Following on from my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, I would like to talk about the same subject. Safe Ireland, the national domestic violence agency, works with 39 front-line services throughout the length and breadth of the country. In my area, Monaghan and Cavan, I know Tearmann does fantastic work and I want to compliment it on the fantastic service it provides. The report being discussed today makes for very grim reading. The report, which was carried out from March of this year, covers a six-month period. I fo…

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I thank her for taking time out of her busy schedule to attend. I would like to talk about the local improvements scheme, LIS. LIS funding provides works for small roads and laneways in rural Ireland that do not come under the normal maintenance performed by local authorities. These lanes are used to access people's homes, farms and businesses. They also allow people to access local attractions such as lakes, rivers, parks and so on. The previous Government allocat…

I thank the Minister of State for her response on behalf of the relevant line Minister. I welcome the additional funding because any day one gets additional funding is a good day. Nevertheless, I am disappointed because the amount of funding being talked about is totally inadequate. For example, in my own county of Monaghan, and in many others, it is not possible for people to put their lanes on a list because the local authority has closed the list because the list so long and it does not have funding to do the wo…

I second the proposal by Senator Fiona O'Loughlin in regard to the hate crime Bill. I compliment her on the great work she has done in bringing this forward and in her role as a Deputy in times gone by. I am delighted that we are bringing forward this timely and much-needed legislation and I again compliment her on bringing it forward.

I second the proposal.

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, will be supporting the extension of the sunset clause up until 9 June, with the current one due to expire on 9 November. This allows us to give gardaí additional powers to enter public houses, and private houses for that matter, regarding incidents of lawbreaking. It is not often we introduce legislation in this House where we hope it will not be needed. This legislation is an example of that. Publicans deserve huge credit for…

Competition.

The reduction in the incidence of Covid in recent days has been encouraging. The R-rate is now down below 1, which is welcome. I believe Ireland is in the top five in Europe, which indicates we are heading in the right direction. Irish people in their business and personal lives have paid an enormous price to be where we are today. They have made a significant sacrifice and personal effort to get to where we are. Further to Senator Dooley's comments, many elderly people have paid an even greater price in having to …

The Minister of State is welcome back into the House for consideration of this legislation, which is short and technical. We in Fianna Fáil are happy to support this Bill transposing EU directives that will help in the fight against fraud and that will be in the financial interests of the EU. It is critical that we have good co-operation across the EU when it comes to tackling areas of fraud such as those mentioned. I understand the level of fraud involved is largely unknown. However, some informed sources have sai…

Today is the first day of level 4 regulations for the good people of counties Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal. Yesterday evening it was absolutely heartbreaking to witness shop owners, hairdressers, beauty salons and hotels close their doors for the second time in six months. This was done through no fault of the business owners concerned. They did everything they were asked to do. They invested in their businesses, they trained their staff and today they are closing their doors and again facing an uncertain future. My…

I extend a very warm welcome to the Minister of State and congratulate her on her appointment as it is the first opportunity I have had to do so. Knowing her personally, I have no doubt she will have huge success at the Department and wish her all the very best and good luck in that. I seek an update on the proposed extension of Ballybay Community College. It is an issue that I, along with my colleague in the area, Councillor Séamus Coyle, have worked on for many years. Indeed, I take this opportunity to extend gre…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I welcome the fact the CMETB and the board of management of the school have done their bit and passed the parcel, so to speak, to the Department. This is good news. It is progress and I am delighted to welcome it. I will be in contact with the office of the Minister to ensure there are no delays with the Department and that the project will proceed without delay as soon as possible.

The annual primary school census is due today, 30 September. It will determine the staffing levels in our primary schools for the academic year 2021-22. There is a serious risk that some schools may lose a teacher this year because a number of children have yet to return to school owing to health concerns associated with Covid-19. Some pupils may live in a home in which there is an at-risk family member and, for that reason, their parents will have decided not to send them to school. Since a school may have one or …

I pay tribute to the people of this country for the huge efforts and sacrifices they have made in the last six months in attempting to tackle this coronavirus. I know many people are getting tired and frustrated with the restrictions, but one thing we have learned about Covid-19 is that this is not a sprint, but a marathon.

I have seen the major efforts being put in around the country, including my local area of Monaghan, Cavan and north Meath. Sporting and voluntary organisations have been doing all they can to keep this virus suppressed. Unfortunately, however, this is a marathon and not a sprint. The news yesterday that Donegal, as from midnight, will join Dublin in going to level 3 is greatly disappointing and very worrying for the people of both counties. In County Monaghan, we had 13 new cases in the last 24 hours. If we look at…

I will be sharing my time with Senator Lisa Chambers. Cuirim fáilte ar ais go dtí an Teach roimh an Aire. I would like to thank the Minister for outlining the Bill before us this afternoon. There is no doubt that we live in strange times. This piece of legislation underlines that again if it needed to be underlined. I can say on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group that we are happy to support the legislation this afternoon. I anticipate and sincerely hope that the number of times this legislation will be used will be m…

At 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 16 September 2020.

I raise the issue of medical cards for those who are terminally ill. We are all aware of a recent case of a man who was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer having his medical card removed and reinstated, not once but twice. Let us pause for a second and imagine what it must be like to be told by a consultant or doctor that one has cancer and is terminally ill. That must be absolutely devastating news for the individual concerned to get and it must also be heartbreaking and devastating for the person's family.…

As far back as 2014, a promise was made that this practice would cease. That was six years ago and it continues. I have written to the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to ask him to cease this practice immediately. I ask that the Deputy Leader on behalf of the Members of the House also writes to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to request that this cruel heartless act of reviewing medical cards for people diagnosed with cancer and who are terminally ill cease immediately.

I thank the Leader and the Seanad Office for putting down the motion for the restoration to the Order Paper of three Bills I introduced in the previous Seanad. They all passed Second Stage in the House and I was extremely grateful to colleagues for the unanimous support I received in each case. The first Bill is the Criminal Justice (Public Order) (Amendment) Bill 2019, the purpose of which is to provide for the introduction of a mandatory prison sentence of 12 months in respect of an assault on a member of the eme…