I thank the Minister of State. From what I have heard, we still have no date for completion. We hear that meetings are taking place and I am in contact with the school community, which is being informed of meetings, but we are not clear on what key changes are going to ensure the project is progressed. I have full respect for the Minister of State's campaign for Dún Laoghaire Educate Together, but Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire is dealing with the trauma of what happened to that school and its community last November. …

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber and thank him for being here today. As this current Government comes to the end of its term, the mark of any Government, indeed successive governments, is the permanent impact they leave on communities throughout this country. Fine Gael has been the common thread in Government since 2011 but we know that, particularly since 2016, we have seen eye-watering surpluses of €15.2 billion generated in this country, when we exclude the two pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. The …

We are resuming on amendment No. 63.

In recent days, we have seen the appalling extension of the bloodthirst of the Israeli Government. Approximately 41,500 children, women and men are dead in Gaza and the death toll in Lebanon is rising as we speak. The apparent crusade to wipe out Hezbollah and Hamas is a genocide. We have used that word many times, yet the world is still looking on. The UN General Assembly is taking place this week. The UN and the EU were both established as peace projects. I am struck by the number of people who raise this situati…

I move amendment No. 154: In page 108, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following: “(7) The written statement referred to in subsection (2) shall include provision for the zoning of land for affordable housing within the meaning of the Affordable Housing Act 2021.”.

I will speak initially to amendments Nos. 155 and 156. I strongly support those amendments because we should have specific provision for social and cultural amenities in our development plans and that should be hardwired into this legislation. I know that many local authorities make reference to this in their county and city development plans, but the reality is that so many of our local authorities are so taken up with what I think many see as the core work of housing, waste and road maintenance that social and cu…

I thank the Minister for coming into the Chamber. I sincerely thank Senator Currie for tabling this really important motion. All opportunities to continue to shine a spotlight on what needs to be done in childcare are very welcome. We all acknowledge that a huge amount has been achieved in this space in recent years. Notwithstanding that, there is considerable frustration among parents. My experience locally on the north side is that waiting times, particularly for babies, have never been worse. In this regard, I d…

-----is quite high. I apologise to the Acting Chair but this is important. We have to see real investment. We saw the EU structural funds in the 1990s come in and I see it mentioned over the doors of some of the community early-years services in the inner city. They came in with serious money to build early-years services. We need the State doing the same.

I thank Senator Currie for this, but we want to see a bigger and more expansive plan of action with regard to a State-led system of affordable and better paid childcare for those working in the system.

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House. I will start by offering my support to all those providing an early years service in this country, and pay tribute to all the providers and staff who go in day in, day out to do their very best for the families that they look after. Many services are distressed about the necessity and expense of requiring a chartered accountant. With regard to these new changes that have been introduced, many are frustrated about the way a day's absence is recorded and how th…

I am extremely conscious when I talk about the powers of oversight and the powers of investigation that I do not want a chill effect to go out to the vast majority of providers, which, as I said at the start of my statement, do exceptionally brilliant work. I think there is an issue and a gap here - a shortfall - in terms of the lack of requirement for a clear admissions policy. I hear what the Minister of State said with regard to the requirement to have a complaints procedure. Of course, there is nowhere to go on…

I am conscious that Natasha O'Brien is in the Houses of the Oireachtas today. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to her and the other women who have come forward to tell their stories about how badly our criminal justice system is letting down victims of the most shocking violence against women and girls. There may be an appeal, so we cannot say too much but there has to be review now of sentencing. There are also serious questions for the Defence Forces. It is mind-boggling to think that anybody with a convictio…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 44, to delete lines 21 to 29 and substitute the following: “(a) an appropriate medical specialist has stated in the specified form that— (i) the child is due to undergo medical treatment, or suffers from a progressive disorder, which in the opinion of the specialist is likely to cause a significant impairment to the child’s fertility, and (ii) such storage is in the child’s best interests,”. I am conscious that there are many amendments before us. I intend to only speak once in order…

I would like to think that arrogance is behind us. I would like to think that arrogance is beneath any Minister for Health, but unfortunately it was an arrogance we saw last week. It was regrettable that the Minister was calling out the ethics of the clinicians who brought those concerns to us, particularly when many of them gave enormous public service to this State while sitting on the 2005 Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, about which Senator Seery Kearney spoke. It was the Tánaiste, Deputy Martin, who …

I thank the Minister for his response. First, I am a much more inexperienced legislator than he is but in the past four and half years I have spent here, I have seen the Government table amendments to Government Bills. We see this on a regular basis. We all faced a deadline of last Monday for amendments to this Bill and it was absolutely open to the Minister to bring forward an amendment to his own Bill. Why, therefore, did he not do it this week, as opposed to having to set up a whole new process in September? Tha…

I have purposely tried not to personalise this, and I have not mentioned names today. However, unless there is any doubt, it is worth saying it on the record that the Minister received a letter and many emails from clinicians with concerns about the issues I have raised. An email was addressed to the Minister at the start of this week. It was from three clinicians, namely, Dr. John Waterstone, consultant gynaecologist and medical director of the Waterstone Clinic; Dr. Mary Wingfield, former consultant at the Nation…

I will be pressing the amendment.

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. There is no doubt that there has been an increase in the numbers coming to our shores and the European Union area in recent years, but we need to be very clear about the intent behind the migration pact. This pact is not driven by humanitarian responsibility towards those seeking shelter and refuge on this island or across the EU. If it were, we would see real resources being put towards search and rescue in the Mediterranean. We would not be seeing the prospect of dete…

I will speak on amendment No. 13. We welcome that there is provision in the Bill that the board would include the appointment of a person who, in the opinion of the Minister, has knowledge or experience in matters relating to the interest of employees and that there will be representation of employees or representing the interests of employees. The Minister will be aware of the pre-legislative recommendation which includes explicit representation of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on the board. Should it really …

I move amendment No. 13: In page 15, in line 4, after “Minister,” to insert “following consultation with trade unions, knowledge or experience in matters relating to the interests of employees, and”.