I thank the Ministers for facilitating this debate today. I will flag a couple of practical issues of which Ministers should be aware. Much has been said that I agree with, particularly Deputy Duncan Smith's points about a State presence. In my constituency, the local Fine Gael councillor, Mr. Jim Gildea, offered his home on the second day of the conflict to the Irish Red Cross. He and his wife live in a home with additional space. They have yet to receive a telephone call. They received an email saying they would …

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for her ongoing engagement with me on the state of autism assessment and delivery of services in my area, in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 6, which I identify as a problematic area. I give the example of a young boy, Dillon McGee, who has very complex needs. His parents asked me to raise his case. There is inconsistency of services. He does not have access to child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, because of where he lives. His mother has been t…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Minister of State for the opportunity to speak on this Bill which I welcome. I agree with Deputy O'Callaghan that it is the best of the iterations that have come out over the past number of years. I thank the Minister of State for the response to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice recommendations and the work on the Bill. In response to Deputy Gould, the Judiciary has among the strongest support from the people in terms of institutional independence. It is internatio…

My question is similar to those of Deputies Guirke and Gino Kenny. Enormous funding has been put in place by the Government to deliver these services but they are not being delivered by the HSE. That is an ongoing difficulty. I thank the Minister of State for her help and support in my constituency, where I am raising matters relating to early intervention and trying to get Ballyowen Meadows Special School to offer to do a second early intervention class. I have, however, not received any responses from the HSE. Th…

I have raised this matter previously in this House and others have raised it as well. There is a strong emphasis around Dublin Bay on improving water quality in the bay. It is a long-standing issue but it has been particularly highlighted by the number of people using the sea facilities since Covid as they have become much more engaged with all-year-round sea swimming. I work with a group called SOS Dublin Bay, which has done extraordinary work and great research on this. I have done my own research on it and found…

I thank the Minister of State for his response and acknowledge his attendance here tonight. I know this is not his area but the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, so I thank him for being here. I appreciate that the expert group is gathering survey data. I am a Deputy for the constituency from north Bray to Booterstown and I have been telling the authorities exactly what the issue is for two years. I have provided my own survey data, as has SOS Dublin Bay. It would be nice if the group engaged …

Although I am taking this question on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Hourigan, I emphasise that trying to support young transgender people in Ireland is a strong interest of mine. When might we see the re-establishment of transgender child and adolescent mental healthcare services through the Tavistock clinic's work with Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin? This is about recognising that having access to these conversations with Tavistock is part of the mental health supports that young transgender people need at …

I appreciate that update. Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms Sara Phillips from Transgender Equality Network Ireland, Ms Paula Fagan from LGBT Ireland and Ms Moninne Griffith from BeLonG To, an organisation that supports young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, LGBTI, people, particularly with mental health, which is one of the biggest challenges when young people have questions about their gender identity or know they are not in the right gender relative to their birth sex. So much of this, an…

It is important to note there has been a very divisive debate in the UK about this issue over the past number of months and years. It is a debate that has not helped anybody. What we need is a very respectful, dignified conversation supporting what is a small but significant number of people who are transgender. There does not need to be a conflict between transgender rights and gender identity rights and other sex-based rights. There is space for everybody. One set of rights does not need to displace another set o…

The Deputy does not in any way need me to back her up on this. I was in Carlow–Kilkenny on Monday and met the various groups, including Carlow Women's Aid and the Carlow and South Leinster Rape Crisis Centre. They are so much further ahead than Tusla in their work, in what they have identified, in what they can deliver and in the speed at which they can deliver. What the Deputy says is absolutely accurate. I see the same in Dún Laoghaire. The accommodation review identifies ten spaces. The joint policing committee …

I read today in the media that Revolut will launch deposit accounts for Irish customers. There is a lot of change in the banking sector at present. In light of this and the impending departure of Ulster Bank and KBC from the Irish market, I would be obliged if the Minister would give us a status update on the review being undertaken into the retail banking sector, particularly as we head into potentially more uncertain economic times with potential implications for interest rates.

I wish to ask about the role of the Defence Forces in responding to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. We have major financial and humanitarian programmes of support, but as we expect more and more people to come to Ireland, I would like the Minister to outline the anticipated role of the Defence Forces in the major logistical programmes of support.

I thank the Minister. Throughout my constituency, I am hearing stories of children from Ukraine joining various schools. It is great to hear that this has happened for them so quickly. As I dropped my son off this morning, a young boy was joining junior infants and high-fiving the kids around him. He had settled in nearly immediately. I hope that persists because there will be a very traumatic change for people arriving here and every element of logistical support that can be provided to them to minimise that traum…

I, too, believe we are up for that. When one looks back, we have already successfully put in place and operated many major logistical operations. I refer to the vaccination programme and how quickly that had to be mobilised and rolled out from a standing start. We have the capacity to do these different things. We have a little head start in terms of the relatively small numbers of people here now, but that is going to increase over time. The cross-departmental work is going to be crucial to that. Every effort that…

I thank the Minister for his response. In recent decades we have been very much at peace with our geopolitical system and we have not yet felt any threat whatsoever. We are on notice now that everything is different and will be different for the decades to come. We must respond differently and this commission's report is a timely intervention in that. Deputy O'Callaghan said this is ultimately up to the Minister, but there is a broad swathe of political opinion and political support developing for the sorts of chan…

I fully agree with the reply of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to Deputy Durkan on energy security. What steps have his Department now taken to expedite this strategy for floating offshore wind and to bring the reality of that sooner? The legislation on maritime planning has passed. There is an opportunity for offshore fixed wind in my own constituency in Dún Laoghaire. I want to be clear that I support that for a whole range of different reasons but, primarily, for energy security and for the climate. There is also a …

The Commission published notable research after President Von der Leyen's speech in December about the scale of the worrying trend of hate speech and hate crime, in particular the level of hatred manifested against, for example, the Roma community, Jews, Muslims, persons of Asian origin, or those perceived to be of that origin, and the effect that had on linked crimes in the communities. At EU level there has always been a strong statement against public incitement to hatred and hate speech, which comes from the ve…

I thank Deputy Flaherty for sharing time. I did not think I would have the opportunity to speak but wanted to hear the contributions from colleagues. Today is a particularly important moment in the response to the current crisis. I very much hope this is the final measure necessary but I greatly fear it will not be and that this is an issue we will be discussing in the House for some time to come. It is a moment for real honesty with the Irish people about the nature and openness of our economy and our internationa…

As others will have done, I sat down and opened my emails this morning and received a number of positive updates concerning women, which was befitting for International Women’s Day. They included updates on the launch of the women’s health action plan, the roll-out of free period products in further education, the introduction of gender pay gap reporting, and research commissioned into gender-based violence against people with disabilities. We also had the first public sitting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on G…

I am pleased to be here to discuss the report of the Joint Committee on Key Issues affecting the Traveller Community. I welcome Senator Flynn to the House. We look forward to seeing her here more often, I hope. I also wish to take a moment to acknowledge, as others have, Ronnie Fay, co-director of Pavee Point, who recently passed away. On this day last month, so many gathered to say goodbye to her. Ronnie was a tireless advocate for the Traveller community. Knowing her and engaging with her since I became Fine Gael…