I want to raise something I noticed last week. The National Ambulance Service was in before health committee last week to take questions. Its representatives stated, and it was reported in TheJournal.ie , that the service would be interested in having doctors going out with its crews. I found it quite amusing, considering there is a charity that works under the National Ambulance Service called CRITICAL which practises this. It has doctors on its books. The only difference is CRITICAL personnel are volunteers so th…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the all-island strategic rail review and to put on record the needs of Limerick and the greater mid-west when it comes to rail. I also welcome the all-island approach taken by the review. For far too long, transport planning has stopped at the Border, and too often it has actually stopped at the M50. For decades, successive Governments have presided over line closures, chronic underinvestment and a transport policy that overwhelmingly prioritised Dublin and its commuter belt. T…

I wish to start on a positive note. We had the announcement over the weekend of Ireland and, more important, Clare and Limerick winning the bid for EuroPride 2028. I congratulate those who went forward with the bid, including Limerick Pride, QuareClare and The Outing Festival, with the help of Shannon Region Conference and Sports Bureau, UL Events, Mayor John Moran, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. This is fantastic to get for the region. Not only will we have the Ryder Cup in 2027, they reckon that this event i…

I welcome the Minister. I have a specific query. I made the same query on the Order of Business earlier. It is not something that everybody would think of, but as a reformed smoker who uses a vape, it is definitely a bone of contention in my house. I gave up cigarettes seven years ago because I just could not afford to keep smoking as a result of the fact that the tax on cigarettes was increased every year. I switched over to vapes. A bottle of juice for the vape contains 10 ml and costs €5. As of 1 November, 50 ce…

I want to raise public transport, particularly in County Limerick. I have received a couple of emails from commuters in east Limerick who travel from Kilfinane to Colbert Station, which is the train station in the city. They travel from the east of the county to the city for work or college. I am informed that every day, there are between 70 and 80 people trying to get on a 52-seater bus. This means that at least 20 people are standing at a bus stop somewhere having to wait for the next one, which might not come fo…

I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for giving up her time to be here. In the past few weeks, Senators on this side of the House and across the floor have raised the lack of basic public transport services in our rural communities. I spoke on the Order of Business about the transport difficulties in rural Limerick caused by the lack of capacity and unsuitable times, but I could just as easily have been speaking about countless counties in Ireland. The story is the same everywhere: bus services do not exis…

I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. I thank my colleagues in the Independent Group for tabling this important motion forward, and especially Senator Craughwell for his heartfelt and to the point graphic, but needed, speech. It is great to hear the lived experience. I also welcome all those in the Gallery. The motion highlights what too many patients and family already know, which is that cancer services in the State are in crisis. The focus today is on head and neck ca…

I want to raise an issue concerning domestic abuse. I want to highlight that it is not just confined to what we can see. It is not just bruises, shouting or visible harm; it also includes financial control and economic abuse. The abuser restricts access to money, sabotages employment or leaves victims appearing financially stable on paper, whereas in reality they control all the finances. This form of abuse traps victims' independence and prevents them from seeking justice. Yet our legal aid system, the very system…

I thank the Minister of State very much. I am delighted to see this area is being looked at now. I have one request while it is being looked at and this is to take into account the fact that sometimes one party may be entitled to legal aid and the other is not. If that is the case and if proceedings are being drawn out by months and sometimes years, could this aspect be looked at again for that person who is not entitled to legal aid at the start to see if they may be entitled to it halfway through? The Minister of…

I raise the issue around the treatment of mothers and families who experience miscarriages. Too often women going through the most devastating moments of their lives are placed in the same wards or have to use the same entrances to the hospital as parents leaving with their newborn babies. It is an extra agony they have walking in to the hospital. For those grieving the loss of a pregnancy, it is an additional and unnecessary trauma. A mother who contacted me after her own loss felt unseen and said that she did not…

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for coming in. Across County Limerick and the wider region, we have seen a steady erosion of jobs, from Andersen Ireland a decade ago to Irish Dresden in 2021, Rettig in 2023 and, of course, Wyeth Nutritionals, which is closing next March. On top of that, last week we heard the announcement that Kostal in Abbeyfeale will be shutting down one of its sections, which could see up to 50%, that is, 200, of its jobs, being lost. It was confirmed that the company is moving tha…

I thank the Minister of State. This is great that it has not yet been announced to the Department but I have seen the internal emails to the staff. It is very important that the families of those who may be made redundant are looked after. However, if it does come to pass and 200 jobs are lost, I plead that the businesses in the area also be taken into account because of the loss of traffic that will be coming through and how the loss of those jobs will impact the wider community.

Today I want to raise an issue that happened last July. A town in County Limerick had severe rainfall within a very short space of time and flooding occurred. The local residents and businesses had been raising the potential for flooding for three or four years with the council and through their local TDs' offices. I do not know whether it fell on deaf ears or was just put on the long finger but nothing was done to the drainage system in the town. I acknowledge that since the flooding Limerick City and County Counc…

I echo what we have heard in welcoming Martin Hughes to his new role. Congratulations to him. I also thank Bridget Doody, who always had a welcoming smile on her face to put us at ease when we walked in. I hope she enjoys her retirement. Today I will speak about how our legal aid system can sometimes overlook victims of domestic violence. We must recognise the serious gap that exists in our current legal aid system. A victim of domestic abuse who is in employment can often find themselves excluded from free legal a…

I thank the Minister of State for being here this evening for what is a very important debate in this House. It is not spoken about very often and some might be afraid to speak about it, but it does need to be debated and we need to set the record straight on what is actually happening here in our wonderful country. At the moment, communities across Ireland are at breaking point. The Minister of State knows this himself from calls and emails to his constituency office. People are just at breaking point. Families ca…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I wish to discuss sport in the sense that it is not just elite sport we need to talk about, it is all sport. I wish to discuss one sport in particular, which is swimming. I spoke about this a couple of weeks ago here in the Seanad. Swimming as a sport is not just competitive. A swimming service has young and old people as beginners. It is there for physiotherapy and can be used for so much more than just competitive swimming. That is why it would be ideal to have publ…

I raise the issue of carer's payments in families where more than one person has qualifying care needs. As the Leader will know, carers currently receive half a carer's allowance on top of the full carer's allowance for any additional people they care for. Some families may have two, three or four children with qualifying additional care needs. Much of the time, the position of these families does not allow the person who is caring for those children to go to work, leaving the household with one wage. In the case o…

I will take amendments Nos. 19 and 46 together because they both speak to third-party observations. When a planning permission is paused, it can often be that many years have passed since the original planning permission was granted. There has to be some consideration for what might have changed within that time. There must be another opportunity for public participation in that part of the extension request. The State needs to be compliant when it comes to obligations under the Aarhus Convention, and the principle…

I move amendment No. 19: In page 11, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: “(e) The Minister may, by way of regulations, provide for third party observations for consideration by the planning authority to ensure compliance with the State’s obligations under the Aarhus Convention and the principles of good planning and development.”.”.

I will speak on amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 47. Like the rest of our amendments, this one is out of concern about public participation in all these changes. The Government's changes to apartment sizes are madness. They are a repeat of past failures and will not work. It is rushed legislation, which could be open to legal challenge down the line. Public consultation was skipped. This will most likely have unintended consequences. The Minister of State should have sat down with Opposition parties and gone throug…