I want to begin by paying tribute to the courage, commitment and dedication to peaceful protest exhibited by Austin Currie, and to express my deepest sympathy to Senator Currie and the entire family. Last night, the "RTÉ Investigates" documentary on wardship was aired. I wish to begin by renewing my call that the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act is commenced and that we bring forward the launch of everything that needs to flow from that. The Minister has assured me on several occasions that it will be next J…

I thank the Minister for his readiness to engage with the housing committee so openly and with us.

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

At the ungodly hour of 9 a.m. last Sunday, I had my first experience of being a sideline mom at a match. I cheered on as six-year-olds played as they do, that being, not very well; but they did play. A woman beside me had a three-year-old child with her. My husband and I looked around. We thought that the little girl was gorgeous and said she was lovely. The mother told us not to judge her. I wondered what she meant, but the little girl was watching "Peppa Pig" on a phone. I told the woman there was no judgment and…

I thank the Minister of State for her statement today and her continued work and commitment. She is extraordinarily dedicated and shows a determination and will since taking up office that is to be lauded and praised, and I sincerely mean that. Her office is super: if I contact her officials, I get an immediate response. There is a sense that work is getting done and that they are listening, which is really impressive. I thank her for that. The Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People programme…

I read the name of this Bill and chills went through my veins, remembering my land law lectures with the late, great Deborah Wheeler, a barrister colleague, in the King's Inns. Certainly, this legislation is timely and good and there is no reason we should not all support it. I am sure the fears that went through rural Ireland, in particular, regarding it are something else. There are two matters I want to raise. If there is to be a review and an examination of rights of way and private property rights, two urban i…

I thank the Leader for arranging for us to discuss disabilities and the associated costs next week. At the meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters this morning, I heard a word that I never expected to hear in Leinster House or the Oireachtas. I refer to the use of the word "eugenics" during the discussion at the meeting. That is not something I ever expected to hear. A witness who was appearing before the raised the possibility that people with autism would be obliged to train themselves out of display…

There are three motions before the House. These are: No. 3, the extension of Part 3 of the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020; No. 4, the extension of Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Act 2020; and No. 5, the extension of Health (Amendment) Act 2020. The three motions will be debated together and decided separately. I call Senator Clifford-Lee to move No. 3.

I thank all the MEPs for being here. I say a special thank you to Ms Fitzgerald for the work she did with me when I was trying to get the waiver on VAT on period products to alleviate period poverty. Last week the gender equality index was published by the European Institute for Gender Equality. Ireland fared quite badly in that, particularly women in decision-making positions. We saw 58.4% out of 100 regarding the representation in the Dáil. I image we would fare a lot better if it was based on the Seanad. There a…

I echo Senator Byrne's remarks with regard to the Quinn family and their need for justice. I want to read into the record a small part of an email that I received this morning. It is similar to many emails I get all of the time. I will read just a couple of lines: My son has low vision and is registered with the NCBI. I have fought so hard over the last eight weeks and yesterday got the call that we won and the school had been allocated, the hours needed to SNA hours. They needed eight hours a week. The stress, anx…

I stand in solidarity with and support the Leader in her remarks. Last Sunday, Daniel Murray published an article in the Business Post with the headline "Government to defer legislating for international surrogacy services". I appreciate that there is momentum and that hard work is going on behind the scenes. I probably know more than most about just how much is going on and how many meetings and so on are taking place. The Ministers from the Departments of Justice, Health and Children, Equality, Disability, Integr…

I welcome this Bill and commend the Labour Party, particularly Senator Moynihan, who has been passionate on this subject. There is no question but that there has been a tremendous shortage of student accommodation. None of us has been untouched by parents contacting us. As there are Members of the Seanad from all over the country, we get a good flavour of the demands and the needs in the city. I also commend the original vision of responding to the foreseeable crisis on student accommodation while having a view of …

Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

I thank the Minister of State, as always. I really appreciate his great commitment to us in the Seanad. I really welcomed the announcement in the budget of an additional €6 million for the national drugs strategy. I have submitted this matter because we really need to understand how much of the funding is being apportioned to the drugs and alcohol tasks forces under the drugs strategy. The Minister of State is no doubt aware of the views of the chairs of the drugs and alcohol task forces around Dublin. I am privile…

I acknowledge the Minister of State’s personal commitment from the moment he took on this responsibility. He has shown an extraordinary commitment and openness in the context of listening to the sector. I welcome the breakdown of the funding allocated. I will be delighted to share that information with the chairs and co-ordinators of the drug and alcohol task forces when I go back to my office. The health model is problematic, though, when we are dealing with such a complex basket of needs. What is required is an i…

I will try.

I am particularly delighted for reasons that will become apparent that it is the Minister of State who is here, although I would have also welcomed the Minister. I will skip all the plaudits for Sláintecare. We are all behind it. There is not any lack of political will in respect of it. There never has been. That is not an issue. The issue is not a lack of money because successive Ministers have put major money behind it. There is evidence of that in the form of new primary care centres. The system and aspects of i…

On Thursday last week, I began to implement a commitment, on which I will follow through every Thursday, to speak about the issues raised in the Joint Committee on Disability Matters in this House because it is an excellent forum for us to challenge some of our thinking around what I termed last week "ableist privilege", a phrase used by one of the witnesses. This morning, the committee heard from various wheelchair users, including a fantastic woman, Ms Karen Smith, from Changing Places Ireland, and Ms Bernadette …

Absolutely.