Since January, the families of more than 30 Irish citizens have received reports from the Police Ombudsman in the North. These reports detail actions by RUC officers and members of the British Army that range from the distribution of weapons, the provision of intelligence documents, the destruction of evidence, the deliberate failure to warn persons of a threat to life in the weeks before they or their loved ones were murdered, and the protection of agents involved in murder from investigation or prosecution, to th…

I welcome the recently announced citizens' assemblies on a directly elected mayor and biodiversity. However, the Government has failed to prepare for a Border poll, just like the British Tories failed to prepare for Brexit. I would like to focus on the issue of the citizens' assembly on drugs. Deputy Gould outlined the stark statistics regarding how drugs affected another generation of young people. People in our communities are dying every day and the so-called war on drugs has failed miserably. For decades, our c…

Could the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, report on the closure of Benefacts, which provided customised data to the community and voluntary sector? What plans are in place to replace this incredibly important service?

I am disappointed with the answer because it is important to have independent verification of information and data. Benefacts provided Ireland's only comprehensive and publicly available database of civil society, non-profit and voluntary organisations in Ireland. It provided specialised data services to the non-profit sector, State and others. The support it received enabled it to deliver a comprehensive database of all Irish non-profit organisations. It was updated daily and represented a unique compendium of Ire…

The worrying part is that the Minister of State's Department may put something in place. He has acknowledged the importance of a group or organisation collating all the data. I note that there are 34,000 organisations and 165,000 people who are employed. There is much information and data out there that are really important to policymakers and non-governmental organisations for them to be able to put cases forward in relation to the community, voluntary and charity sector. As I said, and I will say it again, I am c…

I should be on the list.

I welcome the legislation in respect of protected disclosures. My experience of the process has been shocking, to be honest. I have been dealing with a case in which, one year later, the person making a protected disclosure is still waiting for anything to happen. Complaints were made to the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council, the HSE, the Health and Safety Authority, public health and HIQA, yet not one of these groups would take the case because a private Covid-19 testing centre had no statutory body looking afte…

I also want to raise the issue of solar panels on schools. I recently visited St. Philip's senior national school which has been awarded a grant for a major refurbishment of the school's walls and ceilings. It would be a shame not to have solar panels installed while that refurbishment work is being done. It is really important that the Government brings forward that exemption. According to a recent report from Stanford University, solar panels would meet 75% of schools' energy costs and would reduce the carbon foo…

The latest daft.ie report makes sobering reading. It confirms what we on these benches have been saying for a long time. Rents in Dublin West are up 11%. A lone parent in our constituency contacted me this week to say a landlord had increased the rent well beyond the rent restrictions. How is that landlord doing it? The landlord is charging my constituent €400 for a parking spot that the landlord does not pay for. The tenant does not even own a car. A person in receipt of a housing assistance payment, HAP, who rece…

The Bill makes the HSE accountable to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for the management of delivery of the specialist community-based disability services and the development of a service plan, a corporate plan and capital plans. I hope this is not just about rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. The focus should be on improving disability services. In my opinion, the Act on its own will deliver nothing on the ground. What the people are asking is what it means to the hun…

I am happy to support this motion and thank Deputy Barry for bringing it forward. Let us make one thing clear, namely, that for anybody who looks and applies for a job, the minimum wage is now the starting wage for most companies. We have one of the highest rates of low pay in the developed world, with 20% of our workers in low-paid jobs and 50% of women currently earning €20,000 or less. That needs to be addressed. A full-time worker on the minimum wage only earns €1,774 before tax and USC. Take away rent, mortgag…

I first commend the bravery and determination of these women in their pursuit of truth and justice. There should be no delay by this Government in the implementation of a commission of investigation into allegations by the Women of Honour. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, can do the right thing here and I implore him to do that. The State must stand up to the perpetrators of abuse towards women and let them see that their alleged positions of superiority do not become a hiding place for their actions. I receive weekly…

I also welcome the Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Bill 2022. I thank Deputy O'Reilly of Sinn Féin, who brought a similar Bill forward on 18 March last year. Many hundreds of thousands of workers have faced a terrible time during the pandemic, especially during the periods when most businesses were ordered by the Government to shut down their operations. This caused enormous stress for workers. It is to be hoped this Bill will ensure that no workers will lose out through no fault of their own. I also welcome that t…

I thank Deputies Mairéad Farrell and Clarke for bringing this Bill forward. Freedom of information is extremely important in terms of openness, transparency and, most important, accountability. I listened to the Minister of State's reply and I cannot understand his opposition to the Bill or his amendment, or why the Government will be kicking this down the road for another nine months. As has been said, this Bill will broaden the current remit of FOI by requiring the Minister to conduct an annual review of public b…

I will raise the issue of disability day services in Dublin West. I have raised this issue on several occasions previously. Karl attends a service in our community. For the past two years, his family did everything right. They socially distanced, they accepted a service that had to close during lockdowns and they got their vaccines and boosters. They were willing to go the extra mile to keep themselves, their son and his friends well. However, the family have gone from being extremely supportive to deeply frustrate…

I welcome the Taoiseach’s call for a nationwide audit of CAMHS because the report today makes for shocking reading indeed. Thankfully, the stigma around mental health is lessening in recent years, thanks to societal changes and organisations in my own area such as Jigsaw Dublin 15, Suicide Awareness Dublin 15, and other similar organisations throughout the State. Emergency medical services are 24-7 and we must have mental health services that are 24-7. We also need to assist community organisations to provide menta…

I extend my condolences to Ashling's family, her partner, her friends, neighbours, colleagues, and her students. I stood with hundreds of people in Dublin West at the Draíocht Theatre when Ashling was remembered. People expressed their horror at the violence she had experienced. We also remembered those women in Dublin West over the years who were murdered by men. They were Miriam O'Donohue, Eugenia Bratis, Anne Colomines, Jean Eagers, Linda Evans, Michaela Davis, Bente Carroll, Anna Finnegan, Marilyn Rynn, and Ana…

I commend the teachers and the other school staff. I know how hard they work and have been working over recent years in extremely difficult circumstances. As a parent of a leaving certificate student, I can tell the Minister that this is a very stressful period for both the students and the parents of many of those students. She can take it as a fact that I have been getting a large number of emails from students who say time and time again that what they have experienced over the past year has been extremely diffi…

While this Bills seem like a step forward, it takes several steps back, unfortunately, and I am getting a huge response from people who have said that it does not go far enough. They have said that they find the Government spin that this Bill is a win for adoptees as most disappointing. I welcome the Minister's attempt to change antiquated adoption regulations and bring us in line with international norms. Unfortunately, it seems this Bill does not go far enough. Unrestricted access to birth certificates and inform…

This week Oxfam published a report on the obscene amount of wealth in the hands of just a few. Ireland has the fifth largest number of billionaires in the world relative to its population. The world's ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion. At the same time, the poorest workers and families in society have seen a drop in income. Those ten men now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people. Imagine, if we had a fair taxation system, what our health ser…