Yes.

I thank the Minister of State for being here. At the outset, I will say he has taken this Commencement matter from me before. He is not the Minister who I had hoped would be here this morning, unfortunately, although that is nothing against him. I am back with this Commencement matter for the third time. The responses I have received to date have been wholly inadequate. Each time, I raise this on behalf of real people who have issues trying to use a service to get to college. Each time, instead of getting straight …

I am grateful that I got some answers today but disappointed it took three attempts to get here. The answer is that the Leap card is not being extended yet to Millstreet and the Minister of State is looking at potentially putting on an early-morning train, hopefully in the near future, and is meeting with the NTA. It is great the Minister of State is willing to work with me, Senator Lynch and everybody else. He will know at first hand how it impacts people across the rural constituency I am in. I thank the Minister…

I welcome the Minister to the House.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Senator, your time is up. I will have to ask you wrap up.

Before I call the next speaker, I welcome guests in the Gallery from the Ballincollig Business Association who are guests of Senator Kelleher. You are most welcome. We all hope you enjoy your day. I call Senator Kyne.

Before I call the Minister, I welcome our visitors in the Gallery, the female Ógra from Fianna Fáil who are guests of Senator O'Loughlin. They are most welcome to the Gallery and I hope they enjoy their day.

The next speaker is Senator Stephenson from the Cross-Party Group. Does the Senator wish to share time?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I wish to raise a matter of urgent public importance concerning the deeply distressing situation facing tens of thousands of family carers across the State who are receiving retrospective tax bills from Revenue. In some cases, these bills date back years. These are not high earners or tax avoiders. These are ordinary people, many elderly, many women and many caring full-time for a spouse, child, parent or loved one with a disability or a serious illness. These are people who stepped up when the State could not and …

I move amendment No. 47: In page 25, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following: “ 12 . (1) A person may be involuntarily admitted to a registered acute mental health centre pursuant to an involuntary admission order and held there if he or she fulfils each of the criteria (in this Act referred to as the “criteria for involuntary admission”) specified in paragraph (a) : (a) a person with psychosocial disabilities or as a condition that can be described as a mental illness, the nature and degree of which is such…

The amendment proposes a new section.

Yes, it is.

I am pressing it.

I will speak to amendments Nos. 68 and 112. Amendment No. 68 is about changing the timeframe from 24 hours to 72 hours. It is not about weakening safeguards. We can look at it both ways because we are weighing up whether someone needs intervention but sometimes an assessment may not have done properly and, therefore, extra time might be required. The amendment is about ensuring safeguards that are meaningful and deliverable in practice because safeguards that cannot be implemented properly are not safeguards at all…

I move amendment No. 68: In page 37, line 7, to delete “24 hours” and substitute “72 hours”.

I was out ill last week so I was not here in the Chamber. The Minister of State can rest assured I watched both debates from home in my bed. I want to speak to section 10 in the context of a wider issue that came sharply into focus during last week's debate, and that was Ireland's repeated reliance on international human rights conventions in rhetoric without fully translating those obligations into domestic law. Last week, we heard frequent references to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities…

I was listening to the debate. Some of the questions around this were answered but some were not. I understand that it is for the Department of children but, equally, does this Bill not give us the opportunity to begin to legislate? We are quick to sign up in other Departments, for instance, the Department of justice. We opt in on Article 3 nearly every other week. We are quick to do that but when we are bound by the UN and we sign up to something, is this not the perfect legislative opportunity for us to begin to …

The Minister of State is doing a great job. There is no doubt about that. To respond to Senator Costello, there is ambition. However, what we are speaking about in terms of ambition is legislating in the context of the UN conventions we signed up to. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially Article 37, there is a right not to be deprived of liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, with detention only as a last resort and for the shortest period. The amendments in this regard were ruled out of order, bu…