I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the recognition of a non-binary gender and for those born intersex; to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2015 to recognise a non-binary gender; to amend the Interpretation Act 2005 to include a non-binary gender; to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 to allow qualified informants to record an X on Registers for Births, Stillbirths, Adoptions, and Death; to amend the Equal Status Act 2000 and Employment Equality Act 1998 to outlaw dis…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Before I speaking on this Bill today, I got the views of a solicitor who takes many cases on behalf of parents. This is their initial perception. This Bill amounts to a significant watering down of the rights of children with a disability. The assessment report under the 2005 Act has been described by the courts as the gold standard. It is supposed to be comprehensive and evidence based and set out the child's needs and the services required to meet these needs if costs were not an issue at all. Under the 2005 Act,…

There was a report in the Irish Independent at the weekend that a young woman who suspected she had been raped in Dublin city while intoxicated is now facing criminal charges, potentially, for false reporting. Not only that but it has been decided that all the resources of the Irish State should go into dragging this woman back from France where she lives, via extradition. As we know, it is not unusual for intoxicated people to be attacked violently and not to recall all the details. The implications of this decisi…

I hasten to add that nobody has been falsely accused or charged, so I do not see why this is happening. There will be a protest at the DPP's office at 1 p.m. on Friday against this.

Lots of TDs do it as well.

Solidarity fully supports this motion. Just before I came down to the Chamber, I heard very positive news that a data centre has been refused planning permission in Mayo. I have not heard the full details but there were concerns about where it would access electricity and concerns about climate. I hope we are now seeing the tide start to turn against the carte blanche given to data centres. I recall raising this during questions to the Minister previously. He and another Minister sort of laughed in my face when I s…

-----the purpose of these data centres was mainly for AI, which is not useful to the world or to humanity; in fact, it is very detrimental in many cases. I hope the Minister is starting to reconsider. A lot of young people and a growing body of people are extremely critical of AI. I also want to mention how intersectional an issue this is. It intersects with the environment, military technology, the cost of living, which this motion focuses on, and many other issues. An estimated cumulative average of about €360 in…

They could be building houses.

It is absolutely farcical to reconvene the Dáil for one hour over one aspect of one issue which the Government mistakenly thought would be okay, on which it has been proven wrong. It has not reconvened the Dáil to discuss back-to-school costs facing families this very week. They cannot wait for the budget in a month's time. One in four parents is already borrowing to put their kids into school this week. The Government has not reconvened the Dáil to discuss college fees pending next week, the highest in the EU, or …

When is the victims of crime Act 2017 going to apply the Army? The Women of Honour have pushed for change so that if there is abuse within the Army there will, we hope, be mechanisms to deal with that, but what about women who are abused by Army personnel who are not in the Army? The Minister knows of this case and I am not going to go into any names or details but it shines a light on how we have a situation where a woman who was abused by an Army officer - and potentially another woman as well - has not been able…

I have very little time left, but I want to put on record that the woman in question was abused by an Army officer using military equipment and surveillance technology, which is extremely scary. She made a complaint, which has never been pursued. She found out that a court martial was taking place but it was about smaller charges that were nothing to do with the woman or the other woman either. The feeling of the victim was that this was being facilitated, like an organised pay off of this predator. This may not be…

This man said of one woman that he would attach her to a concrete block. He said of another that he would set fire to her. Should this person be getting a pay off from the Army? No, of course, he should not. He should have been put on trial. We have to end a situation where these military prosecutions are secret and where the Minister for Defence does not even have the right to intervene. In a letter to the victim, the Minister said that such matters were internal to the Defence Forces and that she had no statutory…

Next Wednesday, the trial continues of the Ulm five, including the Irish citizen, Daniel Tatlow-Devally. A delegation of TDs and Senators, including me, will attend the trial in Stuttgart next week. The Government was asked to monitor the trial and on 21 May 2026, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, said, "We will ensure that there is fair oversight of this trial." A senior counsel who attended the trial wrote to the Minister and other Ministers on 22 June to state that there is no official record being taken at the tria…

I will cut to the chase here. The reason for the digital divide is that the Department of education has introduced a syllabus, particularly in senior cycle in secondary school, which has such a high level of assessment, 40% in many cases, that school principals have decided that students need laptops. It is because of the new syllabus the Department has introduced. There was a very good article by the RTÉ education correspondent on this in January. What is happening in schools is that Wriggle and other companies ar…

I will deal with two of the amendments in a moment, but first I add my voice to those who have already made the point about the modus operandi of how this Bill was developed and evolved with the adding of extra issues again and again. The last night, on the counselling notes issue, every Opposition party recognised it should have been dealt with as a separate issue because of its importance to survivors and because it was the Minister's first Bill on court processes. He has introduced other legislation, including J…

That did not happen in the recently reported case involving a former Fianna Fáil TD. He was not called up to testify.

I am just asking why it did not happen in that case. Was it because it was about parole? Is there a difference in that case?

It does not seem to have been fully applied. We definitely need to discuss this topic again.

I welcome the introduction of Jennie's law. I commend her brother Jason on all of the campaigning he has done over a number of years to bring this about. My hope it will at least bring a stigma to what is called domestic violence. There has not really been the kind of stigma there should have been over the years. I want to put this in context. Women's Aid released its report recently. It shows a 33% increase in violence in the home against women in 2025. That is a 33% increase in disclosures. We do not know if this…