I want to reference in the short time I have this morning connections, economic and cultural, between us and Japan. Economically, Japan is our second biggest trade partner in the Pacific area, with an annual import-export of over €21 billion, a not inconsiderable amount. However, it is mainly the cultural connections between the two countries that I want to advert to, in particular with regard to a great Irish-Japanese personage called Lafcadio Hearn. Lafcadio Hearn would be unknown to many people in this House and…

Badly.

Unfortunately I was not here for Senator's Ryan's contribution, which I am picking up from subsequent speakers was poignant and harrowing. Agus é sin ráite, tá fadhb agam leis an leasú seo. I have a couple of problems with the language in this amendment. In this country the legal definition of a "child" is anyone up to the age of 18. I also have a problem with the use of the word "shall" in the amendment. I am going to paint for the House a brief scenario of a father effecting domestic violence against his partner …

Is aoibhinn liom an tAire Stáit a fheiceáil arís agus é anseo in ionad an Tánaiste agus Aire Cosanta ag déileáil leis an Ní i dTosach Suíonna inniu, rud atá an-tábhachtach dúinn sa Teach seo agus sa tír. Since my election to this House, I have frequently made contributions urging our Government to seriously address our practical and moral responsibility for the protection of our treasured democratic way of life in Europe. It must be clear to all in this House and in the country at large that this is incrementally u…

I thank the Minister of State for his input. Is he familiar with a deal that was made with the French armaments company called Thales for a towed sonar device to be towed along after our naval vessels? As I was saying in the House last week, any skipper from Killybegs or Dunmore East will say that towing anything at sea is a pretty dodgy business. If they are towing something that is as precarious as looking after undersea cables or gas lines, those tow smart ropes, as they are called in the industry, are particula…

This motion is very timely in that it address the géarghá mór i stádas na fiaclóireachta atá sa tír seo. There is a big crisis in dental care across the country. As a former primary school principal, even when I was in the classroom, I noted year on year a deterioration in the level of service that children got from the school dental service. At this stage, many children go through primary school and do not get to visit a dentist at all or are not seen at all. On my travels, I have noticed that the state of the den…

I second it.

I will not detain the House long but I have a few impassioned remarks to make in support of the amendment and Senator Clonan. We have an old expression, san áit a bhfuil toil ann, tá slí ann. Members will all know it as, where there is a will, there is a way. There is a way here. My schoolboy Shakespeare brings me back. Senator Clonan asked whether we had it in our hearts. There were a couple of lines in Julius Caesar where there was an imploration to the citizens of Rome: You blocks, you stones, you worse than sen…

I am happy to be speak on these conjoined motions. The Minister of State went through the genesis of the Special Criminal Court and the Offences Against the State Act. I understand that many in the House will probably consider the two Acts under discussion as legal anachronisms. In terms of combating national and international terrorism, however, they are both still relevant and necessary. I say that with the say-so of the remainder of our group. The 2025 report on the operation of the Offences Against the State (A…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as bheith anseo chun déileáil leis an Commencement matter. From his own area, I am sure the Minister of State will be well familiar with the BAM project, an initiative that was introduced for financing school developments. It began in 2012 and was modelled largely on the UK's private finance initiative, PFI, which was begun in 1992 under John Major's Government and whose use was expanded significantly by the Blair Government. Just as the system in Ireland was being rolled out in …

Even though it is over 50 years old, I am sure the Minister of State is well aware of legislation that was enacted in 1972 called the Restrictive Practices Act. I draw particular attention to the Third Schedule, which reads: Any measures, rules, agreements or acts, whether put into effect (or intended to be put into effect) by a person alone, in combination or agreement (express or implied) with others or through a merger, trust, cartel, monopoly or other means or device whatsoever, which— [...] (d) unjustly enhanc…

It is gratifying to note that a recent announcement from the Minister for Defence is the harbinger of a contract with Thales to supply a sonar detection facility for the Irish Naval Service. The lack of this has been pointed out routinely by Members in this House and I am sure our urgings have hastened that initiative. We often hear the cliché "it's just a sticking plaster" that will only last a short while. In this case, that might be a bit ambitious. A wet sticking plaster might be more appropriate because it wil…

Cuirim fíorfháilte roimh an Aire, atá anseo anocht i measc na hoibre tábhachtaí atá idir lámha aige i láthair na huaire agus a bheidh ag dul ar aghaidh sa todhchaí. Gabhaim míle buíochas leis as sin. Balanced regional development is akin to what I think is virtue. We all claim to aspire to it but what results is often a sullied product born of self-interest and displaying little that is manifestly virtuous. It is an inescapable truth that all countries are the jealous possessors of a piece of national confectionery…

Is údar aoibhnis é dom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire. Gabhaim buíochas léi as teacht chuig an Teach inniu agus as an ráiteas a thug sí ag tús na díospóireachta seo. Some years ago, when I was a student teacher in St. Patrick College in Drumcondra, out of complete serendipity I came across a journal article. I cannot remember the headline, but it was something like "Defeating the subculture of poverty". I read through it and, of all the articles I read in my time in the college, it made the most impression on me. It t…

When I look at what is there in the teaching force - it is no fault of theirs - in many primary schools, I see teachers who are trying to deliver the national language, athbheochan na Gaeilge a chur ar aghaidh, and teach Gaeilge but, go feidhmiúil, tá siad neamhliteartha, they are effectively illiterate in the language. It is shocking but that is where we are at. We will never make an impression on the Irish language if we have people going into the teaching force who got a grade C in the leaving certificate in Gae…

I want to address an issue that has cropped up only in the past number of weeks on foot of a very kind and gracious invitation I got from the American Embassy to attend its Independence Day celebrations on the eve of Independence Day, which is coming up next month. Ordinarily, it would have been an invitation that I would have been delighted to accept, particularly as a new Senator. In view of the circumstances, however, I felt obliged to write the following letter to the chargé d’affaires: Dear Mr. Clausen I want …

I will begin by addressing the several truckloads of words that have been used in this Chamber and in the other House with regard to the horrific happenings in the Middle East over the past couple of years. The problem in that regard, as it is manifested in parliaments and societies all over the world, is that we somehow get inured to the sufferings of people in the Middle East. It almost anaesthetises us from the horrific state of affairs there. In respect of our own performance as a country and a sovereign nation…

As a Senator who was elected to the House from the cultural and educational panel, I want to delineate a happening in the last while that shows there is a crossover between politics and culture. The occasion was the winning last week of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival by Jafar Panahi, an Iranian director who gathered all the laurels at the festival for a film called "It Was Just an Accident". It outlined his experience in detention in Iran. The film also centres on the confrontation by five victims of to…

I extend the House's welcome to my Déise Oireachtas colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy John Cummins. Only in the previous two hours, I received an email from one of my councillors but I will not say where. She gave me permission to use part of it in the debate this afternoon. I am using it in anonymised fashion and I will redact some of it. It states: Dear Senator Conway, thank you for contacting me but this situation has been a real shock to me [she is talking about the lack of remuneration during time off f…

I will make a few observations on our status as an island nation and do a small comparison between us and New Zealand, which is a country that has roughly the same population and the same demand on connectivity we have. I am somebody who is based in the south east, which is the only region that does not have a regional airport. I will contrast that with New Zealand, which has 28 regional and international airports on its two islands. Many of those double up as civilian and military facilities. We have a great diffi…