It is indefensible.

The progress made is indefensible. It is crystal clear that the targets for house-building and social homes were not met last year. If it is so hard to be a landlord, why are one in five TDs landlords? Only eight Members of the Oireachtas are renting. There are 234 Members of the Oireachtas and only eight of them are renting, according to a survey in The Irish Times . The homeless figures are released every month. We know that the figures are much larger than what is reported in terms of hidden homelessness. More t…

I congratulate the two new TDs, Daniel Ennis in Dublin Central and Seán Kyne, our former Seanad colleague and Leader, on their elections. Comhghairdeachas agus beir bua. I wish them both well in the future. Of course, we now look forward to a by-election in the Seanad. I also want to congratulate Glasheen Boys' School in Cork city, which won the Sciath na Scol hurling championship. We are very proud of them in our local community and I congratulate the boys, their teachers and coaches as well. I want to raise the i…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. It is great to have this discussion here on such an important issue as student accommodation. When we talk about student accommodation, this is part of the wider housing crisis, but it is not just about housing. It is about access to education in general, be it further education, apprenticeships or higher education. It is also a question of the cost of living and of student poverty. This is so important. I know I always say it but I was the president of the Union of Students of Ireland …

I thank the Cathaoirleach. It is important to welcome the Cork guests in the Gallery, and Deputy McGrath. I welcome the Minister of State. I want to state unequivocally that I am opposed to this legislation. The Labour Party is opposed to this Bill. As has been mentioned, a number of our amendments have been ruled out of order. We got notification of that quite late. It is important to have it read into the record later as to why those amendments were ruled out of order. We are well aware of how important good trad…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. The Labour Party voted against this Bill in the Dáil and we will be voting against it here in the Seanad. We will certainly be putting forward amendments to it, which we hope we can have a fulsome debate on. Ultimately, we agree unequivocally on the need to have urgent action to tackle the infrastructure deficit in this country. Ireland's infrastructure deficit is certainly what makes this rich country feel poor for far too many. Many people are suffering because of this but we cannot p…

I will speak about AI smart glasses. We need more regulation in this area. This is something I raised at the Committee on Artificial Intelligence this morning. In Cork, we have recently seen a number of instances where women were filmed without their consent. One woman was filmed in her workplace and other was filmed in a very vulnerable position, receiving medical care. This is of great concern. Responsibility in these cases always lies with the person taking the image or the video. We need more regulation. Meta c…

I welcome the Aire Stáit. I firmly believe that sport does and can unite us all. It is so important that we promote inclusion in sport at all levels and for all types of sports, be it for women, disabled people, members of the Traveller community, those of different ethnicities and members of the LGBTQ+ community, of which I am one. It was great to join Na Laochra Aeracha in Cork in my late 30s recently and to go back to playing GAA after 20 years. It is an important club. Unfortunately, many clubs face barriers in…

I thank the Aire Stáit for that detailed response. It is really great to hear the statistics in relation to the gap closing between women's and men's participation. We absolutely need to continue that and to see more visibility and diversity in terms of reporting on sport in the media. We look forward to working with the Minister of State and the Department on this matter. I agree with Senator Ní Chuilinn in that we should have a full debate in the Seanad on the issue of sport and the recommendations contained in t…

I want to start by talking about how the world is seen through the eyes of a child. This was very illuminating to me recently. I was doing some school visits in Cork and visited a primary school in Crosshaven, where I spoke to some girls. I always ask pupils what they know about politics and who they know who is a politician. Of course, they all know Donald Trump, unfortunately, because of the attention paid to him in the media. My visit was shortly after St. Patrick’s Day and the Taoiseach had been to the White Ho…

This Bill is crazy. I really think the Government is selling the interests of the Irish people down the Swanee with this. As we have heard, the impact of it will affect future generation in terms of democracy, workers' rights and the environment. We have also heard of a potential impact in relation to housing in Ireland. For example, Canadian investment is already over-represented in our housing system. It is not difficult to imagine a situation where, one day, if we finally have a Government that invests properly …

Yes, and I am putting that on the record because I have serious concerns about this, as do many members of the public. We have all got thousands of emails in relation to this. I take it very seriously that the public have concerns about this. I think there needs to be more awareness in relation to it. In fairness, Senator McDowell made the point so cogently. Senator Higgins has been arguing against this since its inception. It is really important that we raise more awareness about the damages this will have if it i…

I raise the issue of cancer care in Ireland. This morning, it was extremely alarming to hear that 80% of the radiation therapy machines in the country need to be replaced within the next few years. Cork is an outlier here. We heard from Professor Aisling Barry, chair of radiation oncology at University College Cork, that currently the only plans to replace these radiation therapy machines are for Dublin. We heard from one patient recently who said that during their 25 appointments for treatment, the machine broke d…

I welcome the guests in the Gallery including my parents, Mary and Ted. It is their first time sitting in the Seanad Gallery. It is very welcome that the Minister of State and the Government are not opposing our motion. I commend Senator Noonan in particular on leading on this cross-party motion. I was blown away recently when I visited Wildlife Rescue Cork - I told the Minister of State about this - to see the work it does in rehabilitation and the number of animals it treats and allows back into the wild. They ri…

I thank the Minister of State for supporting this important motion. I acknowledge Wildlife Rescue Cork, who are in the Gallery, and Julie Cronin, who is here with Cathy and the whole team. I encourage the Minister of State to meet them and view the work they are doing. Patricia Stephenson's mother, Marga, is here too. There are a number of parents in the Gallery. It is clear that the Minister of State is committed to his role and to nature restoration. He is genuine and hard-working. It is appreciated. I know he to…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. This is a very welcome debate and we need to look at prison reform and alternatives. We need to be doing everything we can to keep people out of prison where possible. It is welcome to see more investment and emphasis on probation services as well. I will talk about a number of issues. First of all, when we talk about prison and people who are in prison, those with a history of addiction and drug use are the norm as opposed to the exception. People who have suffered with addiction are a…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I commend the Civil Engagement Group, CEG, on bringing forward this really important Bill. We need to ensure that it passes in full through the Oireachtas and I encourage the Government to support it today. It is extremely disheartening and, to be honest, angering to see the lack of follow-up action by the Government on the issue of illegal wars and the genocide that is happening in Palestine. I was hopeful we would see more action from the Government but, unfortunately, it has be…

I wanted to come in again to make a few more points on this. First, I want to break this down. We have weapons passing through Ireland’s airspace going into areas where there are illegal wars, war crimes and genocide happening. We are not doing everything in our power to stop that. That is what it breaks down to. We are not doing everything in our power to stop that. We have the power to carry out inspections, which are not happening. This needs to happen. As Senator Higgins said, this is about broadening it out. I…

I will share time with Senator Cosgrove. I expect her to be attending later on in the debate.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I do not doubt her commitment to her brief and progressing these matters but the pace of change is too slow. Some progress has been made. It was good to hear the Minister of State mention that we cannot work in silos. That needs to apply to the Government and Departments as a whole. At the disability matters committee earlier today, we heard people's lived experiences of feeling they are being passed around the houses from pillar to post when seeking support, be it by t…