I am confident the Senator has the capacity to engage in this debate in an informed way.

I invite him to do that-----

-----and to retract his comments which are so ill-informed and ignorant.

Before I commence the debate, I welcome the guests of the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, who are visiting us from Broadford school in Kildare. They are all very welcome. I hope they are enjoying their visit to Leinster House. They brought the sunshine with them from Kildare. I presume between now and the end of the school year there will be no more homework for them. That is the rule in this House, so they should be sure to remind their teachers when they get back to Kildare. I hope they enjoy their visit.

Have we got a seconder for the motion?

Absolutely.

Before I call Senator Conor Murphy, I welcome Deputy Ryan O'Meara from Tipperary and his guests. I am proud to welcome former Councillor John Sheehy and his son, Brendan, and Mr. Pat Dowling. They are visiting the Seanad from Ballina, County Tipperary. We are delighted they are here and hope they enjoy their visit. They have a great host in Deputy O'Meara. I acknowledge Mr. Sheehy's service as a former councillor because it is important. I know that he served his country and community for a long time and I express …

The Minister of State is welcome to the House. I thank her for being here to respond to the Private Members' motion proposed by my colleague, Senator Crowe, and brought forward by the Fianna Fáil group. I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment. It is long overdue and well deserved. She has hit the ground running and we are all confident that at the end of her term, she will be able to point to significant success and achievements in her Department. We are all behind her. That said, our motion is seri…

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning. I thank the Tánaiste also and everyone in the House for making time. I believe there is unanimity in this House on the condemnation of the atrocities of 7 October. It goes beyond words to describe the horror that was experienced and visited upon the Israeli people when more than 1,000 people were killed and injured and more than 250 were taken hostage. Everybody condemns that, but the only atrocity that has surpassed it has been the military operations of t…

I add my best wishes to the O'Farrell family, who have waited 14 long years for an apology. It is far too long and no parent should ever have such a wait. Shane O'Farrell's parents, family and friends have done the State an incredible service by way of their determination, their courage and, more importantly, their love. I can only imagine that their love is what sustained them. I thank the Minister for Justice for apologising to them on behalf of the State. I call on every Member and every employee in the public s…

It is just glorious. We celebrated Biodiversity Week earlier this month. If people want to see biodiversity in action in the city, it does not get any better than the Royal Canal. I commend the Royal Canal Clean-up Group, Waterways Ireland, the local authority waterways group and the Phibsborough village Tidy Town group on the work they do during the rest of the year when everything is not in bloom, the swans are not having their cygnets and we are not all out enjoying the fine evenings. Well done to everybody who …

While the Minister is grabbing this by both horns, I wish him well too. I have full confidence in his capacity to deliver in this very important Department. We are very privileged with the economy and we should not forget to appreciate and express our gratitude to everyone who works and contributes to the economy on a daily basis. We are the envy of many countries, not just in Europe but all around the world for the strength of our economy. Other economies struggled to come back post Covid but our economy came back…

I congratulate the young people, families, staff and volunteers at Cabra For Youth, which is a youth service in Cabra founded over 17 years ago that engages with young people and their families. It operates both a mainstream youth service and a justice youth diversion programme. The service engages with young people from eight years of age right up into their early adult years. Last week, Cabra For Youth launched its strategic plan for the next five years. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, for maki…

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank him for coming to the House and gabhaim comhghairdeas on his appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for local government. He is an excellent choice for the role, having served as a local authority member and knowing the local authority system as intimately as he does. I have great confidence and ambition for the outcome of his local government task force. If I was to say nothing else to him today, I would tell him to get on with it more than anything. There are…

-----all put themselves forward for election out of a desire to serve their communities. I do not believe they go forward for any other reason but that. The State needs to support them. Senator Joe Conway described one of our councillors who is suffering with an illness and he said they did nothing wrong. Not only did they not do anything wrong but they did something incredibly generous and great. They gave up their time, talent, energy and life to put themselves forward to serve their local community. At a minimum…

We awoke this morning to the continuing, distressing news from Gaza. It is almost impossible to listen, watch and witness the wilful, deliberate starvation and murder of innocent people in Gaza. We also have the news today of the shooting in Washington D.C. and the two deceased there. Obviously, I offer all of our condolences and sympathies to those who knew and loved those two innocent individuals in Washington D.C. However, more than 50,000 men, women and children have lost their lives in Gaza. It is continuing a…

The first issue I raise on behalf of the Fianna Fail group is the ongoing genocide and starvation in Gaza. Since 2 March, no humanitarian aid has been delivered to Gaza, with a global hunger monitor warning that more than half a million people, which is a quarter of the population, are facing starvation. RTÉ News is reporting that the United Nations aid chief, Mr. Tom Fletcher, has very strongly criticised the Israeli-initiated and US-backed humanitarian aid distribution plan for Gaza. Mr. Fletcher described the pl…

I welcome the Minister of State and join with him and colleagues in offering deepest sympathies and condolences to the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, on the death of his dear sister, Anne Cullinane. May she rest in peace. I acknowledge the presence of the former Minister of State with responsibility for biodiversity, Senator Malcolm Noonan. During the previous Oireachtas term, I had the great pleasure of welcoming him to the great botanic gardens my constituency, where he launched the latest national biodive…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank the Minister for being here to consider this legislation which seeks to protect retail workers in their workspace. More than 300,000 people work in retail in every town, village and city in the country. They provide a vital front-line service in all our communities. What this Bill seeks to do is protect them from attack, be it verbal or physical, in their workspace. Before I speak about the Bill itself, I want to acknowledge my former Seanad colleague Deput…

I thank the Minister and the Government for not opposing this Bill. It is an appropriate response considering the cross-party support for the sentiment behind this Bill. The support exists because we all really do value workers. We value retail workers. I take the points made by the other contributors. I refer to the debate on the need to, potentially, expand the definition of workers who would be protected by this Bill or this legislative activity. Like all Members, I completely accept that legislation alone is no…