I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I thank the Minister for coming in-----

Okay.

I thank the Minister for coming into the House again. As he said, he has probably been in here as often as most Senators while initiating this legislation. I broadly welcome the move by the Minister to cap rent increases at 2%. It is an especially welcome response in the context of the rate of inflation having hit 5.1% in October, which was the highest recorded since 2007. When he brought in the measure to link increases to the consumer price index, CPI, the Minister said he would come back into the House if inflat…

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 86, motion 3 be taken before No. 1. It is moving the writ for the by-election on the University of Dublin panel, further to the election of Deputy Bacik to the Dáil.

On behalf of the Labour Party, I reiterate the kind words about Austin Currie. I pass on our condolences to our colleague Senator Currie. Austin Currie was one of the pioneers on housing and in the civil rights movement in the North. The housing situation was blatantly discriminatory against Catholics. We have lost a giant of Irish politics. Along with John Hume and Seamus Mallon, he was the last of the big three to pass away. On behalf of the Labour Party, I want to be associated with the words that have been spok…

I move: That the Clerk of Seanad Éireann do send to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage notice of a vacancy in the membership of Seanad Éireann occasioned by the election to Dáil Éireann of Senator Ivana Bacik, a member elected for the University of Dublin constituency at the General Election for Seanad Éireann, April, 2020.

I thank Senator Warfield for allowing me to go ahead. I apologise to the Minister that I have a compulsory purchase order, CPO, meeting at 5 p.m., so I will have to go by then, but I will look back at this debate. I am cautiously in favour of this Bill. I hope that it will not be beset by the same problems that plagued the strategic housing development, SHD, process. These were the granting of entirely inappropriate planning permissions, a huge number of build-to-rent planning permissions and, most of all, develope…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I will start by paying tribute to a woman we only know as Izabela who died because of the rollback on abortion provision in Poland as a result of a Supreme Court judgment, a woman whose name, like Savita, we should not know. From Texas to Poland, in between and worldwide, reproductive and abortion rights are contested. That is why this Bill is so important. Protests outside maternity hospitals or GP clinics are about creating a chill effect. That is the case in America where the…

I welcome this Bill and the opportunity to speak to it. The Labour Party supports this Bill and its provisions, and the Government commitment in some of the communications about this to examine the wider area of rights of way. Before I discuss the matter, I want to speak on behalf of my senatorial colleague, Senator Higgins, who is attending COP26 in Glasgow. She has been very active in pushing for this Bill to be introduced. She was one of the first who realised the rights-of-way abolition would kick in on 30 Nove…

I want to raise the reported legislation coming before this House to limit rent increases to 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. While this is very welcome in terms of stabilising rents in the long term, immediate action must be taken to provide a short-term intervention and a rent freeze for tenants. We are told there are legal impediments to that, but we know it is possible because, when he was Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly implemented an effective two-year rent freeze on rent increases in 2015. Covid …

I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber. It is particularly pertinent and important to be having a debate on energy security this winter. We cannot talk about energy security without talking about energy poverty. The cost of energy is rising at a shocking rate. Electric Ireland has announced average prices of electricity are going to rise by almost 10% this month. It was 9% in August. I am aware other Senators have referred to delays in supply caused by the pandemic but it is also notable it took four speake…

I will support the proposed Order of Business. I raise the changes in restrictions that will operate from Friday and the very unfair treatment of the live entertainment and music sector in comparison with nightclubs. It beggars belief that patrons will be able to dance in nightclubs but will have to remain seated at music gigs. Musicians and artists have suffered particularly badly over the course of the pandemic, having to reschedule shows and losing huge sums from doing so. It is a really unfair anomaly and it sh…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am sharing time with Senator Sherlock.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, to the House. I hope we can have a respectful and robust debate on the planning and student accommodation crisis. The student accommodation crisis is affecting students throughout Ireland. Third level education is becoming less accessible every year because of continual rent increases and hikes in the cost of living. Owing to rent increases and a lack of suitable accommodation, young people are staying in hotels with no access to proper cooking facilities, often …

I will direct my comments to the official who wrote that speech rather than the Minister of State because the reply includes a number of quite troubling aspects. The first aspect is that putting a limitation on somebody's right to develop property probably infringes on his or her right to private property. The reply effectively says that planning does not matter and that planning laws do not matter. The student accommodation that has been developed is set down in the student accommodation guidelines that were issue…

Next Tuesday.

I am not here to speak on the Order of Business but to second the safety access Bill. I did not think I was down to speak. I will happily speak-----

I have not got anything prepared. I compliment Senator Gavan on his work with Together for Safety in Limerick in bringing in safe access zones legislation. I will make the point that the women who are being intimidated as they go through maternity services include women who are coming out of the hospital having received terrible news or are going in to access abortion services. Protests outside hospitals and GP surgeries also create a chill effect on GPs being able to operate their services. Just 10% of GPs and jus…

I thank the Minister for coming in and I thank the Leader for facilitating this debate on Sláintecare. She had indicated that it would also be a wider debate on health and the health service. Health is a perennial issue in politics and, despite massive increases in health spending over the past 20 years, it is difficult to see the impact of this money or where it has gone. In a spending review conducted last year, it was determined that an additional €324 million would be needed in 2022 just to keep the health serv…

I thank Senator Currie for bringing the motion to the floor of the House and for being so gracious and reaching out to get cross-party support for it. I thank also Senator Ó Donnghaile for telling such a powerful personal story to communicate the impact this amnesty would have. It is clear the British Government's proposals for dealing with the past are preventing prosecutions for conflict-related offences and any future investigations, civil actions or legacy inquests. It is simple: no individual, group, organisat…