I thank the Minister. We wish him well and thank him for his hard work on our behalf.

I highlight a group of people who have been a little forgotten. Throughout Covid, people have been admitted to hospital who are elderly and may suffer from early forms of dementia and other illnesses such that their release from hospital is dependent on their getting home care packages, and it may be their first home care package. There has been a delay in that regard, although that is a separate issue that probably deserves its own debate. As a result of the delay, they remain in hospital. In other circumstances, …

Thank you.

Thank you Senator Higgins. I need to ask you to stop.

I ask Members to stick to the speaking times. There will be Senators on the list who will not get to speak at this rate.

I allowed Senator McDowell some indulgence because I have a great deal of sympathy for what he had to say. The next speaking slot is Senator Kyne who is sharing time with Senator Burke. Is that agreed? Agreed.

In the remaining time Senators Ahearn and Buttimer will have three minutes each. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Before I hand over to the Minister, I congratulate him for the vaccine programme. It has brought a great sense of relief as people are vaccinated, and within my own family. We stood outside, where there was a powerful demonstration with pilots. I think we need to open up our aviation sector. I support antigen testing. Obviously, we must tell people how to do it properly. I believe the Minister has experienced the frustration across the House due to the draconian measures and in the administration of legislation. We…

I welcome the Minister back to the House. I support this legislation, which together with the Land Development Agency Bill 2021, will provide much-needed social and affordable housing to purchase and rent in this State. Most modest earners are locked out of the housing market. They do not earn enough such that three and a half times their salary will yield them a mortgage that will buy them a property. However, perversely, they can pay 40% or more of their wages and salaries in rent. This group are living with pare…

I bet it does not.

I thank the Labour Party Senators. I welcome the opportunity to endorse the introduction of statutory leave to support the experience of miscarriage and reproductive health. I believe that this leave will be provided for during the tenure of this Government as it is the next logical provision to build on what has been an evolving framework for family supports, under my own party in government for the last ten years. In the devastation of pregnancy loss, especially early pregnancy, couples need time off together. Bo…

Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. in the convention centre.

I, too, want to address the cyberattack and the consequences of it. We need a debate on the security of our State. It is devastating for those who are left wondering when their appointments will be held over the coming weeks. At the same time, I commend the work done in the past few days. Our data was clearly kept in silos. Our data is allegedly kept in silos in Clonshaugh and, as a result, the Department of Health was protected from the detonation of a further attack. It has yet to be revealed what else has been p…

I move: That Seanad Éireann: acknowledges that: - Ireland recognises the contribution young people make to our society, including working and volunteering in their communities and through their advocacy on national and global issues; - the Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution enshrined the rights of the child in Irish law; - the establishment of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth was the express provision by Government to ensure the vindication of those rights; - the youth…

I thank the Minister and all my colleagues in the House. This is a good time to have had two hours dedicated to young people. It is the least they deserve. In the discussion we have highlighted their challenges, how they have overcome their challenges and how extraordinary they have been in the last year. I used to talk a great deal about resilience, and many community reports and so forth have the word "resilience" in their titles. I have become very uncomfortable with it because there are some people who have not…

I thank the Minister for his statement and for the strength of his position over the weekend. As a Government colleague and a party colleague I wish to express my pride in how he has represented our country and spoken on its behalf on the international stage. Since he gave his speech here I have received messages asking me to convey thanks and pride to him. We need to speak out strongly and convey our horror and how appalled we are that there are children and families in such situations, particularly those describe…

I move: That Seanad Éireann: recognises: - the important role that carers play in looking after our loved ones in their homes; - the importance of family supports, where available, in caring for loved ones; - that in 2020, the Irish Health Survey showed that there were over 500,000 family carers in Ireland and of that, 88,900 are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance and over 52% of carers work outside the home in paid employment in addition to their role as carer; - that family carers, while undoubtedly cherishing their…

I thank the Minster of State, Deputy Feighan, for taking this motion. I thank my Fine Gael colleagues who are united in support of carers, particularly Senator Kyne, who co-authored the motion, and Senator Conway, for yielding his spokesperson entitlements to me to allow me to propose the motion. I am very grateful to our Seanad team. Throughout our country every day, family members care for their loved ones in the most dedicated and selfless of ways. Some do so while also working full and part-time jobs, and they …

I thank the Minister of State for taking this debate and for accepting the motion. I thank all contributors across the House. It has been very good to hear about not only the matters we crafted into the motion, but all of those additional matters. We will come away from this debate having seen an emphasis on means testing and the financing of carers. Senator Mullen said that it should not be about the money and that it is almost offensive to talk about it but this is actually all about the money. Platitudes and tha…

It is not personal.