It does of course. All Sinn Féin is doing is coming in here and throwing out the same old tired mantra. We have made the hard decisions, as we have had to do time and time again over the decades. We have made the intervention that the market said was correct, what the academics said was the correct thing to do and we have done it. We have not done it on the back of one of Eoin Ó Broin's books either. The review indicated the provision to reset rents between tenancies may see some rent inflation - we acknowledge tha…

Emotional.

The Senator is only cherry-picking the numbers now.

As we discuss privilege and the pros and cons on both sides, I am very taken by the debate. I think there are adequate safeguards there to protect it but I am reminded of the late Vincent Gill, a notorious journalist in Longford provincial papers in the 1950s, who was probably one of Senator McDowell's "yahoos". He was also an alcoholic who frequently had run-ins with An Garda Síochána. They got him barred from Granard one time and he decided to just publish a page of black ink that said "Granard at night". He had …

It is relevant to the amendment and also-----

I dealt with that at the outset and I am dealing with this issue now. It is relevant to all sections of the Bill. The recent Limerick court cases involving serving members of the force, which led to their unilateral acquittal, cast doubts on the decision-making of senior management at that time, as did the famed Athlone case, where a serving garda loaned a bicycle to an elderly man during the Covid era. These were not isolated cases and there are several instances of good rank-and-file gardaí being ostracised throu…

The court case has been dealt with and is a matter of public record.

I am well aware of that but it is a matter of public record.

What I am speaking about is relevant to morale within An Garda Síochána and giving gardaí additional powers.

It involves my genuine concerns and those of many others, including many people within An Garda Síochána, about morale within the force.

I will come back in at a later date.

I was unaware that Senator Keogan is such a renowned historian.

I want her to know the Fianna Fáil family is a very broad church. We have room and space in our party for everybody, even her, but obviously we did not have room for her gigantic ego. Leaving that aside, the Senator engaged in an outrageous diatribe against the Fianna Fáil Party. This party and all its members stand very proud of its achievements. My grandfather fought in the War of Independence, was subsequently imprisoned and went over and spent time in prison in the UK. He came back emotionally and mentally harm…

The Senator is an insult to women. If she had her way, we would have a marriage bar. We would not have women working. We would not have same-sex marriage in this country.

I am telling the Senator exactly how I feel. She engaged in a diatribe against every member of Fianna Fáil in this House.

She speaks for what she stands for in this House. All she stands for is bitterness and hatred, and all she seeks to do is sow division and hatred in this country.

Her only political ally is Donald Trump.

She made a charge against the members of Fianna Fáil the length and breadth of this country who had no opportunity to defend themselves. She came in here today, on a day when there are huge issues elsewhere, and used her valuable time to engage in an attack on the party that she could not force her way through to get a seat in Dáil Éireann. That is the only reason. It was a very personal and vindictive attack on people – the people who built this country and who brought us into Europe. The Senator spoke about this …

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I very much welcome the spirit of this motion. It would be remiss if at the outset, I did not acknowledge what Malcolm Noonan did in the lifetime of the last Dáil to raise awareness of this issue and to set in train a lot of the projects and initiatives we see under this current Government. It was with great foresight that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, was appointed to this role. It is fair to say that he is probably one of the most passionate people in g…

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