The opening of the western rail corridor line would bring huge economic benefits to an entire region, particularly in terms of addressing regional imbalance and bringing economic development to the entire western corridor. A reopened western rail corridor would link every population centre in the west to the rest of the country and enable more people to commute sustainably. It could play a critical role in the development of the airport in Knock as a major transport and logistical hub in the west. We understand the…

On the report that was done, I am long enough around to know that when consultants are employed to carry out reviews, they very often have in mind what the result is going to be before they actually carry it out. That is very much the case in regard to the reviews that were put in place here. There has long been a reluctance on behalf of the Department of Transport to have anything to do with developing our rail system across the entire island, particularly in respect of the western rail corridor. We are all grown-…

What happened 25 years ago when the Good Friday Agreement brought all sides together to work out a better future was a landmark for this island. I certainly was much younger then but, like many others, I was running around at the time trying to convince people of the merits of the agreement and explain what it was about. I also tried to explain how we could advance the possibility of a better Ireland - an Ireland in which people would no longer have to die, in which nobody would be in jail anymore, in which we woul…

We can do that together. The Good Friday Agreement is the template for that. We must not move away from it.

When it comes to the housing crisis, the issue is devastating in all areas of the country. In rural Ireland, as my colleagues have said, it is the same. In my constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, this is a crisis for many families, particularly those in rural areas. I spoke to people in the housing department in recent days. While the guidelines on what to do are clearer now than they were two weeks ago, that has come very late in the day. We have people with notices to quit their properties and the local authority is tr…

Many people are paying very high rent and simply cannot afford to save. That is one of the big issues they have. They cannot afford to save the deposit for a house. I mentioned a case in this Chamber last night of a woman in Sligo. She has a deposit of 10% because she received it from her mother. However, she has been turned down because she has to show that 3% of that deposit comes from consistent savings. Her rent increased by more than 30% in the past year. She does not have consistent savings. If she could get …

The Minister mentioned several times that his is the party that wants to ensure that people have homeownership and that Sinn Féin is against homeownership. I give an example from my constituency of a separated woman with two children living in a rented house. Her rent increased by almost a third this time last year. Obviously, she can hardly afford it as it is. She has now received a notice that she is to be evicted. She contacted her local authority. She is over the income threshold to get HAP or get on the housin…

We are all aware that the sheep sector has been in crisis for many years. This does not come as a surprise. Sheep farmers, mainly those in mountainous areas and with poorer land, much of it in the west, including in my constituency, are finding it very difficult to manage and have been for quite some time. The sheep welfare payment in place is not adequate to deal with the situation. When the then Minister, Deputy Creed, introduced it, he made a great fanfare about the fact that to implement a welfare programme lik…

But I cannot come in.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This motion is on legislation on having a national property register, which was first initiated by my predecessor as spokesperson for justice, Deputy Ó Laoghaire. I commend him on his work in this regard. The Bill is simple legislation. It proposes an Act to establish a register of personal property so that people can register it. It would be there for identification of items of personal property for the purpose of investigation of a crime and for the repatriation …

I accept time has progressed, things have moved along and the Garda property app is up and running. However, few people know about that. It is not something the public is widely aware of and there is a job of work to be done around it in particular. I accept there can be issues. GDPR arrived on the scene and it is one of those things that just smothers everything. No matter what one proposes to do or what anyone looks at anywhere in the world, GDPR is thrown up as the reason we cannot do it or cannot look at it. Th…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 10, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(5A) Commencement of section 3DA shall not begin until after the completion of all stages of section 26B (as amended).”. There are a lot of amendments to portions of legislation because this is a miscellaneous provisions Bill. While much of the focus has been around stalking, which of course is something we have to deal with appropriately, the amendments I have here relate to the small part that deals with the firearms expert com…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 14, after line 33, to insert the following: “ Recommendations of the Firearms Expert Committee 26B. The Minister shall- (a) not more than 3 months after the completion of work carried out by the Firearms Expert Committee, publish in full the considerations and recommendations of the Firearms Expert Committee, and (b) not more than 6 months after the publication of the Firearms Expert Committee report, engage in a public consultation process regarding the recommendations made by the c…

I concur with my colleagues. There is clearly a space here that needs to be filled. Having youngsters who are out and about, it is something I hear about at first hand. It is happening almost everywhere in the country and young girls and young women in particular fear it when they go out to enjoy a night out. The owners of premises have a responsibility as well. Perhaps licensing laws and so on come into this because it is not only an issue for patrons. We all tell youngsters to look after each other, to watch out …

I support Deputy Naughten's amendment. Clearly there is a need to put measures in place to protect people even after a conviction and as time moves on. We have all come across situations where victims of crime have continued to be harassed even after the person who was convicted has been released and has gone back into the community.

We are back here again following a week during which people were left aghast by what the Government did in removing the eviction ban. For people across this country, this has been a terrible calamity. While it is much worse in the vast urban areas of Dublin and other cities, even rural areas like my constituency are being impacted by the ban's removal. A video is going around of an eviction in Bundoran in recent weeks. A family of eight were thrown out of their house. That is what it will be like for many families …

Listening to the Minister’s speech earlier is in stark contrast to the experience of the vast majority of the public out there who attend our hospitals and, indeed, the staff who work there. In my constituency, Sligo University Hospital has been in crisis for many years because of understaffing and under-resourcing. Last September, the INMO industrial relations officer, Neal Donohue, said that the conditions in the department were so concerning that they had no choice but to call on the HSA to intervene and conduct…

The Minister said in his speech that we do not support any of his measures. The reason we do not is that none of the other measures he has introduced has worked. We would not be where we are today if they had. That is the reality and he has to face that fact. The vast majority of people recognise that what the Government is doing is totally obnoxious and ridiculous. Nobody can believe what the Government has done in circumstances where so many people are facing eviction and looking down the barrel of a gun where th…

I wish everyone a happy International Women’s Day. We are talking about equality and equity for 50% of people. There are minority groups out there with whom we should be working and trying to deliver equality for. It is a poor reflection on society in general when almost 50% of the people in the world are continually struggling to get an equal place and an equal chance to flourish the way they should in society. An earlier speaker mentioned the portrait in the Seanad Chamber of Pádraig Pearse handing in his surrend…

I want to raise the issue of An Garda Síochána and the difficulties there have been in the organisation for some considerable time, particularly with regard to recruitment and retention. The most evident issue we have had in recent days is that of rosters and the problems with them. The Garda Commissioner has said he will extend the present contingency roster until September. This will give space for proper negotiations to occur. There needs to be recognition by the Government that we have a serious problem with ou…