I welcome the opportunity to discuss the national human rights strategy for disabled people. Of course, it has long been awaited and many disability organisations have been campaigning for its publication. It is the first strategy since Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was way back in 2018. I welcome the fact, as the Minister herself said, that the strategy has taken a whole-of-government approach to progressing the rights of people with disabilities. This is an a…

I thank Deputy Kenny for sharing his time. I also thank Sinn Féin for tabling this very important motion. In recent months not a week has gone by when my office has not received calls from worried parents looking for a special school place for their children. I am worried about the numbers the Minister of State has given us this evening. Like other colleagues, I am dealing with at least four families who do not have a place at present. This is half the number the Minister of State has spoken about. My biggest probl…

Hear, hear.

I start by welcoming two very good friends of mine, Jacinta and Geraldine, who are visiting the House today in the week they celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary. I also welcome friends from our own Labour Party LGBTQI group, who are with us in the Public Gallery this evening as well. In many regards, Ireland has led the way to social progress for members of the LGBTQI+ community. I am pleased to say that the Labour Party has been behind much of this progress. It was the Labour Party that gave the first ever l…

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. I welcome the fact that €40 million has been spent on libraries. We all agree in this House that every euro spent on libraries is a euro well spent. I start by commending everybody in my hometown of Athy where over the past number of years a former Dominican church was converted into a library. Anyone who has visited that location will see it shows the benefit of converting older buildings into a community library. If they are ever in the town, both the Minister…

The latest information I have is that it is hoped the project will proceed in quarter 1 of 2026, which would be very welcome. I mentioned in this House before that Newbridge now has a population of almost 26,000 people, so it is very important we have a functioning library for that size of population. The fact the new building will be four times larger than the existing building, which has run its course but has done the people of Newbridge proud over a long period, is very welcome. I look forward to the opening of…

We have spoken about libraries before but I want to get an update on the public library strategy and maybe discuss one or two issues around that.

I did not come in on Deputy McGreehan's question because I wanted to leave it until this one. I totally believe it is important to have multipurpose facilities. I want to raise an issue that has come up in respect of a couple of locations. We have derelict buildings, old former schools in rural areas. A number of people have come together to form book clubs and heritage and historical societies in those buildings. The query I have relates to that multipurpose function whereby a library or a history club can be deve…

I thank the Minister of State for the positive reply. I want to mention two issues he brought up, namely, the age-friendly aspect and sensory rooms. They are important as part of our libraries. I welcome the fact that the Government has recognised that. I urge the Government to continue to invest in sensory rooms in particular. I know from visiting my local library and other libraries the importance of inclusivity. Having a sensory room means libraries are inclusive. Everyone can be part of the community. The issue…

I thank the Deputy. Back over to the Government side, Deputy Daly has four minutes.

I want to raise the issue of childcare places, including after-school care, with the Taoiseach. I particularly want to raise the issues of childcare and after-school care in Kilcullen, a town of 4,000 people in my own constituency of Kildare South. I am currently dealing with 14 families who cannot get a crèche place and 16 families who cannot get an after-school place. Unfortunately for the town, there is a fit-for-purpose building lying idle. It is developed and ready to go. When will we see a State-led childcare…

Kilcullen.

We need a fair deal for care. This means ending the privatisation of nursing home care and giving older people the choice to age in their own homes and communities, with a statutory right to home care. This right to home care has long been promised by successive Governments since 2017, but we have yet to see any real progress on this. Instead, the only option that older people and their families are faced with is nursing home care. The average length of stay in a nursing home is around three years. This reflects th…

I want to talk about my hometown of Athy. I have been dealing with Irish Rail over the last period about increasing the frequency of rail services from the commuter town of Athy into Dublin. I was pleased with a recent response from Irish Rail that told me the imminent DART+ fleet coming on stream would free up additional carriages. We are looking for an hourly service from Athy and also on the Waterford line. That would definitely benefit the huge increase in the population of Athy but also the commuting towns rig…

I welcome the fact we are on Report Stage of the Bill. I put on record my thanks to John O'Meara, and I recognise his late partner Michelle, and I also thank my colleague, Deputy Kelly, who has put tremendous work into this, as the Minister has acknowledged. The Minister might clarify the point Deputy Kerrane raised in her contribution. My understanding is that anyone would be entitled to the pension after January 2024 and, therefore, in the case Deputy Kerrane mentioned, the person would be entitled to it after Ja…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 5, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “Report 3. The Minister shall, not later than 3 months after the passing of this Act, make a report in writing to each House of the Oireachtas on the estimated number of persons affected and the estimated savings to the Exchequer achieved by the provisions of sections 4 and 8 to the effect that an entitlement to a pension under this Act can arise no earlier than 22 January 2024.”.

Like Deputy O'Reilly, I am prepared to listen to what the Minister might say in reply.

I move amendment No. 18: In page 13, to delete lines 3 to 41, and in page 14, to delete lines 1 to 5. Again, like with amendment No. 7, I would like to get the Minister's comment on the amendment.

I know the Minister is only joining us now but my colleague, Deputy Ahern, has laid this out very distinctly. Realistically, it is vital we have laws and proper functioning courts in place to deal with crime in this country and that is what Deputy Ahern has said. Also important is the fact that non-jury trials should be the exception rather than the rule. I will concentrate the rest of my contribution on Garda numbers. My colleagues across the benches have spoken about the issues with Dublin and I totally respect t…