-----while providing the minimum permissible Dáil debate on those topics. The Tánaiste published this Bill prior to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence having published its pre-legislative scrutiny report. He has no basis for excluding certain posts from membership of representative associations, and, as he dropped it as a legislative initiative, I ask him now to drop it as policy in its entirety. The legislation places new and unnecessary restrictions on the freedom of expression of members of the D…

Another week and another group of wronged people are seeking justice from the State. We seem to be making a habit of it. It is almost part of the State's culture, one of a lesser-loved tradition we have, except today there is no fanfare, there are no pen portraits to help us to identify with the victims and there is no media live-tweeting and hanging on to every word, eager to be the first to report it to the masses. Today, there are just the victims and survivors listening in so, in practice, we have to ensure tha…

I want to raise the case of my 19-year-old constituent Seán, who has ADHD, ASD, depression and an anxiety disorder. He has aged out of CAMHS and his family is cut adrift. After a recent suicide attempt and a 999 call, he spent a night in the Lakeview unit attached to Naas General Hospital, in a padded room in the dark. Seán is terrified of the dark. He left Naas General Hospital with no follow-up. In this unbelievable but common enough situation, mental health services say they cannot treat him because of his ASD d…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus leis an Aire Stáit as ucht glacadh leis an saincheist inniu. I also thank the office for facilitating the change for me. I know the work that goes into those procedures so I appreciate that. Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit as an bpost nua freisin. Ar a laghad do ghlac sé leis an bpost nuair a dhiúltaigh Fine Gael dó. I am not sure what the Irish for stepping into the breach is but maith thú. As I hope you know, there has been much talk a…

I thank the Minister of State. I get the parliamentary questions replies all the time. I send them out to the parents who have children waiting for places and they tell me they are sick to the teeth of the replies. I am embarrassed to send them. They call them copy-and-paste replies. The school place action committee in Clane is a force to be reckoned with. It tells me that it sees through this, how there is nothing the Department cannot or will not do until it comes to actually doing it. It just takes so long and …

I also want to wish the Taoiseach well in a personal capacity today. We had the children from the Mercy Convent Catholic Primary School in Naas here at Leinster House protesting about their school today. For the past seven years, they have been walking past a magnificent school building, with two prefabricated buildings, while the Department of Education dithers and delays over the fitting out of their new school building. Students have spent their whole school lives walking past this school and unable to get in. T…

Our motion this evening addresses how supports for people with disabilities and their carers must be rights based. Táim sásta labhairt ar ár rún tráthnóna agus gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Tully as ucht an rúin seo. Tá sé an-tábhachtach gach cúram agus cúnamh a thabhairt do dhaoine faoi mhíchumas agus dá gclanna freisin. After working in the disability sector before I was elected to this Chamber, the ratification of the optional protocol was always going to the first matter I raised during Questions on Policy o…

Every time I am contacted by a constituent on a mental health issue, especially if it is their child, who is a minor, or young adult son or daughter, I feel their helplessness, their disbelief and pain, and, all too often, their panic because I know that by the time they come to me, they have been firing handballs against the haystack that is CAMHS as it operated by the Department of Health and the HSE. It is my turn to start firing balls at the same haystack - the endless waiting lists, the lack of services and th…

I noticed when looking at the calendar that we would be discussing the report on gender equality on 29 February, the extra day in the leap year when a woman generally had the gender-equality option of proposing to her man. We have come a long way but we have a long way to go for ourselves, our sisters and our daughters, and indeed their daughters. We will not and must never stop in our push for gender equality. I am reminded of the great Irishwomen in our history who sought to represent Irish women and girls at the…

Of course.

I was out knocking on doors in Kilcock over the weekend. I met a lovely older lady in a lot of pain, who was waiting for an operation for a new knee. We got talking about the national scandal of people in pain waiting, waiting, and waiting. I told her about this motion and about the lovely day I had in my constituency office a couple of years ago with David Cullinane when we met children with scoliosis. As it happened, I had met one of them in Prosperous the day before. While Elisa has had her scoliosis operation, …

I listened to the Minister's speech with interest. I believe she is aware there is a huge level of public anger in her constituency and mine about RTÉ. People on six-figure salaries are flouncing and swanning around and refusing to come before a committee while at the same time, ordinary people are being prosecuted and dragged into court for not paying their TV licence. It is all at what cost? It is all while RTÉ carries on with its casino culture of pet projects, golden handshakes, cosy chats, nods and notes, wink…

The ICJ ruling on South Africa's case was momentous and historic, with jurisdiction granted and conditions of plausible genocide accepted and Israel's attempt to have the case thrown out emphatically rejected. Israel remains on trial in the matter of the genocide of the Palestinian people. If the State of Israel was an ordinary criminal rather than alleged war criminal and was in front of any national court, it would essentially be out on bail with the world's warmongers putting up its bail bond. I want to put on r…

Apart from the word "genocide", words do not exist to describe the atrocities being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. There is mass murder by bombs and drones, people are crushed to death, suffocated and now there is starvation, diarrhoea, infection and dehydration. The living are maimed, disabled and blinded. There is no anaesthetic for amputations or Caesarean sections. This is all because they are Palestinians; that is the simple reason. An occupied population for so long dehumanised, displaced…

I welcome to the Public Gallery members of Women of Honour, whom I have met several times, and members of the Defence Forces Justice Alliance whom I met yesterday in the audiovisual room. As the Tánaiste knows, we discussed aspects of the tribunal of inquiry last night in priority questions and other oral questions. By chance, just this morning when I was looking through social media, I came across something that goes to the very heart of what this is. It is that truth is always something that is told and not somet…

I ask the Minister for Defence when the negotiations with stakeholders regarding the terms of reference for the tribunal of inquiry into abuse allegations within the Defence Forces concluded; and if he secured full support and endorsement for his proposed terms of reference from stakeholder groups which brought the abuse allegations to light prior to bringing them to Cabinet.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Tánaiste for his reply on this extremely sensitive issue. The Women of Honour were clear when I spoke to them that when they, in turn, spoke to the Tánaiste around the terms of reference on 14 December, he said he would reflect on the matters they raised with him. It seems there is a clear breakdown in communication between his Department and the Women of Honour because they were certainly under the impression that he would be returning to them after a period of reflection and they fully ex…

Speaking of the Women of Honour and all the other stakeholders in this, we depend on our Defence Forces. The Tánaiste is so proud of them, as we all are, and we all want this tribunal of inquiry to work. It must work because it is an important tribunal and it has been long-awaited. The Tánaiste knows as well as anybody that if one makes a complaint in the Defence Forces, and this was reiterated earlier this afternoon in the audiovisual room, that it essentially puts an end to one's career, removes any kind of peace…

Will the Department of Defence revisit the terms of reference of the tribunal investigating abuse in the Defence Forces, given the dismay of Women of Honour at the limits of what is proposed, and will the Tánaiste make a statement on the matter?

Sort of, but not quite.