I have no problem there, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. I take the point. It is a difficult one to get 100% correct. Senator Malcolm Byrne raised the issue of the boil water notice in Wexford town. There was 11 days of a boil water notice there. I recall that the Senator raised the issue in respect of Gorey last year in that E. coli situation. It is no secret that Irish Water is in need of additional funding. It is certainly worthwhile to have a debate on its role and the work it needs to do. We will request through the Min…

I wish both teams the best of luck and hope they enjoy the game. It is great to see cross-Border sporting engagements with younger people promoting mental health on the island. It is a fantastic event and there should be more of that. When a football is put on the ground anywhere in the world, people know what to do with it so it is a really great leveller. It is lovely to see those events going ahead. I also concur with the Senator's remarks on the P&O workers.

I move: That the proposal that Seanad Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Data Protection Act 2018 (Section 60(6)) (Office of the Ombudsman) Regulations 2022, a copy of which was laid in draft form before Seanad Eireann on 11th March, 2022, be referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, in accordance with Standing Order 71(2)(b), which, not later than 26th April, 2022, shall send a message to the Seanad in the manner prescribed in Standing Order 75, and…

The Order of Business is No. 1, Sea-Fisheries (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021, Committee Stage, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to adjourn at 2.30 p.m., if not previously concluded; No. 2, statements on the credit union sector, to be taken at 2.30 p.m. and to conclude at 4 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed seven minutes, all others Senators not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to b…

Senator O’Loughlin opened the Order of Business this morning and spoke about the situation in Ukraine, as did many colleagues. Senator Moynihan put it very well when she said it is very difficult to discuss other items of business, given what is happening in Ukraine. It dominates all of our thoughts and hearts in the work that we are doing. Senator O'Loughlin made a particular point around Poland not charging people from Ukraine to travel on trains which is a great act of generosity. In contrast, she also spoke abo…

At the outset, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, namely, that No. 22 be taken before No. 1. I also join with the Leader's remarks with regard to the late John A. Murphy. I also want to extend our condolences on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group to Senator Paul Daly on the passing of his father, Seán Daly, to the Senator's mum and Seán's wife, Mary, and to the extended family. The funeral took place this morning. On behalf of our grouping, we extend our condolences to Senator Daly and his family. Today …

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Criminal Justice Act 1993, to amend the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and to provide for related matters.

Next Tuesday.

I commend Amnesty International on the publication of this report and the immense amount of work that went into researching it, backing up its findings and recommendations, and bringing to the fore an extremely serious situation in the occupied territories and in Israel. The authors of the report understood the gravity of the wording they were using. I do not believe they put pen to paper without thinking long and hard about the implications of the wording used. Given the meaning and the definition of apartheid and…

Now.

A lot has been said about this Bill between Second Stage and Committee Stage. I will not go over old ground, but will take the opportunity once again to thank Eve McDowell and Una Ring for their work in campaigning on this issue. They were undeterred. When they started this campaign it was not easy for them, but despite dealing with and recovering from their ordeals they very bravely took on the task of trying to bring about change to our laws, which is never easy to achieve. It was an honour and a privilege to wor…

The Leader will be aware, as will other Members, that recently the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, announced that there would be a new scheme in place for childcare in this country and the Government has announced core funding for the childcare sector. The Minister is due to publish specific guidelines for the sector that private and public providers will be required to engage with in order to receive this core funding. I understand the Minister is working on thi…

I thank the Senator for her proposed amendment. She and I had a conversation about this matter earlier, and I understand what she was trying to achieve. I assure her, however, that subsection 2(a) adequately deals with the "repeated" behaviours required. It is a similar word to “persistent”, so I am confident the Bill does what we need it to do, and I hope the Senator’s concerns have been allayed. The Bill was drafted in conjunction with Stalking Ireland and the co-founders of that organisation, Una Ring and Eve Mc…

I would like to make some comments, if the Cathaoirleach will grant me some latitude.

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. This is a more positive experience than when we took Second Stage of this Bill last September. I am pleased to have brought this legislation to the House to make the offence of stalking a stand-alone crime in Irish law, which is currently not the case. Members will be aware from the contribution I made last September that I believe this Bill is necessary because the current law in this regard is inadequate and insufficient to cover the sinister and serious nature of stalking, …

On Wednesday, 9 February 2022.

The Minister opened very well when she spoke about the very tragic passing of Ashling Murphy and what that has done for our country in uniting all of us in the joint approach to tackle now the scourge of violence against women in this country. There are many issues to be tackled, not alone in the legislation but also, as I mentioned earlier today, the wraparound services and how we deal with victims when they take that brave step to come forward. I raise directly with the Minister the experience of Councillor Deird…

The education piece will be key. I know the Minister will have to work cross-departmentally with the Minister for Education on this. Much responsibility is placed on our teachers' shoulders in terms of how they are supposed to do everything at this particular age. It is really important at a young age, particularly when a person is coming into his or her teenage years, that we teach young boys, in particular, but also young girls about consent, bodily integrity and respect for one another. I am not sure that the cu…

The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on the roll-out of broadband, to be taken at 1.30 p.m. and to conclude at 3.30 p.m., with the opening contribution of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, those of group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes, those of all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and the Minister to be given not less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 2, statements on the final report on the impacts of Brexit of the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the …

I thank Members for contributing to the Order of Business. The Order of Business kicked of with Senator Seán Kyne raising the issue of the Passport Office. There are ongoing delays but we would expect there to be a greater demand. A number of other Members, including Senator Malcolm Byrne and others, raised a similar issue around passports, as did Senator John Cummins, in terms of passports for children. A debate with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has been requested. We have not yet received a reply from his office…