It is horrendous.

I thank the Minister. Senator Garvey has ten minutes.

The Minister of State is very welcome. The National Advocacy Service provides a free and independent representative advocacy service to adults with disabilities across Ireland. The service has a particular remit to work with people with disabilities who are in vulnerable situations such as people who are isolated from their community of choice or mainstream society or who may communicate differently and who have limited formal or natural supports. We are talking about some of the most vulnerable people in our socie…

I know the Minister of State is just here reading a script and while I have some sympathies for her in that respect, that is an absolutely appalling answer and anyone reading it will see that. The Labour Court recommendation needs to be implemented. Regarding the level of excuses here and being unclear what comparable grades there are, I can tell the Minister of State that whatever comparable grade was suggested by the union, the employer and the Department of Social Protection rejected it. It is completely disinge…

They were worthless offers.

Worthless.

Initially, I wish to be associated with the Cathaoirleach's own remarks on John O'Mahony. I had the pleasure of serving with John in the last Seanad. I agree with everything that has been said. He was an absolute gentleman and someone who was very passionate about the west of Ireland. He was very strong in his opinions but always very pleasant and modest for a man with his achievements. I offer my condolences on behalf of myself and our party to John's family and friends and indeed to the wider Fine Gael Party. Ear…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 7, between lines 27 and 28 to insert the following: “ Report on PRSI increases 4 . The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on a revised and progressive schedule of PRSI increases in the years 2024 to 2029 which maintains the rate of employee PRSI at 4 per cent.”. The amendment is self-explanatory and is a reasonable request. We simply want to see a report on a revised and progressive schedule of PRSI increases i…

We will agree to disagree.

On 4 July it is important for this House to recall that the Biden Administration has sent huge numbers of munitions to Israel, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000 lb bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the genocide in Gaza. Between the commencement of the genocide last October and recent weeks, the United States transferred at least 14,000 MK-84 2,000 lb bombs, 6,500 500 lb bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker buster bombs, 2,600 air-dr…

Well said.

Well said. I raise a concerning case from Limerick that highlights fundamental flaws in the workings of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman’s office. It concerns a family who lost their husband and father in very tragic circumstances, only to discover that the pension provision he had made for himself and his family through his long employment with Analog Devices would be withheld from them. A sum in the region of €670,000 belonging to this individual had been accumulated in Analog’s pension plan in his n…

I will be brief as I am conscious of time and the opportunity to respond. Sinn Féin shares all of the concerns Senator Wall outlined. We would appreciate a positive response from the Minister in respect of these amendments.

On behalf of Sinn Féin, I very much support this Bill from the Independent Group. It is both necessary and very welcome. It is encouraging to hear the responses from the Government side, which clearly acknowledge there is a major problem here that has not been tackled to date. It is to be hoped there will be consensus on the Bill. That would be very welcome. The scandal of long waiting lists for children with scoliosis and spina bifida is a long-running tragedy. These children deserve better. As was referenced, sev…

This is the first time I have addressed the new Deputy Leader since he got the job because I was away last week. I offer my congratulations. It is good to see him. I pay tribute to Deputies Catherine Murphy and Shortall, who, I heard only an hour ago, are going to step away from politics. I hope we can all agree they have both made huge contributions to political life. While we have our political differences, they have both played significant roles. I think of their work on the repeal campaign and the leadership th…

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is very welcome as always. There are two primary elements to this legislation. One relates to the pay-related jobseeker's benefit, which we very much welcome, and the other relates to the PRSI increase, which we are not in favour of. We have long called for social insurance-based payments such as jobseeker's benefit to be pay-related. It is welcome that the Government has moved on this. The scheme announced by the Minister was not terribly dissimilar to a scheme submitted by my colle…

It is great to see the Acting Leader, Senator Conway, in the chair. I wish to raise the issue of the care sector. It came up at the enterprise committee yesterday. We had an IBEC presentation which was quite good. It has a good report out entitled Better Care, Better Business. It talks about the need to address supports for those in need of care and for carers and indeed the need to address recruitment and retention in the care sector. However, when I started speaking to the witnesses in the committee, they were lo…

Well said.

It is good to see the Minister of State. I know that he, like me, recognises the tremendous contribution the Educate Together movement has made to the education system in this country. As a school patron, Educate Together operates a national network of 118 schools in Ireland, with 97 primary and 21 second-level schools catering to over 40,000 students. Educate Together schools provide a unique, inclusive and equality-based school ethos, as set out in its charter. The charter describes schools that guarantee equalit…

While I appreciate the Minister of State standing in today, I am very disappointed with what the statement he has been handed delivers, because it has not addressed the key issue. I have established the key issue is, without doubt, that the school ethos of Educate Together is not recognised by the Department or Bus Éireann when it comes to providing school transport places. That is the fundamental point I came here to deliver this morning and in fairness to the Minister of State, the people who handed him that stat…