But the Government is not contact-tracing in childcare.

Denmark was giving out 500,000 a day.

What are the limits?

There are 14,000 beds now, compared with 22,000 before.

Research we in Aontú carried out in recent times found that over 200 children who are known to child protection services have died over the past ten years. Some 42 children died while in State care and 164 children who were known to child protection services died. Half of the children who died while in State care died either by suicide or by drug overdose. Twelve children were murdered while known to child protection services over the past decade. During the same period, 62 children who were known to child protecti…

First, many people who are working in child protection services are doing the best they can under the circumstances they are in, but there are things we can do to fix this. In the first place, there is a major correlation between economic and societal disadvantage and some of these outcomes. As a State, we must lift these communities out of poverty and strengthen those families. There are also specifics. For example, there are no emergency out-of-hours services in any part of the country outside Dublin for child pr…

I pay tribute to Deputy Gino Kenny on his speech. He always speaks from the heart. He made a very important contribution to the record of the Chamber today. Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis labhairt ar an ábhar seo. I, like most Deputies, have received emails and telephone calls from survivors, including people born in a mother and baby home and women who gave birth in one. I want to discuss the issue of redress, but before I do I want to focus on what is perhaps a more important issue, that is, the issue of access to r…

Aontú is an Irish republican party. We believe in a pluralist Ireland and an Ireland where everybody has a right to be who they are to the fullest extent without fear or favour. Diversity is a key foundation of a republic and our Republic comes from Wolfe Tone’s republicanism, where Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter can live together peacefully and where everybody can reach their full potential. Catholic education around the world is renowned. The Catholic Church provided education in this State when much of the S…

That is no bother at all. First, I wish to add my sympathies regarding the tragedy that occurred in the English Channel today. It was horrific to see it happen. It is so hard to understand that such things are happening in the West in the 21st century. I agree with Deputy Connolly on the collapse of the debate on Second Stage. We had waited late into the evening to be able to participate but the debate collapsed because Government Deputies did not fulfil their duties and, as a result-----

I will explain.

The Government and Sinn Féin made a big play at the start of this Dáil that they should have speaking slots before Opposition parties. Now they are not filling the slots they demanded. As a result, the debates on Bills are concluding much faster and Opposition parties are not getting an opportunity to speak.

If Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael Deputies want to go home early to their constituencies-----

-----they should at least tell people that they are not going to participate in debate. I think that is very important.

Earlier this year, the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2021 ranked Ireland as a tier 2 watch list country when it comes to human trafficking. Azerbaijan, Belarus and Romania are the only other European countries in that category. Last month, I asked the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, for her reaction to this. She adopted a defensive tone and suggested that the US State Department was ignoring the progress of her Department over the past 12 months. Her…

The majority of the people of the North of Ireland support the protocol, as is clear in the polls that have been conducted there. Indeed, the majority of the people of the North of Ireland voted to remain within the EU. Obviously, there is a benefit to the protocol as it puts the North in a sweet spot economically for trade with the European bloc and Britain. Trade has increased by 60% from North to South and from South to North by about 48% just in the past year. Some unionists are fully against the protocol. That…

The commissions of investigation are not working in many ways. Justice delayed is justice denied and what we see happening at the moment are commissions of never-ending investigation. Accountability is simply not happening. It has been argued in the Dáil previously that commissions of investigation are used to kick issues into touch and take them out of the political environment. The IBRC commission of investigation was set up following a scandal that broke in 2015. It was an incredible issue which has just disappe…

Families throughout Ireland are being hammered by rising costs. The prices of rent, childcare and food are rising significantly. This increase is happening to the people who probably suffered most during Covid. Many people have lost their jobs and have had their incomes decrease significantly because of Covid. On top of this, energy and fuel prices are going sky high. The facts are startling. Ireland has the highest electricity prices in Europe and is the 21st most expensive country in the world for petrol. Diesel …

They are looking at it.

Some 10,000 people marched in the streets of Navan to tell the Government not to close the accident and emergency department in Navan hospital. It is the most important piece of infrastructure in the county and closure of that department and the ICU during the Covid crisis, while there are 1 million people on hospital waiting lists and 11-hour waiting times in other accident and emergency departments in surrounding hospitals, would be an enormously dangerous act. I have spoken to senior clinicians in the region and…

Like Roscommon, Nenagh and Ennis and all the other accident and emergency departments that were closed around the country.