The issue is that while the response has outlined the contractual arrangements for the non-established offices, the reality is that DPER has acknowledged this is an issue. It is in the minutes of the national joint industrial council for State employees. It has acknowledged it is a complex issue and said it would engage with the WRC conciliatory process. We need progress on that because we have people who have 30 years' experience working as guides within the OPW and have no path of progression within the job they …

I thank the Minister of State for his attendance and responses.

I raise the concerning story that broke overnight about what appears to be the illegal retention of data by the Department of Social Protection. The report published by the Journal.ie today of an investigation carried out by Noteworthy.ie came on foot of a complaint made by Mr. Martin McMahon. It appears data on journeys undertaken by holders of free travel passes were held by the Department of Social Protection until 2020, when an order was given for the complete deletion of the database. This raises serious quest…

I welcome the Minister of State. I am delighted he is here to answer the question because it relates to the mid-Shannon wilderness park, which I am sure he is familiar with. The issue is Bord na Móna promised that once it had finished removing peat, the bog would be handed back to the community. After spending generations harvesting peat, the local community decided it wanted a network of bogs that would be turned into a wilderness park. This was supported by the Longford senior planner in 2013. Mr. Pádraic Fogarty…

I thank the Minister of State for clarity on when we will see the mid-term review, which was due in quarter 1 of 2022. I am concerned about the reference to the operator, if it intends to sell, charge or carry out any development, being required to provide substitute lands with equivalent benefits because this site is already proving its value. Even if the national peatlands strategy is a living document, principle 16 states "cutaway bogs that flood naturally ... be permitted to flood unless there is a clear enviro…

Does Senator Mullen want to speak? Has he indicated? No.

I wish to speak against amendments Nos. 2 and 3. On Committee Stage, we heard at length from Senator Mullen about how people wanted to pray outside hospitals and that we needed to respect their right to prayer. I pointed out to the Senator that the women were telling us they found those prayer vigils to be intimidating when they walked past them and that we needed to listen to the women and their experience of what they felt when they walked past those prayer vigils. I also said that we are always hearing how we ha…

I did not say I did.

It is Senator Mullen's supporters. He did not come in and defend us. He did not come in and contradict them.

He facilitated it.

Well said.

There was no allegation.

That is not what she suggested.

I would like to raise the issue of animal welfare, and not for the first time, in this Chamber. In the past week there have been two horrific cases of mutilated animals in south Dublin. A decapitated dog was found dumped in an apartment block bin shed and a couple of days later a decapitated cat was found in a green space in Ballyboden. I echo the calls of the DSPCA that anyone who has any information on what happened to these poor, unfortunate animals to come forward to An Garda Síochána. We cannot allow people wh…

I will be very brief. I also wish to raise the matter of the IPCC report. I particularly welcome the fact that the panel said that we cannot rely on unproven technologies such as carbon capture. That is very welcome. It is unfortunate that we are seeing the nature-based solutions presented by peatlands not being seized upon to the full extent possible. Bord na Móna's plans to put a wind farm in the Mid-Shannon Wilderness Park fly in the face of what we heard from the IPCC yesterday. I also welcome the fact that the…

I am another member of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action who listened intently to all of the discussion around carbon budgets and the climate Act. The Opposition played a very constructive role in improving that Act. One example is the just transition, which was not mentioned once in the original version. While the legislation did not go as far as we wanted, it is certainly an improvement on what was presented and that is what constructive opposition is all about. During the conversation on carb…

Before I say any more I want to quote the Republican Governor of Utah who said about the transgender community last week that, "Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few." It is important to put on the record that trans rights are human rights. Today I want to speak about the decarbonisation of our energy infrastructure and the importance of energy security. We know that our power system is undergoing an unprecedented transformation in order to decarbonise. However, the war in Ukraine has brought in…

I want to add my support for Senator Hoey's comments on blood donation. I agree that we must have a science-based policy approach. Last week I asked the Minister for Health to give confirmation of when we will move to the individual assessment approach but was just told that it would be by the end of this year. The Minister also needs to justify the use of a four-month rather than a three-month delay period and to explain the basis for same. I also want to raise another issue related to the health service, that is,…

Hear, hear.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I echo what others have said in condemning the completely outrageous actions by Russia. The war on Ukraine has certainly shone a spotlight on food production, not just in this country but also internationally. We are only at the tip of the iceberg of this food crisis. I am aware that officials are insisting that food available availability is not at stake in the EU, but they are conceding that food affordability for low-income households is. We are facing a situation where there will be…