It is very easy for us to be effusive and wax lyrical about the fundamental importance of the separation of powers and an independent judiciary. It is also very hard to overstate it because it is absolutely fundamental to a functioning democracy. We can argue about the separation between the executive branch and the legislative branch another day but at least we have had a strong tradition of judicial impartiality and a strong independent Judiciary. As Deputy Howlin said, we do not have to look very far to see the …

The Department of Education has announced an alternate sitting for leaving certificate 2022 for students who have close family bereavement, Covid-19 illness or certain other categories of illness. I have been contacted by families of students with epilepsy who are trying to be included in that scheme, especially students who may experience a seizure just before or during an exam. So far they have had vague, uncertain answers on whether students with epilepsy will be included in the scheme. Can the Government give c…

I will start in that place. This motion is very important but the tapestry of legislation the Government is introducing in this area is also very important and very welcome, such as the Criminal Justice (Hate Crime) Bill, the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill. These things are very important and show we are acting. This motion and the opt-in are very important because much of the hate speech, hate organisations and far-right organisations are organising on a European-wide level, so we need to work together at…

I thank Senator Flynn for the leadership she is showing in driving the committee to deliver this report with its 84 recommendations. Tuesday was the anniversary of the day we recognised Traveller ethnicity. This has been a long struggle by the Travelling community to have their unique ethnic status recognised by the State. We did so about five years ago. While it was an important symbolic decision to make, very little has changed as a result of that. We now need more than just symbolism and words. To quote Senator …

This is a very important Bill. I was about to say that this a painful part of our past but it is not. For many people, this is a painful part of their present. It is likely to be a painful part of their future too. I hope that this Bill can help to ease that pain. Perhaps it will not be a painful part of their future, because this Bill will enable us to get truth. From truth we can get justice. From justice we can hopefully bring some healing. Ultimately, it is essential that we do that in order to help heal the sc…

It is positive we have this time to discuss the Amnesty International report and the situation in Israel and Palestine. The report has detailed a cruel system of control over Palestinians by Israel. Palestinians have been left impoverished and in a constant state of fear and anxiety. The report ultimately concludes that this occupation and control meets the definition of apartheid under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and under the United Nations anti-apartheid convention. While there has been …

Well, in my conversations with-----

In my conversations with members of the department of foreign affairs in Sweden, they told me that they had no problem and faced no restrictions. The department of foreign affairs in Sweden told me it faced no problems in terms of its programmes within Palestine after the recognition. IKEA may have had some furniture returned but that was about it. If we are not getting leverage from it and there will not be a cost from it, surely this is one small symbolic act we can do to support the Palestinians. We all stood to…

In the face of Covid, many of the education and training boards, ETBs, delivering prison education services adapted to blended learning, including the use of an in-house television channel. The logical conclusion of this is that we should start to provide in-cell technology and computers for prisoners. That is exactly what has been done in Berwyn Prison in Wrexham. It promotes prisoner education, rehabilitation and reintegration and supports the mental health of prisoners, all of which are things the Government aim…

Yesterday, I met the PhD workers' alliance, which was looking for fair treatment and an end to the exploitation of PhD researchers. Will the Government take steps similar to those taken by other EU countries like Belgium, Sweden and Holland, which have moved to recognise PhD researchers as workers with employee status, contracts, pension contributions and collective bargaining rights?

These recent reports by the Police Ombudsman are very important. They tell us again how the search for truth and justice still eludes us and indicate the efforts required to establish the truth so there can be justice and, from justice, healing. Many of the Deputies today and the Minister have rightly spoken against the British Government's proposed amnesty. It is not about truth or justice and it will not bring healing, despite what the British Government may claim. For all of us to stand full-throated against it …

Like many other Deputies, I joined the Together for Yes group outside last week, in a protest demanding safe access zones for essential health services. The Minister for Health was in the Seanad last week and was supportive of safe access zones being implemented. It is a commitment in the programme for Government. Together for Yes has written to seek the release by the Minister for Health of the legal advice that he is basing many of his decisions on. He spoke in the Seanad of extensive legal advice that he has rec…

Like many Deputies, I welcome the publication of this report. Our Defence Forces do an excellent job and need to be supported in that and recognised for the work they do for us. I spoke before in the House about the Defence Forces and said quite frequently we see them reported on in the media in negative terms, such as in the context of the crisis of recruitment, the poor pay and conditions, the poverty of Army families and the challenges we face. What we really have is a vast body of men and women whose role, job …

I welcome the recent and very positive development of the place-based leadership development programme by the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien. This is a much-needed programme that was proposed in the Nolan and Geiran reports. It is an excellent mechanism of support for communities and a grassroots, ground-up way of dealing with issues. Is the Government committed to rolling out this programme and, if so, when will it be rolled out and when will we see it for other areas? In recent weeks, Deputies, councillors…

One of the recurring themes when we talk about the legacy issues is the responsibility of the British Government to act. It does have a responsibility and I will get to it in a minute. However, we also have a responsibility here in Dublin. We are co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. As a result, we are co-guarantors of the bill of rights that has failed to be implemented; the reform of the petition of concern, which was agreed under the New Deal, New Approach agreement and has yet to be implemented and Acht …

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 and to provide for related matters. Before I start, I wish to take a very brief moment to acknowledge today as Holocaust Memorial Day.

I did not do it, a Cheann Comhairle, and therefore I want to associate myself with the remarks of other Deputies. My Bill looks at improving Ireland's response to human trafficking. Quite simply, it is fair to say we are failing as a nation to address the scourge of human trafficking. If we look at the Trafficking in Persons, TIP, Report produced by the US State Department,124 countries are ranked higher than us, that is, doing more than we are in this regard. In June 2020, we fell to the tier 2 watchlist. In June …

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I wish to raise the issue of the difficulty of schools finding replacement teachers. It is a huge problem that has been made worse by Covid. While it is a national problem, I will give one example from my own constituency of Greenhills Community College in Walkinstown, where a teacher has gone on maternity leave and the school has been unable to replace her. It has been told that it could be another five or six months. Whatever form the leaving certificate may take, there are students now who have no physics or che…

While I agree with the calls by many of the Deputies here about the importance of increased funding, much of the increased funding going into CAMHS will not make a blind bit of difference if we do not fix many of the structural problems that are there. In my experience as a child protection social worker trying to interact with CAMHS, the services are just not fit for purpose as they are currently put together. I have heard other GPs complain about standard operating procedures being inconsistently enforced and nee…