Public consultation opened recently on the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It is an important public consultation. Next week is International Women's Day. Today, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality began its work with public hearings to advance the recommendations of the citizens' assembly. Today I want to take the opportunity to remember the most extreme end of inequality for women, that is their deaths at the hands of men, femicide that persists in our society …

I thank the Minister of State for her response and the update she gave. I note that some of the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on gender equality are already being met by the steps being taken towards the delivery of a strategy on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. That is very important. What lies behind my reading out of the women's names is an effort to identify the circumstances of each of them, who they were, where they were and what happened to them on the day they died. We have been putti…

We stand here during dark days across Europe. The actions of Russia show the fragility of the global order that has been underpinned by active democratic processes in most countries for over three decades. Today, that is under threat, as it has been this week. As a democratic people and as parliamentarians in this Chamber, we have a duty to support and advocate for those who are seeking freedom, the right to expression and peace across the globe. Tonight, people of all ages shelter underground in makeshift bunkers,…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing flexibility to include a fifth Topical Issue on this important subject, especially after statements yesterday on security in Europe. We woke up this morning to the news that a full-scale invasion had begun in Ukraine, that Ukraine had declared martial law and that explosions had been reported in multiple cities across Ukraine. At the outset, I express my utmost solidarity with Ukrainian people, in Ukraine and also here in Ireland. Earlier today, Deputy Alan Farrell and I, an…

I thank the Minister for outlining the steps. We will hear more from the Taoiseach later. For the benefit of the House, the key concern for those families is getting out. Now that martial law has been declared, that is going to be very difficult for the men. I think in particular of prominent anti-Russian and anti-Putin journalists, who have spoken out so bravely in recent months and years in defence of democracy and against imperialist aggression. Those people are identifiable and they are in Ukraine. It is incred…

I acknowledge what Deputy Ó Cuív has said. The Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement met with Mickey Culbert and his organisation with regard to the opportunities for prisoners for the future. Deputy Ó Cuív raises a very important point, which has been heard by the committee and which should be acknowledged in the House, as he has done. I am very glad to have this opportunity to discuss this important and very difficult report. It shines more light onto this painful past for so many families …

This morning I met with Inclusion Ireland specifically to discuss the review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act to deliver a better, more inclusive model for children with additional educational needs. That is happening with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, in the Department of Education. Could I confirm with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform whether his Department is linked in with that review at this stage, to really try to deliver the resources and reform t…

I welcome the support the Government provided to businesses and their employees throughout the pandemic. It was money incredibly well spent when it was needed to keep businesses afloat. Could the Minister outline to the House the scale of his engagement with businesses and their response to the EWSS? He certainly responded to calls from Deputies like me to extend the scheme, which businesses called for. They called for certainty, which the Government was able to provide to them by indicating it would extend the sch…

Nevertheless, the social housing list in Dún Laoghaire is being addressed through AHBs and the provision of housing generally. I know my colleague from Dún Laoghaire objects to SHDs. He raised a particular development in Glenageary, namely, Cualanor, in the House several weeks ago. He objected to one down the road as well. I was in Cualanor on Saturday and I saw all the houses and apartments where several hundred, if not 1,000, people are living with their families. It has a beautiful small playground for kids. The…

I have no interest in marking the Deputy. I am just setting the facts straight as the Deputy is well able to do. I have no difficulty-----

The Deputy is right. I do not use State funds for that. I have to meet them at my own cost.

I meet people at my own cost. I do not use State funding for things like that.

I am thankful to Deputy Connolly for raising this issue because this has been a matter of considerable concern. Of these sectors, some have been naturally slower to open, particularly in the catering sector where people have been slow to plan events, exhibitions, and so on. It is a sector that is uniquely small in the number of employees, with fewer than ten. I am thinking of two businesses in my own constituency which adapted throughout the pandemic to try to provide food in different ways but they are highlightin…

The Minister identified inflation as a particular problem in the budget when he introduced tax reductions, social benefit changes and subsidies to try to address energy prices. It is a huge pressure. What we do not hear acknowledged in the House is the external reality about energy prices generally. I recall a Department of Finance paper from December 2021 about global demand and prices. Events have moved on so much since then. The paper stated wholesale natural gas prices had increased seventeenfold since June 202…

Today is the eighth anniversary of the death of Sonia Blount, the 31-year-old Dublin woman who was killed by her ex-boyfriend hours after her three-year-old's birthday party when she ended their brief relationship. Violence against women remains a problem every day. Today's review of accommodation published by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is welcome and important. In Dún Laoghaire, that work has already well begun with collaboration between the council executive, the Garda through the joint policing committees and…

Tairgim: “Go léifear an Bille an Dara hUair anois." I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank my colleagues across this House for their participation today and for their expressions of support for this Private Member’s Bill. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, for being here this afternoon. I appreciate the encouragement and support of the National Women's Council of Ireland and Women for Election, which are supportive of this legislation. The current Article 15.11.1° of the Consti…

I thank the Minister of State and indeed all Deputies who came and participated in this debate. I greatly appreciate their interest, support and contribution. I especially thank them for the personal reflections they brought to the House. To reflect on one's own experience is not always an easy thing to do, particularly in a forum like this, but it does help tell those stories about why it is important. We tell the stories of our constituents, but to advance and evolve our democracy it is important to sometimes ref…

I, too, am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to these important statements today. They come at a moment of huge sensitivity for the island as we solemnly remember the victims of Bloody Sunday in Derry. It is also a sensitive time for the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and, it should be said, for the conduct of our co-guarantor of that agreement in relation to legacy and on the question of the protocol. I hope I will get to that issue. I am also a member of the Joint Committee on the Implementa…

This series of questions is about the response to the serious concerns arising from the experiences of members of the Defence Forces, particularly women. I acknowledge the Minister has given a detailed answer to Deputy Clarke already under Piority Questions. My focus is on the independence of the measure the Minister proposes, whether the chair will be free to write about the scale of co-operation she has received in her work, and the speed with which that can be done.

That is the key point for me, that she is free to express whether she has received co-operation. That is one of the key concerns around a statutory inquiry or otherwise. I ask the Minister to recognise, of course, in his capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, that today is Holocaust Memorial Day. It may have been marked by another Deputy in advance of me mentioning this. It is an opportunity to commemorate this event solemnly and the 6 million Jewish victims and other communities who were persecuted …