Now.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, for her courtesy and her flexibility today in order to facilitate the passing of this Bill. I pay tribute to our activists in the Together for Safety campaign right across the State who have campaigned tirelessly and brilliantly to get us this far. Of course, we are only halfway through the journey but it is a tremendously good day for the Seanad where people of all parties have come together behind this excellent Bill from Together for Safety, because women and …

Well said.

I welcome the Minister. It is always good to see him. We know that the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus is more contagious. It is still spreading very fast. As the Minister has indicated, thankfully it appears to be less severe. ICU numbers remain fairly low, although each person in ICU is one too many. In the context of cases, the numbers are small. It is important to note that the virus is still very dangerous for immunocompromised people. Speaking as one of those people, I have no doubt that the vaccines an…

The Cathaoirleach will be glad to know that I will be very brief. I warmly congratulate Senator Clonan. What a wonderful first speech he has made this morning. It is great to have him among us. I look forward to working with him. We are taking Report and Final Stages of the Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill 2021 on Thursday. I appeal to Senators of all parties to come out for the photocall at 12.30 p.m. on Thursday. Completing the progress of this Bill will be very important and very significant…

Well said.

It is always good to see the Minister of State. I need to bring him back to the 1990s, when a number of what were known as regional orthodontic units were set up around the country to treat children who needed dental work on public waiting lists. At the time, waiting lists were very long but, within a few years, the regional units proved very successful at reducing waiting times. In fact, in Dublin and the mid-Leinster area, we understand waiting lists were more than halved from 18,000 children to approximately 6,0…

I thank the Minister of State for putting on record that he will chase this up. That is very welcome because I understand that, as RTÉ confirmed in its report in 2019, the two UK experts who were engaged to do the report secured assurances that it would be published. Unfortunately, those assurances have been reneged on by the HSE. As the Minister of State noted, it is completely unacceptable. I am placing my faith in the Minister of State because the scripted response he was handed by his colleagues in the Departme…

I do not want to begin on a negative note, but it is unfortunate to hear the phrase "so-called transgender rights" from Senator Mullen. Sinn Féin stands clearly in support of transgender rights-----

-----and I hope that all parties will stand clearly in support of transgender rights. I wish to put that on the record.

I welcome the Leader back and thank her for scheduling the Fourth and Final Stages of our Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill for next Thursday. This is very much a cross-party initiative. It has received support and, indeed, signatures from almost every party here. It means a great deal to many people. I place on record my thanks to the Leader in that regard. My understanding is the Government has promised to bring forward a Bill of its own but the latest news is that there is no timeline for tha…

Ultimately, we will not see the sort of fundamental change we need to secure our airports unless that regional balance is incorporated into Government policy at the highest levels. I call for a debate on that subject and for the Minister for Transport to address the House on it.

Hear, hear.

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a fair bit of the conference being held next door by Sadaka today. The theme is dismantling Israeli apartheid and developing Ireland's strategy. The keynote speaker was Michael Lynk, who is the UN special rapporteur on human rights for the occupied territories. He has written six reports and he was absolutely clear today that Israel is an apartheid state. In making that statement, he joined not only Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch but 450 human rights organisatio…

He has said: A Palestinian state will endanger our existence ... I will not divide Jerusalem, I will not evacuate any [settlements] The one disappointing part of the engagement with Sadaka today was the fact that every political party was invited to send representatives. Just two parties did not bother. It will not surprise anyone to learn those two parties were Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I commend Senator Martin, who did attend and spoke very ably on the issue. I want to say very directly to the Acting Leader that…

I second the amendment.

With the permission of the Acting Chair, I would like to welcome the people in the Gallery. We have a number of workers and some of their families here. They have travelled all the way up from County Kerry. That was a long journey for them today. My heart goes out to them. Due to the fact that all of Sinn Féin’s amendments have been ruled out of order, I do not see the scope to raise the key item that they would like to hear about, which is just compensation. In its own way, that is outrageous. Let me be clear that…

With respect, the Acting Chair can dismiss me by all means, but please do not dismiss the people who are sitting behind me. They have found that their livelihoods are about to be snuffed out-----

-----and the Minister has consistently refused to offer decent compensation-----

-----or any words of reassurance.