I am grateful to the Minister of State for taking the debate at this hour of a Thursday evening. This is an issue where choosing the forum in which to raise it is difficult, because it involves a number of State and semi-State bodies. It is hard to ascertain directly through parliamentary questions what role the Minister can have. That is where I have combined two or three efforts into one for this evening. The first is with regard to the timetabling of the Dublin Bus schedule in south County Dublin, namely, the 44…

I thank the Minister of State sincerely for that comprehensive response. I appreciate the many efforts and initiatives being taken by this Government with regard to public transport provision across the State but particularly in the Dublin region. Having engaged, or attempted to engage, with the Minister for Transport via parliamentary questions, letters and other means, I fully appreciate the responsibilities of the Department and Government are related to policy and funding as opposed to operations, which is with…

I welcome that the committee is due to meet on 7 March. At that meeting, does the Taoiseach expect a full discussion on contingency planning and an impact assessment on Ireland due to the potential for the escalation of conflict on the border of Ukraine? The European Council is not due to meet again until after 24 or 25 March. Is there an appetite for, or does the Taoiseach believe there is a need for, an emergency meeting of the European Council and therefore an earlier emergency meeting of the Cabinet subcommitte…

At the outset, I extend my condolences and sympathies to the family of the former DUP MLA from Belfast, Christopher Stalford, on his untimely death over the weekend. All of us in the House can agree that there is a gap regarding not just North-South relations but relations within Northern Ireland. It is a gap that the shared island dialogue has a great opportunity to fill. I ask the Taoiseach to outline whether there is an appetite to increase the ambition in this calendar year to fill that gap. I look forward to t…

I am sharing time with Deputy Patrick Costello. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute to another important and poignant discussion on the deep, dark legacy issues that beset all of us on this island regardless of political tradition, geography, age or demographic status. The more we discuss these issues, the more clear, evident and important it becomes that we ensure that full justice is always delivered to all victims of a really dark period in our shared history, a shared and painful past that deserv…

I join colleagues in welcoming the Ukrainian ambassador to the Chamber. Tonight we are all speaking slightly at a remove, based on facts, figures and reports in the media. Our ambassador has family and friends at home, as do all her team. We have to put them at the front of our minds. This is not something they are watching on CNN. It is people's lives and livelihoods. Kilometres away from their front door are 150,000 Russian troops who are not there to keep the peace and are certainly not there for sightseeing. Th…

-----but I would call on Deputy Brady to reflect on it.

I heard what the Deputy said.

I heard what he said and am responding directly to his comments.

I did not interrupt the Deputy when he was speaking. Deputies in this House have talked about building an anti-war coalition. Does one know what happens to anti-war protesters on the streets of Moscow? They get locked up and are never heard from again. It is an utter fantasy that we can grasp our hands and pretend this does not involve us, that we can keep our mind out of it and that it is a matter of two equal aggressors. This is not about two equal aggressors. I am referring to the nonsense about NATO expansion. …

Four years on from the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing, what is the status of the introduction of body-worn cameras for members of An Garda Síochána?

I welcome the response of the Minister. I am grateful for it. It is worth noting that in the four years since the Commission on the Future of Policing recommended the introduction of body-worn cameras, 3,381 members of An Garda Síochána have been assaulted in the line of duty. Between 2018 and 2020, there was a 45% increase in assaults. I appreciate the Bill is particularly complex legislation and there are so many areas that need to be considered, but it is time to truly react to the desires not just of communitie…

I welcome the response of the Minister. I commit to supporting her on this. It is worth noting that body-worn cameras have been in use on Luas trams since 2009. They are a normal and practical part of everyday policing across Europe. What exchanges, if any, have been had between officials of her Department or members of An Garda Síochána and other police forces and administrations in the EU or the UK that have brought in legislation to enable them to ensure body-worn cameras are watertight in so many areas?

Yesterday we welcomed the announcement by the European Court of Justice that it had dismissed the appeal by the Hungarian and Polish Governments in respect of the European Commission's new-found ability to withhold funding from those countries due to flagrant breaches of the rule of law. Will the Government now urge European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to use that new law to make it clear that European citizens can continue to live in free democracies where the rule of law comes foremost rather than b…

A bit closer to home, the political events in Northern Ireland continue to mystify and trouble many of us on this island. It is about time that the Taoiseach and, more particularly, British Prime Minister, really engaged with this process. I am asking for the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to be convened and for a full engagement on the part of the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in order to ensure that the people of Nort…

I wish to share time with Deputy McGuinness. I have a well-prepared few remarks here but, much like myself and Deputy Paul Murphy 20 years ago in the debating chambers of University College Dublin, UCD, we might as well respond to one another because that is why we are here. I will not necessarily be giving the Minister "soft points", as Deputy Barry has being laying out, but I will be making some of the points to the Minister that I have made to him in person, at our party meetings and publicly. This report is a w…

I am slightly concerned about what bedtime stories in the Carroll MacNeill household contain but I am grateful to Deputy Higgins for that elusive comment. I sincerely welcome this Bill and I thank Deputy Carroll MacNeill for introducing it. If it was not for a global pandemic, there is no chance I would have had any paternity leave with my second child. I distinctly remember leaving the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street for a vote in the Seanad two days after the birth of my first child. It was not much …

Across the State, the cost of childcare is continuing to have an impact on families, on businesses and on all of society. In my constituency of Dublin Rathdown, families are paying up to €1,500 per month, which is essentially a second mortgage. While it is extremely welcome that the universal subsidy has had an impact, for some families it amounts to only €80 per month. In light of the rising costs in the general economy, will the Government look at widening that universal subsidy and, more importantly, look at a g…

I am sharing time with Deputy Jim O'Callaghan. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. It is very interesting to hear Deputies say we are being forced by a European directive. Do people not understand how European directives are created? They are done with the co-operation of the Government through the European Council and with the co-operation of Irish MEPs in Europe. I fundamentally welcome this and I welcome the work the Government has done with European partners to ensure th…

Over the last six years, the people of this island, particularly those in Northern Ireland, have been used as a political plaything by the forces that have driven Brexit. With the announcement last night of the suspension of checks and the rumours that the First Minister is due to resign, once again the people of Northern Ireland are being put at risk. A collapse of Stormont will see no budget being passed by the assembly and no apologies given for institutional abuse. We will again see the people of Northern Irela…