I thank the Minister of State for attending. Anybody watching will be disappointed that the Minister for Education is not here but I understand this is because she is participating in the talks to try to finalise arrangements for the leaving certificate examinations. From the start of the pandemic, which was almost a year ago, until now, 15 February, the Government has prioritised protecting lives and livelihoods. The allocation of €9 billion in the budget for education indicated that investment in both children an…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for coming into the Chamber. A flexible and agile approach that puts the welfare of students as a priority is obviously welcome and we all support it. I must say, though, it is disappointing that the Department did not provide more information to this House and that the Sunday newspapers seem to carry more detail than this House is being informed by the Department. I do not believe that is appropriate either for the students - it is not fair on them - or for this Hous…

I thank the Minister and the Government for the €18 million in funding provided for central Dublin to improve walking and cycling infrastructure. More than ten years ago, when I was first elected as a city councillor, I looked for a greenway on the Royal Canal and I am really glad to see it has progressed. With this funding we will be able to have a high-quality greenway all the way from the docklands through Ballybough, North Strand, Phibsborough, up through Cabra and all the way to Ashtown. It is very welcome. Mo…

Beannachtaí na Féile Bríde. It is the first day of spring and hope, but there is not much spring and hope for Josh Dunne's family. The House should send its condolences. He was a talented young man with his whole life ahead him. Unfortunately, he is not the only young person to have died in Dublin. Indeed, there is an issue with knife crime around the country. We should ask the Minister for Justice to take this matter up with communities through joint policing committees, JPCs. She should engage with them on examin…

I welcome the Minister. I apologise for not sitting beside him but for talking to the back of his head instead. As we have Covid restrictions in place here, I do not expect him to turn around. Like the Minister, I thank all of the front-line workers in local authorities, housing charities, trusts and emergency accommodation, in Threshold, the Residential Tenancies Board and Intreo offices. They have been working night and day through the pandemic to support people living on their own, renters, people looking for ho…

I wish the staff in the complex a happy new year. I thank all the essential workers who worked over the Christmas period and got us this far. We will talk about the mother and baby homes report later so I will reserve my comments on that until the Minister is in the House. I will briefly address three issues. First, I support the call for the acceleration of citizenship approval for all the front-line workers. In my constituency, Dublin Central, we have a high percentage of front-line workers and many of them are a…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I thank all of the mothers, children and survivors who gave their testimony to the commission of investigation and all those who could not do so for various reasons. I am humbled, as I think we all are, by their courage and strength. It is a huge privilege to be here today to contribute. The report of the commission of investigation was never designed to deliver justice. It is hugely disappointing and I will not repeat all of the criticisms made already. The Minister ha…

I am delighted to be standing here just before Christmas. It is a real honour and a privilege for all of us to be in this House. I am conscious of what a difficult year it has been for everyone, with most of us facing into a difficult Christmas. I and all of us in this House are very privileged to be here and I am grateful for that. I thank all my colleagues in the Seanad. I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, and Grace Coyle in your office. I thank Martin Groves and Bridget Doody. I thank the Captain of the Guard and the …

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for coming to the House. The sharing of intimate images without consent is a serious issue, which warrants legislation and severe penalties. We need to call it out as a criminal offence and we need to hold those who offend in this way to account. I am very pleased to join with other Senators and to support Coco's Law today. I am thinking primarily of Jackie Fox, Dara Quigley's family and all the NGOs that have campaigned on this issue, such as the Dublin Rape Crisis Cen…

I wish to remind the House that today, 16 December, is the deadline for submissions for the BusConnects bus corridor project. The Cathaoirleach will be familiar with it. It is a highly ambitious programme to improve our public transportation and address climate action but I also see it as a social equality issue in terms of providing better public transport services in the city to everybody. The public bus is relied on by both young and old and provides great independence of travel. The project projects an investme…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to respond to my Commencement matter, which calls on the Minister for Health and the Department to commit to providing €2.5 million in funding for the Rotunda Hospital on Parnell Square in Dublin. For those who are not aware, the Rotunda Hospital is the world's oldest maternity hospital. It is the country's busiest maternity hospital. It delivers on average 8,000 babies a year. One in every six babies in the country is born at the Rotunda Hospital and one in eve…

I appreciate the Minister of State's reply, but I am disappointed. I cannot be satisfied with it. I do not mean that personally where the Minister of State is concerned, but this saga has been ongoing for years. I believe the first proposal to move the Rotunda dates back to the 1990s. The women of Dublin and the women of Ireland deserve better. There was a planned move in 2007. In 2015, an announcement was made by the then Minister to the effect that the three maternity hospitals were going to be relocated. The oth…

I did not have the opportunity to follow the debate as I was in committee, so the problem is that aside from being aware of the issue that was being debated, I have no idea what has been spoken about in my absence. I thank the Minister of State for giving his time to this motion, and I apologise for not being present. Unfortunately, I was attending a committee meeting at which we were dealing with an important report on the unmet needs of children with special needs and their families. This is a hugely important is…

I support Senator Flynn's comments about the deaths of homeless people. I raised the issue last week, having stood outside with Inner City Helping Homeless, who were protesting at the deaths of 56 homeless people this year in Dublin. It is far too many. I welcome the Minister's response to my request, which is that he has tasked the HSE and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, to compile a report and to bring it to him. It is a matter the Minister and our party is taking very seriously. This morning I wish t…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House and for all the work he and his Department are doing. I thank everybody on the Joint Committee on Climate Action, which is meeting daily. It is great to see such energy and cross-party consensus. Similar to how we all tried to suppress the virus, there is a political movement whereby collective energy is being applied to try to have the Seanad and Dáil take significant climate action. This is great and really encouraging. It genuinely encourages the young people who prot…

I saw it.

The Minister was feeling the love.

I will do all I can to keep my contribution within the six minutes allocated. I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and thank him for coming before the House. This is a really important issue. All the issues we talk about in this House are important, but the issue of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and abuse is so insidious and corrosive. When I stop to think about the individuals affected, the victims, I think they must be in the loneliest place in the world. They can be in a busy shop or out and abo…

I also ask the House to recognise that today is a day we should all be mindful of those with challenges and who battle disabilities daily, and also their families and friends and the communities that support them. It is really important. We all have our challenges, visible and invisible, but today is a day for those with specific disabilities. We should all be mindful of them. A related matter is those who care for people with disabilities. Many are carers, family carers and friends who care in an informal way, but…

The more some people tweet, the more the veil slips. I draw the House's attention to the 56 black balloons that hang outside the railings of Leinster House today. They have been placed there by Inner City Helping Homeless, a volunteer organisation dedicated to supporting homeless people in our capital city. The Deputy Leader and I both know that one of the first actions of the new Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage was to establish a high-level task force dedicated to tackling and responding to the…