I transmitted those questions this morning, having previously transmitted them yesterday morning and I am awaiting a response. I, too, am satisfied that we have lots of rules and legislation and even more legislation all the time. However, I am not happy that they are being applied because they are not. This is an instance in which they were not. When it was raised in the public media last week, we were told there was a review. However, the judgment was handed down. It is not me raising a concern. The High Court st…

That would be entirely unacceptable.

When?

Last week after it appeared in the media-----

That is two months after the judgment was handed down. The Taoiseach is not serious about this at all.

Yes, I thank the Taoiseach.

Only after it appeared in the media.

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to give effect to the State's obligations arising under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and under customary international humanitarian law; and for that purpose to make it an offence for a person to import or sell goods or services originating in a state alleged to be in violation of its obligations under the Conventio…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time".

In March, the High Court struck down returns to the UK. The judgment states that in October 2021: the UK authorities advised that the Applicant had been convicted on an offence [...] in the UK and was in consequence registered as a sex offender. It appears that this information had been redacted by reason of data protection concerns before being placed on [his] immigration file. It also states: an " alert " was subsequently created on the 14th of January, 2022 on Applicant A's file [...] on the Minister’s database.…

Do you have confidence in the Department?

Do you have confidence in the Department?

This is Harry Whelehan territory.

Last week, we heard the chilling words of Aoife Johnston's mother, "we told her she would be looked after, but she wasn't. We told her she was in the best place". That has destroyed what little confidence there was in the mid-west in the accident and emergency unit. We are good at addressing the injustices of 40 or 50 years ago in this House. That is absolutely necessary and I commend the Taoiseach on it. However, we need to deal with the injustices and failings of the State today. Can we find time to discuss the a…

I listened carefully to what the Taoiseach said earlier. He told Deputy McDonald about the importance of this State being able to frame its own migration policy. He told Deputy Bacik about how important the open border with Northern Ireland remains. That is exactly what the Irish people voted for in the Lisbon treaty when we had an opt-out on the asylum area. Some aspects of the migration pact are beneficial to this State but others are not. There are ten different legal instruments, all of which were voted on sepa…

The Government supports the nature restoration law at European level. That law contains some important and admirable ambitions. The problem is that there is a lack of a dedicated funding mechanism, or any funding mechanism at all, for farmers who will be required to reduce or abandon farming activity on lands governed by the law. At a domestic level, the Government stopped funding the BurrenLIFE project and the hen harrier project in respect of farms on designated lands. The Minister was to discuss with his Cabinet…

I am sharing time. I find myself, as is often if not always the case, in agreement with what Deputy McGuinness said but I acknowledge that farm inspections, for example, have been eased in the circumstances, which has come as some small relief to farmers given the pressure they were under. In the brief time available, I will discuss the fodder transport scheme. While it is well intentioned, I simply do not understand the 75 km rule, whereby the fodder has to be transported for at least that distance. I understand t…

I just wanted to make a very brief point. I greatly welcome the apology that is going to take place today. It is grossly overdue.

No, it is on the Order of Business. We also need to deal----

----with apologies for what is happening now, in particular what is happening at University Hospital Limerick.