I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

Gabhaim mo leithscéal. I am afraid I have to speak in English. I want to speak in support of the point made by Senator Higgins. I am extremely concerned about the Government's rush to privatise our job services. I have been contacted by people in Galway, Limerick and throughout the west, in particular. The Senator makes a valid point. Why not take advantage of this Bill in a constructive way to give a weighting to the Irish language? It is the right thing to do. It is also a means of protecting those jobs that othe…

It is a sign.

Like others, I listened to Peter Tyndall, the Ombudsman, speak this morning about his frustration regarding the abject failure of successive Governments to assist people with disabilities with transport schemes. We know that two key schemes were scrapped in 2013, namely, the mobility transport grant and the mobility allowance. These were grants which allowed people to purchase motorised vehicles or to access taxis to go to work, to shop and to take part in the life of their communities. It is bad enough that they w…

I thank the Leader.

I do not know if colleagues were able to listen to Dr. Andrew Westbrook on "Morning Ireland" today. He is the ICU consultant for St. Vincent's University Hospital. He painted a very worrying picture on the current situation in relation to ICU beds. There are currently 119 patients in ICU, which is up 31 from one week ago. Dr. Westbrook also went into some detail on what has not happened in our health service over the past decade and more. He referred to the report produced by the Prospectus Group in 2009. I took th…

Well said.

Hear, hear.

Well said.

I will raise two issues. The first is the ongoing and horrendous plight of patients and staff in University Hospital Limerick. We hit a new record yesterday when there were 95 patients on trolleys and chairs. For 11 years, we have had this ongoing story of failure. Let us be absolutely clear about that. The situation continues to get worse. The numbers do not really tell the story. I had a call from a lady last week, a trade union colleague, who endured three days on a trolley before getting a bed. She then had an …

We are all under pressure. I will give way to Senator Ruane as she has to leave shortly. I will speak after that if that is all right.

The Minister is welcome. We live in extraordinary times. Who would have thought that a man such as John Major would describe his party leader as acting to break his word, break treaties and break the law? That was a huge and ringing condemnation of his party and government. It is important to understand why the British Government is acting the way it is. It is clear that it is trying to hold its electoral coalition together, in England in particular, by constantly painting the EU as this bogeyman and monster that i…

Perhaps they prided themselves on it but perhaps they did so mistakenly. As the Minister will be aware, the British Government has a long history of not being totally honest and of not honouring the words it would have previously agreed to. Brexit was a prime example of a cart before the horse scenario and the then UK Government promised the sun, moon and stars but was unable to even deliver a sunny day. In 2016, the people of Wales and England voted to leave the EU while on the same day the people of Scotland and …

I raise this week's report by Daft.ie on the most recent increases in the price of rents. I will home in on Limerick where the average price of a one-bed apartment in Limerick city is now €999 a month. For a three-bedroom house it is €1,277, an increase of 8% in the year. The average cost of renting a single room in Limerick city centre is €464, an increase of 21% year on year. The average cost of a double room in the suburbs is €505, up 13% year on year, clearly driven by the outrageous shortage of accommodation a…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." It is good to see a trade union comrade in the Chair today. It is also nice to see the Minister, who is very welcome. I am moving the Second Stage reading of the Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill 2021. While Sinn Féin is very proud to be supporting this legislation, I want to begin by stressing the cross-party nature of the campaign behind this Bill. The Bill has been co-signed by members of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Civil Engagement Grou…

Hear, hear.

Well said.

I thank all contributors to the debate. It has been, for the most part, a reasoned and powerful debate. I am struck by the personal testimony of a couple of speakers in particular. I thank them for their courage in speaking out so strongly this evening. In the five minutes available to me, I will try to deal with a couple of the points raised. I will start with the unfortunate reference to my friends and colleagues in Together for Safety as a faceless campaign group. I have known these fantastic campaigners for man…

Fair enough, but please do because it is an important point. A number of Senators referenced the backdrop to what we are experiencing here. I want to speak openly. As Senator O'Sullivan and others will be aware, I was also a member of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. It was a wonderful moment when we achieved repeal but, to a degree, I feel cheated because we have not seen the implementation of repeal in the manner it should have been implemented. As referenced, only one in ten GPs p…