There is a broad consensus across this House that this Bill is long overdue. My colleague, an Teachta Ó Broin, informs me there has been significant pre-legislative scrutiny of it at committee level. This is important legislation. It is clear that our electoral system, and the register of electors, is in dire need of modernisation. This Bill will see the creation of an independent electoral commission and better regulation of online advertising and the use of online platforms during elections. This Bill provides an…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Sick Leave Bill. Sinn Féin fully supports the introduction of a statutory sick pay scheme. We support this Bill and have argued for such a scheme for decades. The Bill has been broadly welcomed by trade unions, many of which were instrumental in lobbying for it. As a former shop steward, I urge all workers to join a union to help them make advances in pay, terms and conditions for all workers. We support the aim of the Bill but it is not without flaws. The lack of free and …

As Deputy Tully has said, the Bill ensures that people with a disability and older people receive a timely decision on their applications for housing adaptation grants. As co-sponsor of the Bill, I would like to compliment Deputy Tully on all her hard work on this. If the Bill progresses, local authorities administering the housing adaptation grant for people with a disability shall, as far as is practicable, progress applications for the grant within a period of not more than four weeks from the date of receipt of…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I will not say to him I am over the moon. I am anything but over the moon. I am very disappointed. As Deputy Tully has said, our population is ageing. As Sinn Féin spokesperson for older people, I deal with older people every day. These are people who may not be able to get up a flight of stairs, to get to a bathroom or to get outside their doors because they do not have ramps or handrails. Sometimes the simplest of things would make life better. I take on board what …

Will the Government commit to reintroducing the energy guarantee for older persons, which would provide a minimum quantity of energy for all older persons as part of a comprehensive new national energy poverty strategy? Will it further commit to indexing this to the changing cost of energy in order that older people will always be assured of a minimum quantity of energy to keep their homes warm? The Government's main policy is the fuel allowance payment but two thirds of older persons do not receive it, as the Taoi…

I have read the 11 pages of conclusions following the recent European Council meeting and I have less than two minutes so I will just pick out a couple of points. It is clear from the meeting that the EU recognises that we have a cost-of-living crisis and that a significant part of this is energy costs. While the EU is willing to act we need clarity on how it will do so as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Government must act to alleviate the pressure people are under. I spoke to a lady yesterday who had just …

The latest IPCC report has highlighted that, to limit global warming, major changes in the energy sector will be required. It effectively says that we are sleepwalking into a climate catastrophe. Under current plans, the next generation of offshore wind farms will not produce electricity until 2026 at the earliest while a microgeneration scheme that pays households for producing excess green electricity is still not in place. There have been too many delays, announcements and re-announcements. This is not good enou…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this topic. Sinn Féin has been to fore in the area of women's health with a number of progressive proposals in our 2020 election manifesto. The area of health has been a sphere in which inequalities are particularly acute for women. From the outrageous wrongdoings of thalidomide and symphysiotomy of the past to the more recent vaginal mesh implant and CervicalCheck scandals, we can see where inequalities have existed and where they continue to recur. On the subject of thalidomi…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Many of the measures are long overdue. In general, Sinn Féin will support the Bill. We will engage and bring forward amendments, where appropriate, on Committee Stage. The Bill will have far-reaching consequences and a much greater effect than the blunt instrument of carbon taxes the Government is heaping on ordinary workers and families. On 1 May, just over one month from now, the Government will add fuel to the fire and punish those who cannot afford to change their…

On page 120, the programme for Government commits to holding a referendum on housing. There are almost 7,000 people on the housing list in Kildare and there is a ten-year to 12-year wait for allocations. There is no sense of urgency in dealing with this issue. We need to build public homes on public land. If there is not enough suitable public land, we need to acquire it through compulsory purchase order. It is not acceptable for families with young children to live long-term in substandard accommodation or in hote…

I also welcome this Bill. As my colleague Deputy Cullinane has said, it will ensure AHR practices and related areas of research are conducted in a more consistent way and with the oversight of a new watchdog, the AHR regulatory authority. Under the legislation, this new regulatory authority will be responsible for regulating treatments such as IVF and licensing and regulating domestic altruistic surrogacy, pre-implantation genetic diagnoses and other embryo screening procedures, as well as posthumous assisted human…

On page 25 of the programme for Government there are promises to: - Review the policy framework within which Credit Unions operate. - Enable and support the Credit Union movement to grow. - Support Credit Unions in the expansion of services, to encourage community development. What progress has been made to ensure that our credit unions, which stuck with rural Ireland while the commercial banks abandoned it, are being supported?

I was asking the same question around the dereliction at the Curragh Camp in County Kildare. I am very disappointed to hear there are no plans. The Minister says it is the policy of the Minister with responsibility for housing but previously the Department of Defence said it had engaged with Kildare County Council about a number of houses in the Orchard Park estate on the Curragh and was prepared to work with the council on some remaining properties. I am asking whether it is in fact prepared to do so. We have a ho…

I visited the Curragh Camp three weeks ago and saw the dereliction at first hand. I am sure the Minister has visited it several times. He will be aware of the filling in of the hollow at Donnelly's Hollow there. It seems to contain the remains of demolished buildings, although there has been a cover-up subsequently. I have asked several parliamentary questions on this matter but am not waiting for a reply any time soon. The Curragh's community has suffered greatly and is now losing a school as well. We have soldier…

I certainly will. That will be no problem.

The main purpose of the Consumer Credit (Amendment) Bill 2022 is to restrict the total cost of credit on moneylending loans. Under this Government, moneylenders are permitted to charge an annual percentage rate of 187%. That rises to 288% once collection charges are included. When compared with more affordable sources of credit, such as credit unions that have an APR of no more 12.67%, there are no grounds upon which such high rates can be justified. In 2013, the Central Bank published a report that found typical m…

This Bill will give legislative effect for extensions to the EWSS and the CRSS. It also introduces the so-called pandemic special recognition payment or the Covid bonus. While this is welcome, it comes late and with qualifying criteria that are far too narrow. The Government's mushroom management means that everybody is kept in the dark until the latest reactionary leak. Even now, there is a continuing lack of clarity over who will meet the criteria to qualify for the bonus. The Government must include family carer…

Guím Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan sona ar gach duine laistigh agus lasmuigh den Teach. I would like to pay tribute to the many women who are helping other women to navigate the misogyny that still exists all over the world. I attended the rally at Leinster House on Saturday and the event that followed in the Gresham Hotel. I heard many uplifting stories from Joanne O'Riordan, Karen Kiernan, Miriam Holt and Dr. Salome Mbugua. The speaker who really resonated with me was Anne Clarke of the Offaly domestic violence suppor…

I commend Galway woman Catherine Corless, whose tireless and painstaking work uncovered that 796 children had died in the Bon Secours mother and baby institution. I will not call it a home. She identified that there were death certificates but no burial records. The manner in which children's remains were discarded at this site was absolutely outrageous, and but for the work of Catherine Corless, we would probably not even know about it. She shone a light into the darkest part of our history and forced us to confro…

I thank the Minister. I appreciate that.