As the Deputy will be aware, since the start of last year the State has responded to the largest humanitarian crisis it has ever faced. In spite of the unprecedented pressures for accommodation, more than 100,000 people arriving in Ireland in that time have found shelter and safety here. Approximately 85,000 of those have been provided with accommodation through my Department and, of those, 21,000 are international protection applicants and 64,000 are Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection. Notwithstanding…

I believe that the point about Baggot Street hospital has been addressed on many occasions. Baggot Street Hospital is not fit for human habitation right now. A very major and a very long-term piece of work has to be done in order to make it fit for habitation. That may well happen - I would love to see it happen - but it will not deliver accommodation in the short term. My focus has had to be on the short term because of the very immediate needs of the people we need to accommodate, namely the 189 who are not accom…

I thank Deputy Duncan Smith and his colleagues in the Labour Party for tabling the motion. I welcome the opportunity to restate the Government's commitment to children with disabilities and their families. We must face important and very real challenges if disability services are to meet the hopes, expectations and needs of those at their heart and enable them to optimise their potential in life. It is absolutely accepted on this side of the House that the pace of improving disability services for children to ensur…

I thank the Chair and Senators. I will respond to both amendments Nos. 39 and 40. I am not in a position to accept these amendments, the first of which requires the preparation of reports on the potential to extend eligibility for payments and the enhanced medical card to persons who, as children of mixed race, were removed from an institution covered by this scheme and were placed in another institution. With respect to amendment No. 39, as we know, the eligibility criteria for the enhanced medical card was approv…

This question is a difficult one. It depends. The key objective and reason we included section 50 was to recognise that evidence could come forth concerning an institution. We know a great deal about the operations of the mother and baby homes and the county home institutions because of the commission's report. There are other institutions that we may not know so much about. We spent a great deal of time in the context of the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 discussing the protection of records. As the Senato…

I disagree with Senator Gavan. I believe I have answered the question both yesterday and last week in respect of the distinction we have made concerning the multifaceted nature of the Government's response to those who were in mother and baby institutions. We recognise that different survivors have different priorities in the context of access to information, the treatment of remains, financial payments, the provision of medical cards, a wider commemoration and memorialisation of what happened in these institutions…

No, I feel that I have answered the question.

I did give an answer.

I thank the Senator. Like Senator Higgins, I have met the Association of Mixed Race Irish and I have heard from them their experiences as former residents of mother and baby and county homes and other institutions, and the impact of the racism they have experienced in their lives. It is important to recognise that, following the publication of the commission of investigation's report, in his State apology the Taoiseach specifically recognised the additional impact that a lack of knowledge and understanding had on t…

I am not in a position to engage on those points. The issues will have to be addressed and will be addressed. However, I am not in a position to go into the matter in detail today. I hope the Senator understands.

The discussion here is similar to the one we have had on previous amendments in terms of proposed reports on the possibility of additional payments, and the concern at Government that the approach that has been adopted - the non-adversarial nature of the scheme, and a general payment covering the time spent, the harsh conditions, the emotional abuse and the stigma and mistreatment - is the manner in which we believe is the best way to progress. I absolutely hear what Senator Higgins is saying in terms of the vaccin…

These are a set of technical amendments. These amendments all relate to the use of the term "relevant person" and the word "applicant" across a number of sections in the Bill. They are technical in nature and they are being made for clarity and for accuracy. Any person can make an application to the scheme if they believe themselves to be a relevant person, as per the definition provided in section of the Bill. However, it is only the foot of an examination of a person's application and the making of a determinatio…

I thank the Deputy for the question. There is a very close working relationship, in fairness, both at Cabinet level through the Cabinet subcommittee but also in terms of other mechanisms. My Department has a weekly call with the County and City Management Association, CCMA, on which the DRHE is represented, so there is a close working relationship there in terms of providing accommodation both for beneficiaries of the temporary protection directive and also international protection applicants.

I thank Senator Higgins and the other Senators for their contributions on this group of amendments. Unfortunately I am not in a position to accept amendments Nos. 33 to 36, inclusive. As we know, these amendments require the preparation of reports on the adequacy of the health support payment and the potential to make supplementary payments in certain conditions. In dealing with the second, third and fourth reports it comes to a fundamental question about the approach we adopt in this particular piece of legislatio…

Senator Higgins during our previous session asked for clarification on the issue of the waiver, and I agreed to come back to her in writing on that. That clarification continues to be worked on. We will bring it to her. It is being given the consideration it deserves because it is an important issue. We will get that to her when it is ready, which will be soon, I believe. As for the Senator's amendment No. 35, we do not have figures as to how many cases were previously settled. My officials do not know of any cases…

We could not move on to Report Stage without that information.

I am not in a position to accept the two amendments, which require the preparation of reports on the potential to extend eligibility for both the general and work-related payments. As I stated in response to discussion on previous, similar amendments, it is really important that the reviews of the operation of the scheme, as provided for in the legislation as it currently stands, are anchored in the existing scope of the Bill. The parameters of the scheme have been debated at length both in this House and the other…

I will be sharing time with the Ministers, Deputies Darragh O'Brien and Harris. I will begin by setting out the context in which we are having this debate. Since February 2022, more than 85,000 people have fled to Ireland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war was inflicted on a country that did not seek it and has killed thousands of people. It has triggered the largest displacement of people on our continent since the end of the Second World War. At the same time, there is conflict and persecution across…

They are far-right activists peddling lies about vulnerable people in order to further their own agenda. This has been an increasing theme in the past six months. We have seen the emergence of an insidious thread of racism, xenophobia and unfounded rumours. Misinformation and outright lies have been spread on social media and in communities. There is vilification of men, in particular, who come here seeking international protection, some of whom have been tortured and exploited, who come here seeking refuge and are…

I thank the Deputy and Senators for joining me at the online meeting yesterday. At that meeting I recognised that the information provision timeline was really tight. The reason for that was the need to house people, in light of the fact we have people on the streets at the moment.