I will make this shorter, then. This is a somewhat surreal experience for me. For over ten years, I have been party-political, and that period has seen a polity in the North in which we have faced significant challenges. Therefore, it is welcome to see a budget that is very progressive. I would push back on some of the earlier commentary to the effect that it does little to help the most vulnerable. This budget is focused on the most vulnerable, and we will see its impact on people's household incomes and on those …

I formally second the proposal.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. I thank my colleagues for their good wishes for next week's election in the North. The UK is one of only two places in Europe that uses the first-past-the-post electoral system, the other being the well-known liberal democracy of Belarus. I formally second my colleague, Senator Martin's amendment to the Order of Business today.

My apologies that I missed the start of the debate. Forgive me if some of the issues I raise have already been flagged. I want to push back a little on the language we have heard already today. I have a concern that those who often champion our position and use the language about the safety of children have an underlying ideological agenda. Senator Seery Kearney has already clearly articulated that point. It is a ruse. It is well established in terms of our evidence around child well-being and safeguarding. We know…

I will wind up my remarks and come back in later.

I will push back on that a little. I appreciate what Senator Keogan said on fostering. However, the reason we have a higher bar for fostering is not just that it involves children but because they are vulnerable children. That is why we do that piece of work. Not every child who is born necessarily becomes vulnerable. Children are born in safe, loving, supportive, caring and nurturing environments, and we want to create more of those. We want to create circumstances in which more and more of our children are in tho…

I, too, commend the Bill. My colleague's impassioned plea at the end of his contribution suggests the scale of how we need to shift culture. I will talk a little about that. In 2023, more than 40,000 disclosures of abuse were made to Women's Aid, of which 35,000 concerned abuse against women and almost 5,000 concerned abuse against children. That is a marked increase of 18% from 2022. In 2022, An Garda Síochána received 53,737 calls to respond to domestic abuse incidents, a 9% increase. In the same year, 23,536 app…

I have listened carefully to the debate thus far. We in the Green Party approach this issue on a humanitarian basis. Senator Higgins has articulated the reality of the crisis of people dying in the Mediterranean and how the EU and certain member states along the southern European coast have not responded in any way appropriately to that crisis. It is a challenge. We live in an increasingly unstable world, with challenges in regard to climate change exacerbating situations in which people must flee famine and climat…

I wish to raise a matter of deep disappointment. A news story has broken in the North that the Sinn Féin finance Minister, Caoimhe Archibald, MLA, has rejected all climate change funding bids from her ministerial colleagues - every single one of them. We await the detail of those bids from freedom of information, and we know about the perilous state of finances in the North and, of course, the terrible climate-biodiversity record of the Northern Ireland Executive parties. It is easy, and it is often their refrain, …

I thank the Minister, Deputy McGrath. I support this Bill, which I am delighted to see coming before the House. The old adage of fixing the roof while the sun shines comes to mind, but we are not just doing that. We are also putting the money away so that we can buy the tools if there is a leak in a roof that we are unable to fix in the future. People often make the accusation that politics is short-termist or fixed around election cycles and that politicians tend to be profligate when we have a surplus. It is good…

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I am minded that we are speaking to some specific amendments. What I heard a great deal today, and in previous debates I listened to around these issues, is that this feels like a rehash of almost a decade ago. I will be clear on the record that I trust women and pregnant people every time to make their own decisions. What is interesting about Senator Mullen's contributions so far today are the repeated references to referendums but not to the pertinent referendum that is tangential to th…

I propose a change to the Order of Business. I wish to request that we delay by 50 minutes. I am not sure if the Standing Orders allow us to do that with Private Members' business.

I will keep it short. I am delighted to see this Bill pass the Report and Final Stages. I am very proud the Green Party played its part in securing the programme for Government commitment so that on the entire island of Ireland we will now end the campaign of harassment and intimidation against women and pregnant people who wish to seek reproductive and sexual healthcare services. I am delighted to see the Green Party is doing something similar in Scotland. The future should be that women and pregnant people will b…

I second the motion.

I thank my colleagues for sharing time. I am delighted to take a few moments to speak to the motion. Our specifics asks are clearly articulated in it. I will touch on some of them in a few minutes. A Chamber just up the road had a very similar debate on Monday. If that is not all-island synergy then I do not know what is. It is great to hear. The lead proposer of that motion was Robbie Butler of the Ulster Unionist Party, whom I met a long time ago with a different hat on, talking about mental health and well-being…

I welcome the ambassador and our esteemed guests from Estonia. In my inauguration speech, I said that I wish to be a Senator for all and that I want to amplify voices in the North. The voices I will talk about today are those of people who have experienced drug deaths and of their families. Yesterday, the Northern Ireland Assembly debated a motion on drug deaths, but it was poor and vacuous and did not address the root cause of the issues or use radical measures to address the issue. When I say "radical" I do not m…

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Dia daoibh, Seanad Éireann. I thank everybody, the staff, the Senators, the elected Members and their staff, who have made me feel exceptionally welcome over the last few days. I am delighted to be here. I thank my Green Party colleagues for the nomination and other parties that, as Senator Boyhan noted, did not contest the election. I believe people saw the importance of replacing one Northern voice with another. I pay tribute to the former Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile. On his r…