I want to send my sympathy and solidarity to the man who was brutally attacked in Belfast, and to all affected by the subsequent racist violence. I am going to refer to it in my Questions on Policy or Legislation. I will raise with the Taoiseach again the issue of gender-based violence, which he and the Government acknowledge is an epidemic. It is largely unreported. One of the key reasons is the hostile, traumatising and misogynistic legal system that so many complainants face. Survivors' counselling notes being u…

I think the Minister's remarks could certainly be interpreted that way. They show a complete lack of understanding about the impact of this issue and also about how therapy works wherein people can often blame themselves; they can take on guilt or they could say that maybe it was their fault and all sorts of things. I am not going to go into all the details again. I am just going to state what is in the law. Within the Constitution, there are other rights. There is the right to privacy, a right to dignity and a rig…

I condemn the horrific attack on the man in Belfast. I hope he recovers and I send my solidarity and hope the perpetrator is brought to justice. However, I also want to condemn the horrific violence that is being wreaked in the North since that attack. It is straight from the far-right playbook to use an horrific tragedy or incident when it is a person of colour who is the suspect in a violent assault and to implement its precooked plan of racist and chaotic destruction. People are being stopped and questioned abou…

I am actually embarrassed for the Minister of State, to be frank. I remember in 2019 Fianna Fáil jumping up and down on this. It was Fianna Fáil that introduced the concept of this Bill and now here they are with a bit of an occupied territories Bill in a bit of the occupied territories. There is no moral backbone to this Government whatsoever, be it about trade, football or anything at all. Of our trade with the illegal settlements, 70% is in services according to Trócaire. Yet, due to pressure from US big busines…

I ask Deputy Kelly to withdraw this amendment for a number of reasons. We are giving out about things being added onto this Bill. Here is another important issue being added on at this Stage. I do not agree with the amendment. As much of a nuisance as it is going in and out of this Dáil on many an occasion, I do not agree we should curb civil liberties and the right to protest late at night without proper discussion in this Dáil. This would introduce something that would remove any form of intimidation which can be…

How much time is left?

Okay.

How much time have we got left?

There are other Deputies who wish to speak.

The situation is disgraceful that we are in. We are rushing and rushing on very important things. Everybody has already raised, including Deputy Carthy and others, about how important this issue was to the justice committee. This should not be happening. It is disgraceful. I have not seen a Bill being pushed through with so many different things in it in this way at this time. It could have been extended. I have been here for other debates that went on for much longer. I acknowledge the survivors who are in the Gal…

My amendment allows for that.

People can consent to give their notes.

How can it be that a school that made it to DEIS plus status, St. Francis Junior School in Priorswood in Dublin 17, can lose a teacher at the same time, bringing the pupil-teacher ratio from 17:1 to 22:1? This cannot stand. The school was recently given DEIS plus status but the board of management, staff and parents are absolutely devastated to learn that they will lose a mainstream class teacher for the upcoming academic year. It is losing a teacher because the number of pupils on the roll book went from 166 to 16…

What the Minister of State said there was lovely but it does not deal with the problem. What is the point of giving a school DEIS plus status and taking away a teacher? It makes no sense. The Minister of State needs to intervene here. This is one of the most disadvantaged areas in terms of social problems and the different minorities represented. Some 40% are from the Traveller community. This is going to hit that community in particular. There are also issues like crime, drug abuse, etc., which we all know exist i…

Maybe the school should close the ASD class.

Should hundreds of people lose their peace and quiet in order for a cup of coffee to be flown over them and delivered to a particular person? This week has seen major setbacks for commercial fast-food drone delivery in Dublin West and Cork. In Dublin West, Fingal County Council refused retention of operation for Manna at its base in Coolmine. Many submissions were made by residents. This was the second base from which Manna had no permission to operate. In the Taoiseach's city, where a hub was established without p…

We all do.

The Government has not done it yet.

A woman attended a public meeting I held last week and she spoke about her son being out of school for two years. He is at home and is smashing things up. She has had to give up her job, as is often the case with people whose children have additional needs. We need a second special school in Dublin 15 and in Dublin West. Cork, Limerick and Blanchardstown have comparable populations, yet we have one special school whereas Limerick and Cork have numerous. This is a recommendation of the task force. How will this infr…

Many people are, understandably, using this debate as an opportunity to raise a lot of transport issues. I will do that in a second, but I would like to raise serious questions about supporting this Bill. I have a few reasons for doing so. The NTA is requesting an expansion of its power out of Dublin to the rest of the country, but there are serious questions. People hope that there will be good public consultation. What we have seen with the NTA is great public consultation, but it does not take any of the things …