I worked for many years in the agriculture sector.

It will be those sectors that will be most impacted-----

-----if we do not get climate action right. That is why we need a robust Bill.

I will not have untruths said about me. The Deputy has no-----

No, it is not the truth. You know nothing about me. You know nothing about my background. You know nothing about my professional experience. Do not dare stand there and say that you do.

You can spin whatever way you want, but do not say that.

I agree with my colleagues on the guillotining of Bills. I also object to the Order of Business on the basis that the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021 will be the subject of a very short debate. The Bill is being guillotined. Fundamental changes were made in the Seanad just last week and the legislation is now being rushed through. The changes and amendments that were made changed the Bill from being something that was meant to be science driven and evidence driven to something that i…

I am disappointed the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is not here today because my questions relate specifically to an interview he gave on Newstalk radio on 21 June with Kieran Cuddihy in which he stated very firmly and categorically that by the end of that day, there would be uniformity in how Covid restrictions were applied across the maternity hospitals. In particular, he said women would be able to have their partners with them during full labour, including from being induced right the way through. He was very clea…

The Minister of State's response contradicts what the CMO, the HSE and the Minister himself said that there were no health and safety reasons these restrictions should be in place. I know the Minister said he understands what women are going through but that these rules are in place to protect women. We need to stop treating women like children. In a week where we are debating the vaccine certificate, it is beyond belief that when a woman is vaccinated, and when her partner is vaccinated, she would still have go th…

I want to raise the issue of the Barndarrig "do not consume" water notice. I raised it on 20 May and on that day the Minister of State said Irish Water is installing equipment at the water treatment plant which will treat the water, reduce the nitrate compounds and safeguard the water supply. That was very good news because it meant that the "do not consume" notice which has been in place for 213 residents of Barndarrig since 9 February would be lifted. The Minister of State believed at that point that it would hap…

I thank the Minister of State. That is positive news and I am sure the people of Barndarrig will be pleased to hear of the progress. They have been incredibly patient and having a "Do not consume" notice during a pandemic has been incredibly difficult. Following our previous discussion, the people of Barndarrig were eager to see the notice lifted so the news is positive. The Minster of State has said there is monitoring equipment in place at the moment. Will the capital investment be in place in two months or will …

The Taoiseach may say that it is Government policy that the maternity restrictions have been uniformly applied across the country but that is not the case. I have reams of emails from women who state that within the last two weeks, they still have been unable to have their partners with them for their entire labour, they still have had to endure and go through the traumatic experience of miscarrying alone and they still have not received the support they need after caesarean sections when they have had to look afte…

The Taoiseach keeps on saying that it is sorted and it is not sorted. Those women are in there on their own.

What is the Taoiseach going to do about it? There is no point in standing in the Dáil and saying that he knows it is happening. He needs to do something about it.

I thank Deputy Bríd Smith for her work on this Bill. The Social Democrats are very aware of the many groups and individuals who have worked over many years on the issues raised in the Bill. There are many organisations involved and they have made a very convincing case in regard to protecting their pension rights. It is very clear that the groups behind this Bill want to ensure that the voice of pensioners is heard loud and clear when decisions are made which affect pensioners. These groups and organisations repres…

Despite all the promises and commitments from the Government and the Minister for Health on maternity restrictions, which are unfair, unethical and inhumane, they remain in place in hospitals around the country. Women still face their labour journey and suffer miscarriages without their support partners and deal with the after-effects of Caesarean sections without having supports in place. It is exhausting being a woman in this country. We have to fight again and again for things that should simply come as basic se…

Why are women still waiting?

After everything that women, past and present, have gone through in this country to defend the right to healthcare, it is an absolute fallacy to believe that it is possible for a privately-controlled hospital, built on Catholic lands and founded under a Catholic ethos, to provide healthcare that is based solely on medical science and that religious ethos will not influence it in any shape or form. The vote to repeal the eighth amendment could not have been clearer. Women and men in Ireland will not allow for their …

I want to raise the issue of the end-of-waste approval process. I am not sure whether the Taoiseach is familiar with it. It is the application process by which waste is taken by a company, processed and recycled and the company can then on-sell it. It is really the essence of the circular economy. There are 34 live end-of-waste applications with the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, at this time. Unfortunately, there is a huge backlog. Only one decision on an end-of-waste application was made in 2020 and four s…

The Taoiseach has just told Deputy Kelly to get real. The Taoiseach has to get real. The women of Ireland will not accept a maternity hospital that does not provide the full complement of healthcare services we need. The Taoiseach has said that he does not believe the governance is an issue. Is he aware that at the moment one cannot get IVF treatment or sterilisation procedures in St. Vincent's University Hospital? Why then does he believe that will change in the maternity hospital? There has been absolutely no ind…