I would like to raise the issue of the crisis in the rental sector. We all know rents are way too high. The average rates across the State are €1,250 per month. In Dublin, average rents are €1,745 per month. New rents are even higher again. In Dublin Bay South, a new two-bed apartment can cost between €2,500 and €3,000 per month. How on earth can working people afford these kinds of rents? Even people in good jobs are struggling. The financial burden that renting is putting on hundreds of thousands of renters is en…

I welcome the Minister of State. I will also speak in support of amendment No. 58, from Senators Higgins, Ruane, Black and Flynn, on the importance of the Aarhus Convention. It is well known that in Ireland we are very poor at engaging with the public in consultation and having access to information. I hope we can get to my amendment No. 112 on banning the importation of fracked gas. An example of the application of the Aarhus Convention is the fact that the Attorney General says we cannot ban the importation of fr…

On a point of order------

I presume it is my absence from the House last Friday that is being discussed and that it somehow shows I am not committed to the climate Bill.

I will speak to the amendment.

On amendment No. 59, the example I gave is a perfect example of why we need to include reference to the Aarhus Convention in the Bill. We are not compliant with the convention because we are not allowing people access to information on the environment. It was an example to outline that need and what I said in my contribution was completely relevant.

We tabled amendment No. 65, which seeks to address this specific-----

I will wait until we get to No. 65.

I move amendment No. 65: In page 12, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following: “(c) in subsection (8), to delete “A Minister of the Government shall, in the performance of his or her” and substitute “The Government and a Minister of the Government shall, in the performance of his or her or its”.”. I echo what Senator Higgins outlined and will set out our concerns and our rationale for putting in this amendment. It is on the back of the High Court finding that the Government was not a relevant body. There wa…

I will be brief, as Senator Higgins has covered many of the points I was going to make. The Minister of State has made the case as to why this amendment is essential. Nobody would want to take the Government to court. We would rather the Government do what it signed up to do in legislation but, unfortunately, the reality is that citizens have had to hold Governments to account. The Minister of State would have supported the climate case and it had a very successful result. It proves that taking the Government to co…

Sometimes it can feel like Groundhog Day in Ireland because every time we take a leap forward and become a more open and progressive society for our people, and especially our women, we seem to get dragged back to an Ireland of the past. That is what it feels like to stand here and have to make the case for why the national maternity hospital must be publicly owned and, more important, publicly controlled. If we do not learn from our past then we will repeat its mistakes. Nobody is denying that the church in Irelan…

I raise the latest daft.ie and myhome.ie house price reports released today because they made for very depressing reading. House prices have increased by 13% in the past year with people now paying an average €34,000 more for a home than last year. In Dublin, average prices now range from between €350,000 and €600,000. Of course, Covid has had some impact on supply but Government policy is also to blame. The help-to-buy scheme fuelled house-price inflation and the proposed shared equity scheme will simply add fuel …

I second the amendment.

I second the motion.

I commend the USI and the Opposition in the Dáil on the improvements that they have made to this Bill. We in Sinn Féin support the Bill but it is disappointing that the Minister has not taken this opportunity to help renters even more. The problem with the protections that he is extending, through this legislation, is that many vulnerable tenants, including those affected by Covid, do not fit the criteria for the protections and will be excluded. Now that level 5 restrictions on evictions, relating to the 5 km trav…

I wish to remind people that this is Pride month and we should never forget that the first Pride was not a parade but a protest. While Pride is for many rightly a month to celebrate, and businesses have increasingly joined in the celebration of LGBTQI rights, the fight for full equality and justice continues. In some federal states in the US and in EU countries we have seen a rise in anti-LGBTQI legislation. Closer to home, we have witnessed online attacks on gay politicians, the repeated burning of the Pride flag …

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Everyone would admit that this is incredibly important legislation and is probably one of the most important Bills we will pass this year. It is long overdue and successive governments have been rightfully referred to as laggards. I take exception to Senator McDowell's point that Ireland's actions would be minuscule. He did not acknowledge that Ireland's climate emissions are 50% higher than the EU average and yet other EU countries have managed to successfully transition. The absence o…

I raise the delay in implementing a national autism empowerment strategy. The issues affecting autistic children and adults are long-standing. Families, children and adults have had to battle for years for basic rights and entitlements. On World Autism Day 2019, my colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Funchion, secured unanimous support for her motion calling for a national autism strategy. That motion caused for an all-party Oireachtas committee to be established and to produce a national strategy. Ireland is one of the …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the right to housing because Sinn Féin has long supported such a referendum. A referendum has been discussed by committees for years and now a motion is being discussed in the Seanad. I respectfully suggest it would be a better service if we could see the legislation promised in the programme for Government to deliver a referendum on the right to housing. The idea of a referendum has been discussed for long enough. The housing crisis is at breaking point. There is no indication…

I raise the Government's announcement that the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, will be reduced by €50 from September. The principle behind the creation of the PUP was sound. As long as the Government imposed barriers in the form of public health restrictions preventing people from working, then there would be supports for people to get by. However, many people will be anxious this morning having woken up to the news their supports will be cut, despite the restrictions persisting. There were many sound bites fro…