Last week our radio waves and newspapers were flooded with life stories and lived experiences of the survivors of the mother and baby homes and their accounts of loss and trauma, sadness and anger. The stories were very difficult to listen to and I cannot even begin to imagine what it was like to have lived and be still living through it. I hope that telling those stories helped even a little bit. This has certainly gone some way to helping us, as a nation, understand what many had to suffer in the name of our Stat…

The publication of the report into the mother and baby homes marks a hugely important point in our country's history and the path towards justice for all our citizens. While the women and children in the homes and institutions have never had any doubt about the abuses and horrors that took place behind their doors, this report now brings together many of their stories and lived experiences and lays them bare for us all to see. The injustices and horrors that were forced on women by the hands of the State and the ch…

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, is a mixed agreement which means that there can be multiple components. In this case there are two components - the trade component, which is in operation since 2017 and will continue in operation, and the investor courts component, which is the bit that is highly controversial and about which there are concerns that it will lead to an undermining of governments' ability to make decisions on behalf of their people in case they get sued for future profits. The in…

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement by ourselves, the EU and 193 states. It would have been really nice to have been able to celebrate this anniversary and for us to be able to stand tall as a nation and say that we had taken our climate obligations seriously, met the relatively low targets that had been set for us and shown leadership in this regard. Instead we are here to approve a paper exercise - a sleight of hand that essentially is just us pretending we have met the tar…

A constituent of mine from Wicklow has to present himself tomorrow for deportation. It is two weeks out from Christmas, we are in the middle of a pandemic and this man has lived in the country for 14 years contributing to his community during that time. It is inhumane to deport someone after 14 years of living somewhere. Unfortunately, he and many others are being caught in this limbo land between an old system that we all agree is not fit for purpose and the Government has committed to reform and those reforms bei…

The recent debates about the mother and baby homes situation brought into stark reality how important it is to have clarity on data protection, what rules will apply and who will be applying them to ensure we have a data protection system that is fit for purpose and has the needs of the survivors at its heart. To what extent has the Minister sourced and consulted international and national independent law and data privacy advisers in advance of the publication of the mother and baby homes report? If he has not done…

I thank the Minister for his response. I am pleased to hear that he has already made contact with experts. He mentioned that the Attorney General has given advice in regard to data protection. Previously, there was confusion as a result of the advice from different Attorneys General in regard to data protection. It is important to have clarity in this regard. Survivor groups have expressed concern that there be adequate consultation with the international experts on this matter. My understanding is that the groups …

Everyone wants to see the survivors being central to all the decision-making that happens from now on. Many of them were traumatised by the recent debates. It is really important that survivors do not feel they must fight for access to data concerning their own histories. I ask that the Minister keep that consideration to the fore of all his decisions as he moves forward on this matter.

This has been a very long and difficult year for many people, particularly our healthcare workers including nurses and midwives. They essentially put their lives and the lives of their families on hold and put themselves at risk to look after our vulnerable. This week the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland sent out a retention fee bill for €100 to every nurse and midwife in the country. Our thanks should go further than a clap on the back for these staff and in that context, does the Taoiseach agree that the af…

As per my colleague's request, I wish to state that I have no connection with the greyhound industry. The LauraLynn Foundation, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, the Parkinson's Association of Ireland, Dementia Ireland, the Samaritans, SpunOut, the Irish Red Cross, Pieta House and the Rape Crisis Centres all provide invaluable services to many vulnerable people. They also all receive less money from Government than the greyhounds receive on an annual basis. The LauraLynn Foundation is the hospice that provides supp…

I campaigned closely with parents of very sick children and with the Connolly for Kids group against the location of the national children’s hospital at the site at St. James's Hospital. It is frustrating to see that many of the concerns we raised at the time are coming to fruition. These concerns were relayed to the Tánaiste and to the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, unfortunately to no avail. Our calls and concerns were ignored. It is now clear that this project is a runaway train. Does the Tánaiste agre…

Should the Minister for Health intervene in this project to ensure there is a control on the cost and the project is delivered as intended?

The programme for Government contains a commitment to the phasing out of fur farms. This this is very welcome because there are obvious ethical and environmental reasons for doing so. However, recent reports from across Europe of Covid being found on mink farms and the very worrying reports from Denmark where there appears to be a mutant version of the coronavirus having spread from mink to humans indicate there is a much more urgent need to ban mink farms in Ireland. Will the Taoiseach move immediately to legislat…

Some of the previous contributors spoke about fisheries and the fact that fish do not know about borders. I absolutely agree. I worked for the Marine Institute many moons ago. I spent maybe a night and week at sea on research boats out of Northern Ireland and mainland England. I worked on collaborative projects. They were EU-funded and looked at our fisheries as a shared resource. It is incredibly sad that we are at this point and that such collaboration may no longer be possible or feasible. Discussions on Brexit …

I thank the Minister for being here and Deputy Matthews for sharing his time. The central issue in this situation is the fact that there is a brand new school building in Charlesland in Greystones that is unable to open. The building was to be a rapid build programme that was meant to take ten months and open in 2019. It was delayed until 2020 and now the building is sitting there empty. The parents and school staff have no real understanding as to what is happening with the school. Public representatives for the a…

Unfortunately, the Minister gave a non-answer following a litany of non-answers from the Department on the issue. The children, their parents and the staff are getting frustrated. Everyone needs to plan. Two schools are waiting to hear what is happening with that new build. They are putting off enrolment. A number of children will not get places next week when admissions are confirmed. It is not fair to the staff that they cannot plan. Far too many children are reliant on this building. I ask the Minister to get he…

The collaborative forum of survivors from the mother and baby homes was established by the then Minister, Katherine Zappone, in July 2018, primarily to act as a consultation and engagement group for the mother and baby home issue. Recent weeks have been very difficult for the group. It was not consulted at all during the preparation of the mother and baby home legislation. It has written to all Members of the Dáil today to express its frustration and anger at that. Survivors have said that they feel that trust has …

I do not know whether to be horrified by the Minister's admission that he will not accept any of our amendments today or to be thankful for his honesty as we all now know where we stand and that this debate is purely an academic exercise. What we say, no matter how powerful, critical or constructive it is, will not be incorporated in the Bill or considered. That reflects to a large extent the process that has applied to this legislation. The Bill has been rushed, without the pre-legislative scrutiny that it and the…

I do not know if the Minister gets the sense from the Chamber today that there is a real sadness here. As the previous speaker said, there is a sinking feeling because we know the clock is ticking and that nothing is going to change, whatever efforts we make. There is an inevitability that those women are going to be let down again and that their histories and their information will be put beyond their reach. It is an incredibly unfortunate, disappointing and shameful thing that will happen today. I want to have an…

I believe the Minister's intention is as he says. When he says that he is going to try to resolve this in the way that the survivors want, I believe that he will try. I believe it will be difficult for survivors to put trust in the Minister as a part of the State and a member of an institution such as this. What I would prefer to see is for this Bill to be somehow amended to give extra time. I mentioned before that the Minister's amendments allow for the dissolution of the commission to happen on 28 February. My un…