I move amendment No. 3: In page 5, to delete lines 30 and 31, and in page 6, to delete lines 1 and 2 and substitute the following: “(2) Within three months of the passing of this Act the Minister shall lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report setting out the impact of the new national rent control provisions contained in section 8 on homelessness and in particular on family homelessness.”.

We are talking about the Bill the Minister has brought forward, which will cause many more problems and hike up the price of rent. Can the Minister tell people that it will not hike up the price of rent? No, he cannot. He deflects. Sinn Féin is not in power; the Minister is in power.

Will the Minister actually talk about the Bill and stop deflecting?

The Minister is talking about everything but the Bill.

On a point of order-----

Yes, talk about your amendments, Senator.

Can I speak first?

Yes.

I am going to speak about a number of amendments put forward. I am going to choose to ignore the deflection from the other side. I want to ask specific questions on the amendment. To be fair, the Minister has done a lot of deflection here this morning as well. Every time I have asked a question, I have not got an answer. I want to talk about County Laois. It is my constituency and where I know best. I have a voice for those people. We agree that this is a market reset from 1 March. Before then, it was only possible…

I pay my respects to former Senator and councillor Larry Butler, a respected local figure. Many who knew him, including all political colleagues and local residents, tell us he was a complete gentleman who was kind and always ready to help. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues in Fianna Fáil. I also pay my respects to a young man named Evan Power from Portarlington in County Laois who sadly passed away unexpectedly. Evan was a fantastic advocate for disability rights, a member of our local branch of the …

I will keep it to the amendments we are discussing at the moment. We do not agree with this legislation. We do not agree with something that will bring up the price of rent for people who are already to the pin of their collar. When we discussed this legislation at the housing committee, even when we had the experts in, a large number of typos had to be corrected. It was described as the most confusing legislation to have come before us. There are so many different categories of rent for so many different people. I…

Laois is there.

Increased over the year, yes.

I thank the Minister of State. I want to come back in on the amendment because I am confused. I know the Minister of State said he thought it should be ruled out of order. I think it was accepted that it was a valid amendment. Perhaps the Minister of State could explain it to me more clearly. What we are seeking is the deletion of a section and the insertion of a section that we are requesting to have a report after three months so we can get analysis. Will the Minister of State clarify that point? We seem not to b…

I am going to take some points from the opening statement and ask some questions. I am not going to waste my time trying to deflect from what we are actually here to discuss. When the Government side has to spend its time attacking Sinn Féin rather than explaining how this Bill is going to affect renters, it is saying all we need to say. The irony is striking. The Government side has plenty to say about Sinn Féin and nothing to say about the Bill. Sinn Féin has detailed alternatives that the Government has ignored.…

I am proud to second this motion and sincerely commend my colleague, Senator Nicole Ryan, for bringing forward this Bill. Senator Ryan has done something really important here. She has seen a gap in the law, listened to the lived experience, decided that it was not right and tried to fix it. As she said, this Bill is about one simple thing, namely, allowing a mother who has lost a child to pause her maternity leave and take it later when she is actually able to benefit from it. That is it. No new leave, no extra co…

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I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I acknowledge her work in this area. The drugs strategy is part of her brief. This is an urgent issue for Laois and Portlaoise. It goes to the heart of patient safety, dignity and access to care. I refer to the urgent need for medically supervised detoxification beds at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. We have no rehabilitation centres for anyone with addiction in Laois. There are no detoxification beds in the county. There are no dedicated detoxification beds in Mi…

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