I dtús báire, cuirim fáilte ar ais roimh an Aire. The Minister is welcome back. It is good to see her. Last week, at the earlier session of this Second Stage debate, my colleague, Senator Gavan, covered for me. I was in London on committee business. He outlined comprehensively where Sinn Féin stands on this Bill. Other colleagues have reflected on the importance of getting this legislation right and ensuring that it is as robust and effective as it needs to be in striking the correct balance between the right to fr…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis an Leas-Cheannaire. Ba mhaith liom labhairt faoi thoscaireacht a bhí againn go Londain an tseachtain seo. I want to reflect, if I may, on a trip that a delegation of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement made to London on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The purpose of the delegation was to make a last-ditch effort to plead with the British Parliament to scrap its legacy proposals that the Government seems determined to…

Hear, hear.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus roimh an reachtaíocht atá os ár gcomhair. Fáiltím roimh an tseal seo chun an t-ábhar seo a phlé. Gabhaim buíochas le grúpa Fhine Gael anseo sa tSeanad agus, mar atá ráite, le Young Fine Gael fosta, as an ábhar seo a fháil curtha ag croílar an tSeanaid anocht. We support the intention behind this Bill. There is unanimous support across the House at this Stage, which I hope is no surprise to colleagues across the Chamber. Sinn Féin thinks the current issue is a lack of gardaí, and a l…

I move amendment No. 116: In page 35, lines 16 to 20, to delete all words from and including “(1) The” in line 16 down to and including line 20 and substitute the following: “(1) The Chief Deciding Officer, in consultation with the Minister may, by regulation, provide for the insertion in Schedule 1 of any institution which was established for the purpose of providing maternity and infant care services and the placement of children for the purposes of adoption or care arrangements, and in respect of which a public …

I thank the Minister for his response. I do not necessarily agree with him that the amendment allows a civil servant, as he described it, to make a policy decision. The policy decision is set by the text as laid out in our amendment. The policy is clear. The individual, whoever he or she may be, is not deciding the policy. That is outlined in the rest of the amendment and, indeed, the existing text the Minister referenced. The amendment allows the chief deciding officer to, in effect, do his or her job swiftly and …

What would be wrong with broadening the scheme?

I disagree with the Minister, but the amendment is there so we will move accordingly.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Tánaiste agus fáiltím roimh an bplé agus an rún atá os ár gcomhair anocht. Seal eile atá ann chun plé tábhachtach a bheith againn i gcuimhne ar 25 bliain de Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta. I welcome the Tánaiste and thank the proposers of the motion, which I support. As the Tánaiste knows, the Good Friday Agreement has been a beacon of light in the past 100 years of darkness caused by the partition of this country. It has lit many pathways in the construction of a new political ethos, which is he…

No, I do not want to waste my time.

Go raibh maith agaibh a Chathaoirligh agus a Cheannaire. Ba mhaith liom droch-ábhar a lua ar dtús ar an drochuair. A number of weeks ago at the initiation of the Cathaoirleach, the president of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael addressed the Seanad on the really positive work the GAA does not just the length and breadth of Ireland but around the world. Senator Black mentioned the fantastic pioneering work of East Belfast GAA in County Down. Unfortunately, East Belfast GAA has been subjected to quite negative and hostile remar…

Hear, hear.

What about the train stations?

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus roimh an rún. Gabhaim buíochas le moltóirí an rúin anocht. Cuirim fearadh na fáilte roimh na cuairteoirí ó theaghlaigh 1916 atá linn sa Ghailearaí don phlé anocht. I thank the proposers of this important motion. I had not intended to speak on it. I just wanted to come in as a courtesy to Dr. Lynn and the women we are reflecting on tonight and to really listen to the contributions to learn a bit more about her. As others have said, she may have been forgotten and lost in the fo…

Go raibh maith agaibh a chairde agus ba mhaith liom fáilte is fiche a chur roimh an Uasal Ahern. I welcome Mr. Ahern to the House. Like other colleagues, I do not want to just commend his address but I also want to take the opportunity on a personal level to thank him for his role in helping to secure, with others, the Good Friday Agreement. As Mr. Ahern was speaking, I thought about the period around Christmas 1997. We all have memories of conflict in the preceding decades, if not centuries, in Ireland. I remember…

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire agus a chur roimh an reachtaíocht atá os ár gcomhair anocht. I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. As other colleagues have already said, this Bill is very welcome. The main focus of it is protecting the victims of serious crime and ensuring that two particularly brutal and violent actions, namely, non-fatal strangulation and suffocation, are brought into the legislation, as well as ensuring that there are laws that deal with these serious and terrifying crimes. Both are n…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an gCeannaire ar ais, agus déanaim comhghairdeas léi as a pósadh. I extend sympathies to Randa Musa and her family after the death on hunger strike of her husband, Khader Adnan. Khader is the victim of the punitive occupation and apartheid Israeli regime. Khader was interned 12 times under so-called administrative detention and spent a total of eight of those years imprisoned. His only option to resist the injustice of apartheid Israel was to protest using his body, something familiar to us in I…

Comhghairdeas.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus fáiltím go bhfuil an seal againn an reachtaíocht thábhachtach a phlé anseo inniu. Although the Bill is mostly administrative, as colleagues and the Minister of State have stated, there are several important elements to it that are helpful in the context of creating a fair and just society. It is welcome that the Bill omits the earlier provisions which were cruel for Irish-born children who were locked out of citizenship and faced deportation to countries they never knew. That …

Down won.