I am raising this issue on behalf of the survivors of mother and baby homes and county institutions across the country, who are outraged, deeply upset and insulted at the provisions made in the redress scheme that the Minister has published. To be frank, the redress scheme announced this week is an exercise in exclusion rather than compassion. I have been contacted by a number of survivors of Sean Ross Abbey who are more than just furious at the exclusion of infants who spent less than six months in a mother and ba…

The Minister and I, and other Members, have met survivors. I assure him that whether they were there for one day, five months and 29 days or six months and two days, all these people were affected exactly the same by being separated from their families and decades of trying to get answers from the governments. This sliding scale effectively tells them that their forced separation and suffering is not worth any compensation. I mentioned Teresa Collins. This is not about money for her, or for many of the other surviv…

I thank Deputy Bacik and the Labour Party for introducing this Bill to the House. Every one of us has a part to play in reducing emissions, for example through identifying and purchasing products that have a lower carbon footprint or choosing to implement changes to our everyday habits. Every effort we make as individuals is worthwhile, and we should remain committed to these measures. This Bill has a role to play in this overall effort by giving us the opportunity every day to consider the products we are purchasi…

I am glad that the Minister of health, Deputy Donnelly, will not oppose the Sinn Féin motion. The Taoiseach recently told me that the current ambulance system is the optimal one. Why am I, then, being repeatedly told that the system is broken? The automated computer system wrongly prioritises need. Take the case of a two-year-old child with a respiratory illness whose call was overridden for a person with a chest infection because the system logged it as such. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, talks about 200 people d…

-----after a three-year course. As I said to the Taoiseach last week somebody is going to die and this review is going to be way overdue.

I want to bring the Taoiseach back to the issue of ambulances, which came up yesterday and this morning. I will give an example. A doctor called an ambulance for a woman in her late 80s a couple of weeks ago in Cashel at 1.40 p.m. and it came at 7.40 p.m. The doctor was in such a panic due to the health of this woman that he called it. The family contacted me at 5.30 a.m. the following morning and the woman had spent another ten hours on a trolley in the hospital. I have been told that the last review of the Nation…

We warned them in 2014.

Families are still waiting.

They are supposed to answer the calls within three minutes.

Three minutes, not six hours.

At the outset and to be parochial, I would mention the N24 bypass of Tipperary town. The Minister of State might be able to put in a good word for it. I would like to speak about the creation of a new classification of a vehicle to facilitate the use of e-scooters and similar devices. Of course, we need to give them a classification of their own to provide legal clarity on the conditions of their use but there are still some issues that may remain unresolved. For example, the Minister has previously told the transp…

The Bill is only on Second Stage and my colleagues will have a number of observations to make about it. I wanted to highlight a number of issues of concern.

Sinn Féin has brought this motion before the House because rural Ireland is sick and tired of being paid lip service. Rural communities have been dismissed by Government for far too long. The days of the development plans being used for Dáil re-election must end now. During my time in the Dáil, I have constantly made representations about the shortcomings of our public transport links, but what actions have been taken? Has the timetable between Limerick Junction and Waterford been adjusted? No, it has not. Has the …

I welcome this Bill, which I will also support. One point must be emphasised, however. The purpose of the Bill is to bring Ireland in line with EU directives to strengthen the State's ability to fight the smuggling of people. However, issues affecting the welfare of asylum seekers remain woefully unaddressed and need to be tackled. Recently, we have heard horrendous accounts of the consequences of people smuggling. Let me make no bones about this - people smuggling is a big business with no morals and no regard for…

I also commend an tAire for bringing this Bill to the House. I am sure many people watching on will not be sorry to see the end of fur farming in this State. It is a practice that has faced opposition for many years now and finally the days of fur farming and the slaughter of these animals for their skin is coming to an end. The existence of these types of farms has not settled well with me so I will not mourn the loss of fur farms in the State. Indeed, Sinn Féin as a party has been opposed to the farming of mink s…

I also commend Deputy Harkin on bringing this legislation to the House. In my constituency of Tipperary, there is great faith in our credit union system. That feeling is replicated in communities throughout the country. The regard with which our credit unions are held is quite distinct from that of banks. That is not just pure luck; it is because credit unions put people before profit. They are involved in communities in which the branches operate. Credit unions do not answer to faceless shareholders. They answer t…

The Taoiseach is waffling on-----

I am grateful for the opportunity to address the House as part of breast cancer awareness month. The key message I wish to convey relates to the importance of availing of the screening programme when the offer is made to individual women but also to the need to act on any suspected symptoms or concerns. As Deputy Martin Kenny said, the screening age should be reduced to 40. I recall attending a meeting where that was one request that really came across from the women in attendance. Covid-19 has, of course, impacted…

I will talk faster.

Deputy Devlin will not take up all his time, will you, Deputy Devlin?