I remind Members that we have until 6.10 p.m. for this debate, and that includes the ten-minute reply of the Minister of State. I therefore ask Members to be mindful of the time. I call Senator Kennelly.

We have four more speakers. I thank the Minister of State for accommodating them.

Our next speaker is Senator Sarah O'Reilly. I ask Senators to try to keep-----

Yes.

I am just conscious that it was agreed earlier today that we would end at 6.10 p.m., because there is another debate afterwards. That is what we are working towards because a previous debate ran over. To be clear, I am not trying to cut anybody off. I am asking people to be mindful of their contributions in the context of the time constraints.

I know the clock has been stopped for a while. Senator Cosgrove has one minute.

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I wish to talk about my amendment No. 38. It states: In page 26, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “Review of independent advocacy services 11. (1) The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, conduct a review of the provision of independent advocacy services to persons in receipt of mental health services, and shall cause a report on the review to be published and laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. (2) The review conducted u…

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I move amendment No. 234. In page 128, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “Review of Complaints Procedures 130. (1) Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall request the Commission to conduct a review of: (a) the procedures made by registered mental health services for dealing with complaints made by or on behalf of a person who is or was receiving any of the services or who is seeking or has sought any such service; (b) the effectiveness, timeliness and independence of such proc…

It feels as though I am banging my head off a brick wall when I am talking about housing and homelessness. It feels like Groundhog Day every month when new homeless figures are released on a Friday afternoon to avoid maximum media exposure. More than 17,000 people are recorded as homeless. Those represent lives on pause, lives stunted, children living in hotels and doing their homework on hotel floors and not being able to play with their friends. It involves shame for people that does not belong to them, as well a…

I also want to express my condolences to the family of the late Brian O'Shea, former Minister of State, TD and Senator, and particularly to his wife, Eileen, and his six children, Christine, Anne, Paddy, Siobhán, John and Mary. I am certain they are very proud of Brian's service to this State. He was a loyal member of the Labour Party for many years and contributed hugely to the country and to Waterford. He was a long-standing trade unionist. I offer my condolences to his family. I will raise two issues on the Orde…

I second the amendment.

They say that a week is a long time in politics. Certainly for the Government, the last week has been a game-changer in that it has lost credibility with many of the Irish people and just half an hour ago it lost one of its Ministers of State. A week is a long time. It is long time if you are living in poverty. A day is long time if you are living in poverty. One in five children in this country is living in poverty when housing costs are taken into account. That rises to over 40% for those renting. We are not prot…

I wish to raise two issues. First, statements relating to Bessborough are being taken in the Dáil today. A debate on this matter was previously requested for the Seanad by my colleague Senator Noonan. It would be great if we could seek to have such a debate. Second, the day before yesterday, the Government's new student accommodation strategy was launched by the Minister, Deputy Lawless. I have some concerns in relation to that strategy in the context of the over-reliance on private developers. In many ways, the st…

I concur with Senator Tully's comments. "Nothing about us without us" is a phrase people hear from many organisations advocating for disabled persons in Ireland. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 changed the outdated wardship laws for a modern Ireland. It was a stepping stone towards beginning to view disability from a social rather than a medical model, but I have serious concerns with regard to the current implementation of the Act and the proposed legislative changes we are discussing. There is a …

I also welcome my guests in the Gallery from the Cork Boat Club, Blackrock, Cork - Paul and Councillor Ciara O'Connor who are here as well. I agree with colleagues about the need to provide reporting in terms of this legislation. As part of this, I want to speak to amendment No. 272 but before I do that, I want to say that the use of the guillotine so frequently in the Dáil and Seanad is not just disappointing, it is quite alarming. We are here for a reason. As Senator Boyhan often says, we are a revising Chamber. …

I welcome the debate on this issue. It is always good for us to discuss political reform. It is an important debate to have. I am not in favour of a hard cap on the number of TD places. We need to absolutely ensure we are not reducing representation in any way in the ratio of TD to population. As mentioned earlier, we are quite unique in that our public representatives are very accessible and we need to ensure we keep it that way in terms of how the public can access us. If we were to look at this measure, it shoul…

Some 19,000 women and children passed through Bessborough in Cork when it operated as a mother and baby home. It only closed in 1998. This is part of our very recent history in Ireland. It is part of our past, it is part of our present and it is certainly part of our future as a country. About 10% of the women who were sent there were from County Kerry, where the Minister responsible for children, Deputy Foley, resides. This affected women all across Munster, including Cork and all throughout Ireland. I commend tho…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. In 2021, the then, and current, Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, when he was giving a State apology, said, “It is the duty of a republic to be willing to hold itself to account". He also said that we need to confront the truth and uncomfortable parts of our history. I wonder if those words were empty, because I believe much more action is needed to provide justice for survivors. Survivors need to be absolutely central to any decisions made regarding that site and what will …