Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, to the House.

The Government has no intention of going anywhere, the Senator will be glad to hear. If the Senator read the whole piece from the programme for government he would see that it states we task the Office of Government Procurement to update all procurement frameworks in line with agreeing procurement practice over the next three years. It is quite generous to state we will look at this in the next 12 months. I can also see the Minister of State has worked very closely with Senator Higgins, and she would agree with thi…

I am delighted to welcome and announce funding on behalf of the Government, together with my colleagues from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, of over €60 million for Galway city. This funding will transform our city in respect of things for which people have spent years working. Local communities in Wood Quay have been looking for regeneration to have public realm space in Wood Quay, Eyre Square and across the city. We are also spending €10 million on Oranmore train station and preparing Ceannt Station in order that we c…

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I move: "That Second Stage be taken today."

I thank the Minister for coming in today. Deputy O'Gorman is very busy with an awful lot on his plate these days. We very much appreciate the time that the Minister gives us here, but also the amount of work that he is doing to put in place everything that is needed for us throughout the pandemic and for the future. It came to light during the pandemic that people were not able to spend quality time with their young babies, but to be able to put this into place for the future is hugely beneficial. I would like to s…

I welcome the Minister to the House. The pandemic has had devastating consequences for women and children living in fear within their own homes. Across our State, the silence from homes where abuse is taking place is deafening. We know that connection to community and visibility helps to prevent incidents of domestic violence, and the environment created by this pandemic has been a breeding ground for an escalation in domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Homes should be places of refuge and instead they are …

I thank the Minister for all the commitments. I look forward to more updates from him in the future. We must recognise that beyond the kind of measures outlined by him, it is a deep-rooted problem within our society and the causes need to be tackled. It concerns awareness about consent and coercive control, which has been tolerated for generations. These also have to be part of what we now do as a society and as a government. I am hopeful that, with some of the recent sentences handed down by the courts and the com…

I thank everyone for their contributions. It is lovely to hear contributions from across the genders on International Women's Day. It is important and I join with my colleagues in congratulating Sinead Guckian. It is a wonderful piece of art. Not only does it remind us of the airbrushing but it also reminds us of how few pictures of women there are on these walls. We need to change that. The Cathaoirleach is involved in that and I thank him for that. We had a number of wonderful Commencement matters this morning. T…

I wish to raise the issue of religious discrimination in our education system and ask for the Minister for Education to provide the House with an update on what the Government intends to do to address it. Article 44.2.4° of the Constitution states "Legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations, nor be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religio…

I thank the Labour Party for bringing this Bill forward. Senator Boylan brings numerous proposals here which she would like to see happen. The alternative budget for 2021 which Sinn Féin produced did not even mention the word "climate" in it and only mentioned the word "biodiversity" in reference to the title of our Minister of State, Senator Hackett. I want to make that point first because things cost money. At the heart of this Bill, of Senator Byrne's Bill and of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan's heads of Bill, …

I wish Senator Norris all the best. It is great to hear that the operations he has gone through over the past month have been successful. I wish him a speedy recovery. I agree with Senator Sherlock that it is important that we use proper names when talking about variants. We all know what they are and we do not want to label people, so that is important. What I want to talk about predominantly is the White Paper announced today on direct provision. This is an historic day for us and we should all mention this. We h…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. It is good to see her in the Chair and I welcome the Minister. It is probably no exaggeration to say it has been a frightening and scary time for all of us in the country. The Health (Amendment) Bill 2021 on quarantining was before the Dáil this week and it is due before this House on Monday. While that is a necessary step, it is important that it be balanced with human rights and that is what the Government is doing. This is also a time for a reassessment of where…

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach, the Minister of State and the Independent Senators for bringing this matter forward. At the outset, it is not correct to say that any of us - in any party or non-party - have been silent on this issue. As Senator Moynihan has outlined, having been on local authorities most of us are deeply aware of this issue and understand the amount of work that goes into being a councillor. I have also brought this up on the floor of the Chamber and the Leader has brought forward a letter to the …

I thank the Minister of State for joining us today.

I also wish to bring up the issue raised by Senator Chambers on the retreat of Ulster Bank. It was a devastating morning for the 2,800 staff employed by the bank to wake up and hear that on the news. It is really interesting is that NatWest, unexpectedly, reported pre-tax profits in the UK of £64 million. We are seeing a banking system in Ireland that is at the whim of profit. Many mortgage holders, lenders and savers are in the middle of this for-profit system of banking and saving. One of the elements of the prog…

The Minister is very welcome. It is great to have him in the House to discuss such an important issue. I thank Senator Hoey for bringing this issue to the floor of the House, as she has done many times. On behalf of the Green Party, I am delighted to support the Bill and all of the work she has done on this issue. A crucial matter in this context is that the INMO has stated that nurses are the ones most deeply impacted by Covid, not just in terms of what they are seeing on the floors of hospitals, but also in terms…

Is that agreed? Agreed.