I want to pay tribute to Johnny O'Meara and his three children, Jack, Thomas and Aoife. They have been through so much with the loss of their beloved Michelle. It took immense courage to take the judicial review on the refusal to grant Johnny the widower's pension. I also want to pay tribute to the work of Treoir, which is represented here this evening, and to those who have come forward to tell their stories, including Maria Doyle, Sheila Duffy and many others. It is important to say that it is through the work of…

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I thank Senators Doherty and Seery Kearney for introducing it. I pay tribute to Caroline and Martin Smith, who were in contact with us about Bill that was debated last year about reproductive health leave and the amendments tabled on Committee Stage earlier this year. I want to pay tribute to the tenacity, perseverance and work of Caroline and Martin. I am thinking of Elaine and her family, Jacinta and her family, and all those in Féileacáin who have been cam…

I move amendment No. 1: 1. In page 31, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "Rights in relation to diagnosis, maintenance and repair of electronic equipment 26. (1) In relation to digital electronic equipment sold in the State, a manufacturer shall make available, for the purposes of diagnosis, maintenance or repair of the equipment— (a) to independent repair providers, and (b) to owners of the equipment, in a timely manner and on fair and reasonable terms, relevant documents, parts and tools, includin…

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. He articulated technical concerns about the wording of our amendment. We are very happy to work with him to improve or fix that wording. The spirit of the amendment is the crucial aspect. I hear what the Minister of State is saying about the EU initiative taking place and the potential for a strong, comprehensive set of harmonisation regulations to be issued. However, that is going to take time. There is a fundamental question to be asked here. Why can the State…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 105, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(4) (a) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, where a trader supplies a service to subscribers, it is an unfair term of the contract under which the service is provided if the trader, in relation to provision of the same or substantially the same service, charges consumers who are renewing their subscription a higher fee than the trader charges consumers who are new subscribers. (b) In paragraph (a) , “subscriber…

I move amendment No. 8: 8. In page 139, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “Consumer complaints 159. The Consumer Protection Act 2007 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 66B: “Part 4B SUBSCRIBER COMPLAINTS HANDLING Interpretation and application of Part 66C. (1) In this Part— ‘complaint’— (a) means any expression of a subscriber’s dissatisfaction and his or her expectation of a response or resolution, and (b) includes any request by a subscriber for information or assis…

I am delighted members of the St. Luke's bridge club are joining us. I welcome the eviction ban that was announced earlier, which comes after many months of our being told that it would not be possible. We were told about the possible constitutional challenges and the unseen legal advice and given warnings landlords would exit the sector. Landlords are already exiting the sector. The ban is being introduced now simply because there is no emergency accommodation left in this city or, indeed, in other parts of the co…

As we all know, more than 900,000 households are facing into fuel poverty this winter. Fuel poverty has been a permanent feature of this country through good times and now through bad. The choices facing this State, particularly when the public finances are in such a remarkably healthy situation, raise very serious questions about the extent to which the State is willing to go the extra mile to help those households in fuel poverty. It is not even that they have a minor difficulty in paying their bills; this is act…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, line 16, after “customer” ”, to insert “, subject to subsection (2) ,”. I will speak to amendments Nos. 3 and 7. Amendment No. 2 obviously relates to amendment No. 3. Amendment No. 3 refers to the whole issue of the non-principal private residence and where, in effect, an individual can be a final customer in two or more places. The Minister of State spoke earlier about this being a universal payment that goes to everybody. I do not propose to get into a philosophical argument abo…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I must invite him to Dublin 1 or Dublin 7 some time, where there are a number of households in which people are living in extremely overcrowded conditions. They pay rent to the landlord, who then charges them for electricity and other utilities on top of that. Ultimately, however, it is the landlord who puts though the payments for those utilities. These landlords, who are already extremely greedy as it is, will benefit from the emergency payment and will not pass it …

The Minister of State is fully capable of going beyond calling this a breach of natural justice and ensuring that it is set out in clear terms in the Bill. It is poor reassurance to any of these tenants to say that such practice is a breach of natural justice and they must go to the RTB. There will be an ambiguity if the matter is not set out clearly in the Bill. I ask the Minister of State to consider our amendment again. He is saying he is sympathetic to the situation I have outlined. I cannot understand why he d…

Like so many others, I was overjoyed to see the women's team make a remarkable breakthrough in qualifying for the World Cup next year. I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Vera Pauw, Katie McCabe and all on the team. As has been said so many times, they are an inspiration to all girls in sport across this country. I refer in particular to the words Amber Barrett spoke last night with regard to her relationship to Creeslough and the dark times in Donegal at the moment. It is important to say that just fi…

Beidh mé. Tá brón orm faoi sin.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I have not seen him since his appointment to his current role. I wish him the best in that regard. I join with all Senators across the Chamber in welcoming the Bill. Online commerce has been with us for about a decade and a half and it has been very much the wild west with regard to consumer protection. Therefore, we welcome the Bill as an important and comprehensive step in protecting consumers in terms of online transactions. The merits of the Bill have been well articulated so …

The first thing to say is that it is disgraceful that it has been 14 years since community employment supervisors and all those working in section 56 and section 39 organisations have had a proper pay increase. It behoves the Government to act urgently to address this long-running sore for those who are providing vital services in our communities. We all speak at length about how important these services are but these people do not feel respected or appreciated because of the many years since they last saw a pay in…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, for coming to the House. I warmly welcome the motion and thank An Seanadóir Ó Donnghaile and his Sinn Féin colleagues for bringing it forward. We in the Labour Party very much support it. As has been said a number of times, we have all seen the massive surge on the island of Ireland for Irish passports over the last 18 months in particular and the frustrations that were associated with all that. It is also important to acknowledge that we saw a significant response from …

I will confine my comments on the budget to the statements on budget 2023 later today. Last Friday night, Culture Night was a success across the country. I offer my congratulations to all those involved, including the Arts Council, local authorities, Creative Ireland and all the other organisations. I was in D-Light Studios in Dublin 1. For once, it is a good news story. It was a studio that ended up being in NAMA and Dublin City Council bought the building. It goes to show what can be done to save studios. The Lea…

Budget 2023 takes place at a remarkable time for this country. While we hear a lot about Putin's war and what else is happening in the world, it is very important to remember that our State is in an extraordinarily well-off situation. That we have an Exchequer surplus at all is simply remarkable. We are one of only two countries in the European Union that has a surplus, Denmark being the other. If we think about it, we do not have to borrow for current expenditure or capital expenditure and this is the equivalent o…

It will not have a life-changing impact on them. Extension of eligibility for the fuel allowance is great but it will not kick in until January. I would argue there is a lack of urgency with regard to some of the measures introduced today. In thinking about the impact of the budget and the extraordinary situation we find ourselves in, we must look at the two permanent cost-of-living crises in this country. These are childcare, on which there were some positive developments today, and housing. Some Senators will hav…

It will be a self-assessed tax. Who is going to 'fess up and say their home is vacant for 30 days of the year? The rate of just 0.3% is a joke. The Department of Finance is setting itself up for failure. It is saying the vacant homes tax is not expected to yield significant revenue. If the Government is serious about a vacant homes tax, the rate needs to be significantly higher and it cannot be self-assessed. The local authorities need to be engaged.