It is not this amendment, but it is all right, as Senator Higgins has stopped speaking.

The matter raised does not relate to this amendment. I have checked.

I thank the Senator. Does anyone else wish to speak before I invite the Minister of State to respond? No.

How stands amendment No. 3?

Amendment Nos. 6 and 7 are related. Amendment No. 7 is a physical alternative to amendment No. 6. Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Amendments Nos. 8 and 9 may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

As there is no seconder for amendment No. 9, it cannot be moved.

When is it proposed to take Final Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Everybody knows where I stand on the TRIPS waiver. I spoke about the issue at the pre-COP26 conference and in both our sessions here with Members of the European Parliament, MEPs. The EU needs to stand behind a TRIPS waiver. However, that is not what we are talking about here today. I completely understand that the Minister is here and that is why Senator Gavan brought up the issue but let us go back to what we are here to talk about because it is important. I feel for people who have a fear around the vaccine and …

-----because it is putting people in fear of something that is saving not only their lives but also the lives of front-line workers. It is our job to state the facts and to vote with our hearts.

These two weeks are critical for our future. In advance of COP26, it was made clear from the IPCC report that every single thing we do matters. All over this country our citizens and our inhabitants are calling for action to reverse climate breakdown. Children have been calling for action for many years, taking to the streets and pleading with politicians. Small farmers who I speak to know that the future is a future based on a greener product and a resilient food system. They have felt powerless. What of the busin…

I welcome our four MEPs to the Chamber. While Dublin is not my constituency, I am delighted to speak to them. I will leave the issues of agriculture and CAP to one side as we spoke about them with some of their colleagues previously. On the issue of connectivity, Ireland is more connected than we think. I know that Mr. Cuffe took the train but a couple of us here will be taking the train and the boat to COP26 on Saturday and Sunday. It leaves in the morning and arrives in the afternoon. There is a lot more connecti…

I thank the Minister for coming in today at this busy time. He has addressed many of the issues around the causes of the particular situation in which we found ourselves recently, so I will not address those issues. I would like to return to a couple of the issues raised and give my perspective, particularly in regard to data centres. It is very important to get the facts right. Data centres are not a bad thing but it is the energy and the source of the energy used in the data centres which is problematic. Unlike a…

I welcome the Minister of State. I support the legislation and thank Senator Moynihan, in particular, and the entire Labour Party group. Students are another cohort of the population who are victims of the housing crisis. Costs are so high that students and their families are hard-pressed to fund accommodation, when they can find it. Other students commute vast distances to college. I know that is the case in the west of Ireland. In many cases, they sleep on couches during the week to carry out their education. Cla…

I also extend my condolences to the family of David Amess. I felt emotional reading all the comments on Twitter. Even after this man's death, there continued to be negative comments. It is shocking to see that someone has no peace even in death. I do not want to turn this into being about us as politicians, but Senator Moynihan spoke about a chill effect in her contribution and this event is having a chilling effect on politics. One does feel a little exposed standing up to speak about something or, indeed, putting…

I welcome the Minister of State. I commend Senator Garvey on the work that she has put into this motion, and we are all fully behind her on the details of it. I echo many of my colleagues' comments. I want to talk a little bit about adaptation because there is a reality here. We could talk about mitigation, which is very important and where we need to put a lot of funding, but we also need to address the fact that flooding is now a reality for Ireland. The IPCC report for the first time looked at a regional breakdo…

The Minister of State, Deputy Sean Fleming, is very welcome. It is good to see him in the Chamber. I should say bienvenido al Ministro de Estado because it is the national day of Spain and I did not get the opportunity to say it earlier. In speaking about this budget, I will use factual data because much of what the previous speaker said was untrue. On disposable income, for instance, this budget increases it by 0.85% with the lowest 20% of earners gaining the most. It is factually untrue to say that people have be…

I welcomed yesterday's debate on succession. It is something very close to my heart and I believe the debate went very well. There was cross-party support for a change in the legislation. I wish to address the issue of maternity restrictions. I will not say that it is becoming boring at this stage because it is still so traumatic, and we hear new stories every day. We carried 1,000 stories into Leinster House yesterday from mothers and their partners on how difficult this past couple of years have been. As I stood …

How stands the amendment?