Senator Gallagher spoke of his joy at the 50-year celebration today of the Holy Family School, Cootehill, which caters for 182 kids. The school has gone from strength to strength and is in a brand new state-of-the-art building, which is nothing less than they deserve. We send them our good wishes. Senator Wall asked for statements on housing, particularly the housing adaptation grants and the delay in new funding from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. We have housi…

I move: That Seanad Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum…

Today I wish to talk about swimming because in north County Dublin we are blessed with some of the best beaches in the whole country but for the two fastest-growing constituencies of Fingal East and Fingal West there is a massive population but not a single swimming pool for more than 100,000 people. The issue has been raised on numerous occasions here by me and elsewhere by our local councillors, particularly Tom O'Leary. In the Castlelands masterplan in Balbriggan there is a specific provision for a swimming pool…

Now.

Now.

I thank the Minister. This is as relevant to my party as it is to the parties of all colleagues. The partnership that exists between Young Fine Gael, members of which are in the Gallery today, and the little bit older Fine Gael that exists in the Seanad has made for an incredible relationship over recent years. This Bill passing is the outcome of the campaign conducted by Young Fine Gael over the past number of months, as is the building of young people's confidence to report these things to An Garda Síochána and u…

I would like to say thanks to the Minister but what she has read out is not acceptable, not to me and not to this Seanad. Shane O'Farrell was killed when he was out on his bike. He was cycling training on 2 August 2011, and Zigimantas Gridziuska, a convicted criminal who we let walk into this country with no checks or balances whatsoever, knocked him down in his car and callously drove away, hid his car, got into his bed and slept like a baby. Shane was 23 years of age, the same age the Minister was at the time Sha…

Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

As I do not have a speaking slot on the budget later, I will comment on it briefly. I commend our negotiating team. It looks like a thoughtful budget. We have all known about the cost-of-living crisis for the past 18 months. The budget continues to support people exactly where it needs to, not only through increases in weekly payments to people who have no other income, but also through one-off universal payments to acknowledge that people are still struggling with their ESB bills, the petrol in their tanks and suc…

The Order of Business is No. 1, motion re the arrangements for the sitting of the House on Tuesday, 10 October 2023, which is budget day; and No. 2, the Animal Health and Welfare (Dogs) Bill 2022 – Committee Stage, to be taken at 11.45 a.m. and to adjourn on the conclusion of the proceedings in respect of section 1 of the Bill or 45 minutes thereafter, whichever is the earlier.

We all join with the Cathaoirleach in passing condolences to both families and friends of the people who passed away yesterday. Our colleague, Senator Ruane, has again highlighted the concerns she raised last week with regard to the report on the body cameras. I will make two suggestions to the Senator. One suggestion is that she might send the link to the BBC report to all Members by email because that will ensure that we do read it. I can also suggest to the Leader that we do not take the next Stage of the Bill u…

Not at all. The students are very welcome. I probably could not even count the number of times Senator Craughwell and I have spoken about search and rescue here. For the past number of months, he and I have attempted to get the tender process he has, to be fair to him, been aggrieved about for the past number of years on the work programme of the Oireachtas committee. We have invited in the Secretary General, the deputy Secretary General, the Minister and the Minister of State. Nobody wants to talk about anything. …

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Standing Orders relative to Public Business, the Seanad on its rising on Thursday, 5th October, 2023, shall adjourn until 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday, 10th October, 2023, and the following arrangements shall apply: (a) Commencement matters shall be taken at 11.30 a.m.; (b) Standing Order 30 shall stand suspended; (c) The Order of Business shall be proposed at 3.30 p.m.

I thank colleagues for affording me the few minutes to speak today. We have one dog at home. She is a goldendoodle, and she came from Wexford. As she was a little ball of red fluff when we got her - she was supposed to stay a little ball of red fluff - we called her Rua. She is now about 4 ft tall and has a tail that can only be described as a weapon of mass destruction. One would be having a glass of wine and the tail would come in and knock the glass. We love her to bits and she sits at the window waiting for us …

If the Chair does not mind, I would be grateful. I thank the Minister for coming here today. I do not doubt for a second that he will get to the bottom of this issue. I have been around here since 2011. We have had incredible medical scandals including one in which a procedure called a symphysiotomy was conducted on female patients, which is the most horrendous thing anybody can even consider. We have had medical scandal after medical scandal because of deference in medical circles. I thought we had unrooted all of…

Otherwise, we would still be getting replies to parliamentary questions that say X, Y and Z and we would be none the wiser. Hats off to Deputy Paul Murphy. I do not agree with probably most of the things he advocates but we certainly owe him an absolute debt of gratitude for his tenacity. Otherwise, these kids would still be suffering and maybe these operations would still be going on. I genuinely wish the Minister every success. The one concern I have is that these things tend to drag on for months. That would com…

I thank the Cathaoirleach, and I might try my skills at doing the same. I want to raise with the Leader today the plight of our section 39 workers. We have, not just in my own area of north County Dublin and Fingal but probably in every county, organisations that are filled with nurses, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, support people and healthcare workers. All of them are expected to work for a fraction of the amount of wages we pay in the HSE or section 38 organisations. The reason this is…

On behalf of our Fine Gael group, which I am incredibly proud to lead in this House, I welcome the Taoiseach. There are 16 of us in total and a great mix of youth, experience and expertise unique to most of us on individual matters, and I rely on that expertise of our colleagues today. I thank the Taoiseach for that honour. I have been in these Houses, both Dáil and Seanad Éireann, for almost 13 years. It is often said Seanad Éireann is far more collegial in the debates we have than is the case in the Dáil, which i…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and I wish everybody a good recess and break, as well as lots of work in their constituencies. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for coming here this morning. Members are aware that we have two unanimously supported motions in support and on behalf of the victims of major sexual abuse and rape in St. John's Ambulance Ireland. I know the Minister has been very helpful, and they have met. I know all of these things but the frustrations of the victims are still very much paramount. Nothi…

I appreciate the position the Minister is in. This is not about him per se . However, the two outstanding years that had nothing to do with Covid, 2018 and 2019, come to the sum total of €200,000. I would be very grateful because the Minister would find out about this far quicker than Senator Seery Kearney and I would. I had the privilege of being Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection at the time we established the EWSS. Since then, probably for approximately two years afterwards, I spent an awful l…