I would like to address what Deputy Conway-Walsh said with regard to the banks and the Government strategy to divest from banks. The Government does not have a view that it should remain an owner of the bank. The Government also had the view that it should move back to private ownership as part of the broader economic strategy of showing that the State does not engage and does not get involved in the decision-making or does not get involved in an overreaching sort of way in a general sense in private companies. I k…

I am sorry; I have debated it in the House, Deputy Conway-Walsh.

Excuse me; I am speaking. Sinn Féin would, in fact, interfere in the decision-making of corporates, as evidenced by its legislation on insurance. Sinn Féin would also maintain a stake in the banks on the off chance that share prices would rise. Of course, it is easy to come into the Chamber and say this and that happened. Share prices are volatile, however. Had the Government take a different decision and share prices had gone down, Sinn Féin would have said the Minister should have taken the opportunity in 2018 to…

-----and criticise one way or the other. The State, as the Deputy knows, has had a long-term strategy to divest precisely for that broader reason of not being involved and to have a hands-off approach from the management. However, we have actually had very good success in reducing the shareholding and making sure we have tried to recover as much for the taxpayer as possible. The Deputy will be aware that on the Bank of Ireland piece, we actually took in €2 billion more in its management. To date, €23 billion out of…

I cannot find the piece that I was going to say so perhaps I had best sit down.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue and for his consistent advocacy on this matter and other matters around genuine inclusion for people with declared disabilities. As he highlighted, far too many people are not in a position to work because we have not put the correct structures in place. The Senator has been a consistent advocate for making sure there is better and proper inclusion. The disabled drivers and disabled passengers tax concessions scheme provides relief from VAT and vehicle registration tax up …

It is the least we can do to walk the walk. I will never forget the Senator's contribution to the Oireachtas event held by Ceann Comhairle on gender, inclusion and a range of different matters. He correctly pointed out that as the only Member of the Oireachtas with a declared disability, nothing had been provided to him in a way that was respectful of his needs. I always bring a copy for him in that format regardless of whether he is here because it is important to be consistent and practical. I thank the Senator f…

Israel has the right to exist.

It does not work like that.

While it is very important to listen to my colleagues, including the Minister for Justice, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and other Ministers, outline the spending priorities of today, I will speak about the future, and the future Ireland fund that will be established as part of this budget. It probably generated the fewest headlines but it is one of the most significant things that will be done by the Government and the House in legislation to come. It was agreed and brought…

I am very pleased to appear before the Seanad to discuss budget 2024, which was presented to Dáil Éireann earlier today by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I have copies of the speech. Recent years have seen the Irish economy grapple with a series of economic shocks - Brexit, the pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and a rate of inflation not seen in decades. Despite these significant challenges, we have an economy operating at full employment with…

I will pick up some of the points made directly. Perhaps I will start with housing. I have always worked very constructively with Senator Warfield on a number of different committees and I am glad to hear him speak about the importance of homeownership because, along with people who want to buy their own homes but are living in their parents, it is not something I hear often from Sinn Féin. As Senator McGahon said, it is important but it is not something that Sinn Féin makes any provision for in its alternative bud…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. It is universally agreed that it is a good idea to try to reduce the cost for parents of their children attending school and to treat all families, or nearly all families, equally. Many in my constituency are not included in the scheme, but we are talking here about all of the rest of them. The Senator raised important issues. I do not think there are abuses, to be honest. It is about bedding in a brand-new policy and making sure it works. The Department has set guidance …

The free primary school book scheme benefits up to 558,000 pupils in approximately 3,200 recognised primary schools, including pupils in 130 special schools. I cannot even imagine the number of books and copybooks that is but it is a very considerable amount of paper and a considerable opportunity for wastage. Certainly in my own constituency of Dún Laoghaire, schools are very assiduous at highlighting green issues, recycling and adopting a whole-school approach to that. If I were a school principal I would be adop…

I thank the Senator for raising this really important issue. These children are the most vulnerable, and the State is their parent in providing the opportunity for a different form of care for them. That is best done, in the vast majority of cases, in the foster care system. It is the preferred option for children who cannot, for any reason, live with their birth family. Foster carers play a vital, greatly empathetic and in many cases a really difficult role in trying to support children at different stages of thei…

It is really important that the Senator highlighted this issue today. Those figures about the decrease of 4% in the number of foster carers that are there are very worrying. Of course that comes at a time of population increase of greater than 4% or anything remotely equivalent to it. Quite a number of children have come from very difficult circumstances around the world, many of whom may be children on their own, or who are in very difficult and traumatic situations having come from Ukraine or other places that ar…

First of all, I was a member of the Joint Committee on Gender Equality that considered the recommendations of the citizens' assembly and I may be incorrect but I do not recall the Senator attending that committee to make these views heard at that stage. This Oireachtas committee considered the recommendations of the citizens' assembly, what it had said, and its detailed reports. We heard from the organisers of the citizens' assembly and we heard from participants of the citizens' assembly. We worked for a period of…

I am asking why the Senator did not engage.

I genuinely did ask a question, yes.

The Citizen's Assembly on Gender Equality made three recommendations that centred on the Constitution: to insert gender equality and non-discrimination; to remove the reference of women within the home; and to amend Article 41 to protect family life to make sure that children in the family are not discriminated against whether their parents are married or not. As I said, great work was done both by the citizen's assembly in particular during Covid-19, and then at the Oireachtas committee thereafter. An interdepartm…