to offer our support in assisting with that natio…

I thank the Minister for the response and the constructive engagement. My colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, has raised a number of practical ways we can ensure a more co-ordinated national response because that is the issue. It is about co-ordinating the response and co-ordinating the national effort. The point the Minister made about IPAS is welcome. It is clear local authorities are stepping up in a huge way. They and council officials are dealing and will deal with a large number of front-line measures to support …

Why can the Government not do more to help renters? There have been serious rises in the cost of renting in Ireland. Average monthly rents stand at €1,415 and at €2,000 in Dublin. That is an unaffordable chunk of take-home pay for many renters. The issue is lack of regulation and lack of supply. We in the Labour Party previously brought forward a Bill to restrict the use of companies like Airbnb for short-term lets. We are asking the Government to take more urgent action to ensure such short-term lets will not outs…

I am glad to speak for the Labour Party in support of this important Bill and to welcome its introduction today. As others have said, it is hugely important that we see regulation in place on the principle and the practice of GALs. Indeed, this is a Bill that has had a long genesis. The Minister alluded to that. A previous iteration of it fell in 2020. It is long overdue. I should say that I am somebody who, in practice as a barrister, represented GALs in quite a number of cases. I came to know several GALs very we…

I welcome the amendment. As Deputy Funchion said, it reflects the discussion we had on Committee Stage to ensure the Bill will be as inclusive as possible. I very much welcome the fact that, as the Minister said, this provision will ensure that persons who were the subject of what he described as more informal adoption arrangements, in particular those effected outside of the State, will be covered by the Bill. It is welcome and I thank him for that.

I, too, am glad the amendment has been tabled and that it reflects a discussion we had on Committee Stage. We need to acknowledge where progress was made on Committee Stage and thank the Minister for taking on board comments made. Obviously, we will be critical where those comments have not been taken on board, but it is worth acknowledging where comments are taken on board and the legislation is improved as a result.

I, too, welcome the amendment and thank the Minister for acknowledging the debate on Committee Stage.

The amendment is welcome because so many adopted persons made the point to us that the legislation needs to be as inclusive as possible. We had a lengthy debate on that issue on Committee Stage and, in the same spirit of inclusivity, it is welcome to see the amendment.

As Deputy Funchion stated, this is an issue that came up extensively on Committee Stage. Indeed, we submitted an amendment to make a distinction between falsely or otherwise incorrectly. The Minister took that point on board. I, too, would welcome clarification on how amendment No. 2, tabled by the Minister, as well as his later amendments which I am delighted to see he has brought forward in respect of a review of incorrect or apparently incorrect birth registration, affect the point we made. We wanted to ensure t…

I think all of us share that frustration about the language. We will have an opportunity, I think, to debate this issue further when we come to the later group of amendments concerning the new mechanism for the Minister to authorise the agency or authority to conduct a review or trace where a person believes he or she has been the subject of an incorrect birth registration. I hope we can revisit that point then. I think the concern we have is that, without being clear as to what is meant by incorrect birth registra…