I rise in solidarity with Cara Darmody, the 14-year-old-girl who is currently outside and has been since yesterday. She has been mentioned in the Chamber already, but I am going to run through a couple of things again. She plans to protest for 15 hours. I want us to take a moment to visualise this situation: a 14-year-old-girl is sleeping in a tent because she feels she has no choice but to take this drastic measure to get our attention. She is doing this on behalf of her two brothers and the people of Ireland who …

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank her for her time. We appreciate it. I also welcome our guests and hope they are having a good day. Hopefully, it continues the way it started. I thank my colleagues for bringing forward this important Bill. The principle at its heart, that socioeconomic disadvantage should not be a basis for discrimination, is something we can and should support. This is not a new conversation. In fact, the need to examine the inclusion of socioeconomic status under the Employment Equal…

I will try to keep the story quick. I was approached last week by the daughter-in-law of an elderly man who lives in Donegal who has been an amputee since the eighties. To briefly share how he lost his leg, it was in a farming accident. When I heard what he did straight away after the accident, I could not believe it. He picked up the leg that was severed in a tractor accident, hopped up the field, got into his car, drove to his house and then said he needed to go get help. Aside from the fact he is a living legend…

I thank the Minister for her time. I am conscious that she has covered some of the things I am going to mention but I will cover them anyway. This week, we celebrate the strength, resilience and achievements of women across Ireland, but as we take pride in our progress, we must also confront the gaps that have a profound impact on women's lives. Today, I am addressing the gaps in women's healthcare. Women in Ireland are more likely than men to experience delays in diagnosis and longer waiting times for treatment. C…

I would like to talk about Little Angels, an incredible school in Letterkenny, County Donegal. This is my second time today talking about the school and I will continue to talk about it until we resolve the issue that I am about to share. Little Angels is a special needs school that has been in operation for decades in Letterkenny. It caters for pupils ranging from the ages of three to 18. The previous school, which we visited last year, while offering excellent services was not big enough and therefore a new state…

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I want to start by saying it is an absolute honour to be nominated for the second time by the former Taoiseach and current Tánaiste, Simon Harris. Like many of the people here today, I come from a background that was far from the ordinary. My disability advocacy brought me here last July. If it was not for my Fine Gael colleagues who, thank God, took me under their wing, I do not know what I would have done. It is very daunting to stand up here and speak in front of so many seasone…

I would like to raise the issue of defective concrete blocks and ask for an update on increased payments. When I became a Senator, the first thing I did was take it upon myself to visit the families affected by this devastation. There were no cameras or fanfare; it was just me sitting down with families. What I saw I will never forget. We need an update and for this to be taken seriously. Every single person in Donegal has been affected by this, my family included. I was led to believe that an update was coming and…

I have so much that I want to say but I have only three minutes. For a Donegal woman, three minutes is not a long time. As we all know, we like to talk. First and foremost, I thank everybody in this room. I have been welcomed warmly, as have my family who are here today. I am so honoured to see them here, including my fiancé. We have been given the warmest welcome and I thank everyone for that. I also thank the Taoiseach because without his nomination, obviously I would not be here. This is an incredible personal h…