Look at the record.

Go maith ... I will start again. Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirleach. That is the effect of a Billy Bragg concert and being out a little too late last night I suspect. I want to raise the issue of Shannon Airport. A very good report was launched several weeks ago. I attended the launch along with my colleague, Deputy Maurice Quinlivan. It is a report by Oxford Economics that shows the value of Shannon Airport. More important perhaps, it calls for a change in aviation policy. I understand from the Minister of Stat…

I appreciate the opportunity to address this Bill today, which Sinn Féin will be supporting. It is crucial to recognise the origin of this Bill, which is a reactive response to revelations in England, specifically Bristol and two other hospitals, where more than 30,000 bodies or organs were retained. The Dunne inquiry, which was initiated in 2000 but was marred by delays and costs, did not provide the anticipated redress or accountability for parents whose babies' organs were sold without their knowledge. Subsequen…

I welcome the Minister of State. I ask him to make a statement about future funding under the social intervention fund for Limerick city and the implications for vital community projects. The economic and social intervention fund for Limerick city was set up under the Limerick regeneration framework implementation plan, which set out a programme of physical, social and economic interventions over a ten-year period and is due to end on 31 December. The fund has financially supported 180 social, economic and communit…

I was pleased to see a key line in the Minister of State's response, which frankly has not been confirmed to any of these groups to date, which is that the Department has agreed to continue funding for ESIF for 2024. This is a very welcome announcement. What I cannot understand, and perhaps we may be at one on this, is why those working on these key projects are being told by the council to give protective notice to their employees. I need to understand better what has happened here. As I pointed out earlier, we ha…

Over the past few weeks, the Oireachtas has been a venue for some important debates on Irish unity. Ireland's Future met 11 political parties from across Ireland, most of them with representatives elected to the Dáil and Seanad. I pay tribute to our colleague, Senator Black, for her work in that regard. They discussed how best to develop dialogue among the parties to ensure the momentum for constitutional change is expanded. The Good Friday Agreement committee discussed a report called Mapping Diversity, Negotiatin…

I begin by calling for the release of all hostages in Palestine, especially Emily Hand. The fact that children are imprisoned is one of the most horrific aspects of all of this. I remind colleagues not to forget the 173 children being interned by the Israeli authorities. That was the latest figure I could find this morning from the B'Tselem Jewish human rights group. A total of 173 children have been interned with no charges brought. They have just been imprisoned so let us remember them as well. I want to address …

I apologise that I could not be here for the Minister's speech but I have read through it. Earlier this year the National Women's Council published its report, prepared in conjunction with the Department of Justice, into domestic and sexual violence with a specific look at the intersection of the criminal justice, private family law and public law childcare processes. I will begin by highlighting a few points from that report. What is clear from the report is that the difficult and terrible experiences that women, …

My apologies; I have just come in the door. The Minister of State is very welcome. I ask him to explain these technical amendments.

I second the amendment.

I want to bring up two issues that come up all too regularly in this Chamber, unfortunately, namely, the health service and housing. I will start with the health service and the drastic news of a further extended recruitment freeze across our major hospitals. We are already in crisis. I met workers from University Hospital Limerick a couple of weeks back and they told me they fully expect the hospital to effectively turn into a nursing home through the winter because of the freeze on home helps and the fact there a…

Well said.

The meeting organised by Deputy Costello and Senator Black yesterday was really powerful. It is astonishing to see what we are continuing to witness each day. We are witnessing genocide. Like the previous speaker, I entirely endorse the Government's call for a ceasefire, but we have to do more because, as I pointed out yesterday, there are no consequences for Israel. How can that possibly be? If we can support sanctions against Russia, why can we not call for sanctions against Israel when it is engaged in the genoc…

I call for the immediate release of Emily Hand and all of the hostages held by Hamas. Once again I utterly condemn the attack by Hamas on 7 October. Horrendous as those actions were, they in no way justify what has been happening in Palestine over the past month. A total of 11,000 Palestinian citizens have been slaughtered, including more than 4,000 children. I want to quote from Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist and author who writes a regular column for Ha'aretz . A Hamas terrorist was taken out of the debris, c…

Ah, go on.

I commend my colleague, Senator Boylan, on the way she has led on this issue for some considerable time now. The Minister of State may recall that she originally wanted to amend the circular economy Bill but, regrettably, the Minister rejected that amendment at the time, which would have put the essence of this Bill into practice. I will take up Senator Kyne’s valid point on what kind of model allows this to happen. It is something we need to dwell on. Frankly, it is model of shocking exploitation and the very wors…

It is always nice to see the Minister of State but I have to be honest, I am more than disappointed that, once again, the Minister for Health has decided not to turn up. I do not know if the Minister of State is familiar with the Coen brothers movie of 2001, "The Man Who Wasn't There". It is a great movie - the Coen brothers always deliver. Perhaps they should write a sequel, "The Minister Who Wasn't There." Frankly, I can only assume it is because of embarrassment that he has, for the second time now, declined to …

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate the fact that he has gone to the best extent he can in giving me a response. I acknowledge this. I have a couple of key fundamental problems with the response. The measures taken to date are not working fully enough. Conditions continue to get worse and, in fairness, the Minister of State has acknowledged this with regard to the horrific video we have both seen. When the Minister for Health was last in the Chamber, he was in denial about the INMO figures. This is fundamen…

I wish to raise an issue around small businesses. I think one thing on which we all agree across this Chamber is the importance of small business to our economic life. I have a shocking tale of a company called FitzMac, which supplies modular buildings for schools. It has done some fantastic work across the country, including on St. Vincent's special school, Lisnagry; St. Brendan's girls' national school, the Glen, Cork; St. John's Senior National School, Kilkenny; and Emo National School, to name just a few. It ha…

I will send it on.