I understand the Tánaiste has met other stakeholders. I believe we have a particular duty to the Women of Honour group, especially given how the review into the situation of these women used language of a type and depth that I suspect has not been seen in very many other reports that have come to the House. Earlier we spoke about recruitment and retention. I have met these women. Most of them come from military families. They love the Defence Forces and want to make them better. I always say that when we sort thing…

I would not disagree that the IRG was beneficial. I know the Women of Honour were not particularly supportive of it. They wanted it to go further. It cast light on many problems in the Defence Forces. The Opposition would be prepared to work with the Tánaiste on this. We could meet and talk about the terms of reference that would be used in this statutory inquiry and make sure that we do this once and for all, no matter how long it takes. It is extremely important.

My constituent, Graham Meehan, is being denied his right to live an independent but supported life because of the Government's refusal to properly fund residential care for those living in the community. Graham is 32 and an adored son of Maura and her husband. He has cerebral palsy and associated disabilities and autism. He is not alone in north Kildare, but he is alone in being named here today because the other parent to whom I spoke yesterday is too afraid of losing services as a retribution for speaking out. Ho…

Why is that?

I have already raised it with the Minister.

Will the Minister of State get support from the Tánaiste this time? She never did before. Any time she gives out about the HSE, she gets no support from her leader.

I would like to preface what I say here by asking anybody who speaks on this issue in the future to mind their language. In the past week, the rhetoric around rewetting in particular has been extreme and divisive. Rewetting is not flooding but who could blame any farmer who is busy on her land from thinking she is going to need a canoe if her farm neighbours Coillte land or Bord na Móna land. I note too the talk just yesterday about culling the national herd, as if anybody, rural or urban, was under the illusion th…

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the proposed consultative forum on international security policy. We are addressing this in a week when Ireland and the world are marking the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. This week also marks the anniversary of the ratification of the Sykes-Picot agreement and all that this signalled for the Middle East, with European colonial powers drawing straight lines across lands that were not theirs. This still has an impact on the Middle East right to this day. A…

As a member of the Committee on Gender Equality, which was established to go to through the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality, I am glad to have a chance to speak on this report. The statistics speak for themselves. Today, I want to speak in a way that is more reflective than reactive because although this is the first report from the CSO, how many other reports have we seen before the House? I want to mention past generations who were the victims of sexual, gender-based or domestic viole…

Will the Tánaiste accede to the wishes of the Women of Honour that any internal appointee to the oversight board be vetted for appropriateness by an Oireachtas committee, such desire reflecting their particular experience within the Defence Forces organisation and its culture? Will the Tánaiste also make a statement on this matter?

It is time that the Women of Honour were honoured in word and in deed by the House. The seriousness of the damage that was done to these women - and, indeed, men – has been fully articulated in the national media. It is not that they were raped or sexually assaulted out on the street and then did not get a kind ear when they went into work. This was done by their superior officers. This was done within the Defence Forces by people who should have known better and were there to defend the honour of these women. When…

If the Tánaiste will not agree to that, I am sure there is some way of providing confidentiality to any appointee to the oversight body. The Tánaiste met Women of Honour the week before last, but the group was not satisfied afterwards. Is the Tánaiste going to meet Women of Honour again to discuss how to reach an agreement on this? We are talking about women who were in the Defence Forces. These are not soft women. These are women who were ready to go out and defend their country and the reputation of Ireland. It i…

Is the Department preparing a plan to assist with the urgent housing of members of the Defence Forces in military accommodation that is already available?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Tánaiste. The situation in the Curragh Camp has been brought up by my comrade, an Teachta Patricia Ryan, on several occasions but since I was appointed junior spokesperson for defence, wives and partners have come to me with some truly heartbreaking stories. The basic needs of safe housing of these families' men and women who have served us so proudly are not being met. It really is a shame when we have, as the Minister said, accommodation on the Curragh Camp. I am pleased that he has stopp…

I appreciate the Minister's answer. This goes to the wider issue of how the Defence Forces are treated and valued. We talk about recruitment and retention. We really have to start at retention. We have to retain the members who are working in the Defence Forces. They are trained already. The priority has to be keeping them. This could be an indication to the committed members of our Defence Forces, who obey orders and take their commands to protect the State, that the State has their backs as well. I would apprecia…

I thank my colleague, Deputy Brady, for this Bill. I welcome the ambassador, H.E. Dr. Wahba Abdalmajid, to the Chamber. Deputy Brady has already spoken on the detail of the Bill and I will address its essence, in a week when the catastrophe, the Nakba, inflicted on the Palestinian people by the Israeli Government and its supporters is commemorated. This week is also the anniversary of the ratification of the Sykes-Picot agreement, which has affected the history of the Middle East and all who live there ever since. …

I am delighted to be introducing the Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Standing Charges) Bill 2023 to the House, along with an Teachta O'Rourke. Our Bill is an important one. Given its name is the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, one would think the CRU would already have the power to do what our Bill proposes it would be able to do. Our Bill's intention is to give powers to the CRU to regulate standing charges and, in so doing, to help the consumer who is now punch-drunk from bills and price hikes in ever…

I am very pleased to speak on Europe Day, 50 years of membership of the EU and the power of our democratic union of peoples as a force for peace, equality and prosperity. I thank the EU institutions for the great care and concern they showed for people and businesses in the Six Counties in and around the Brexit negotiations. Europe built a peaceful union from the wreckage of two world wars. From mass death it brought new life, and through economic co-operation it ensured subsequent generations of young Europeans wo…

I am very glad to speak on our motion because prices and corporate greed are soaring while people’s standards of living, and their hearts, are sinking. I commend an Teachta O'Reilly on this Private Member's motion. I am very pleased the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, will not oppose the motion. I am sure the Minister of State is also hearing that prices in our shops are not normal. The fear of going out to do the big shop, which is becoming the much-smaller shop, is not normal. The indifference the Government …

I, too, thank the Regional Group for introducing this important motion. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on it. I am glad to be able to speak up for the great people in the constituency of Kildare North who are living with physical and intellectual disabilities and face barriers in their lives due to transport constraints. I am thinking of those debilitated by neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. For the past few years, I have been dealing with a man who lives in r…