Feel free to heckle me back.

I wish to speak to amendment No. 317.

Once 15 minutes are added at the end.

It does not feel like possession.

While I am in possession, I must start with a confession. The amendment I have tabled is to the wrong section of the Bill. However, I can still speak to the principle of it. Amendment No. 317-----

I am speaking to amendment No. 317, which proposes to amend section 129, which relates to the equality statement of the college. However, this part of the Bill relates to the National College of Art and Design, NCAD. My error was in tabling the amendment to that section when it should more properly have been proposed to section 62. On the principle of the amendment, in the context of the preparation of an equality statement, a number of different requirements are made of a designated institution of higher education…

Notwithstanding the fact that my amendment is in the wrong place, maybe the Minister would be kind enough to address the proposal. It is clear what I am asking for.

It is a "to" too much.

We will not mess with your tutu.

I hope it is okay to say something like that. It is a question of academic freedom perhaps.

The Senator has never been better than he is now. I thank the Minister for his considered and, indeed, considerate response to my amendment. He raised two points. The first recognised the validity of the question posed, namely, whether an equality statement should be in the legislation or if it should be an option of an t-údarás to produce a code, policy or guideline on the matter. I will make the point that this is a very important issue. The reason the production of an equality statement is required directly in l…

It is all we have left.

If we are going to have citizens’ assemblies, let us ensure that this democratically elected Assembly is allowed to do its work in full. I wish to speak to my own amendments. Again, I must start with a mea culpa because they are in the wrong place. The moral of the story is perhaps not to burn the midnight oil. The amendments I am proposing here relate to the issue of consultation with students in the context of the strategic development plan of the college and the equality statement. I submitted these for the part…

Cuirim fáilte roimh méara Phort Láirge agus a bhean chéile freisin. When the American Supreme Court ruled last Friday in the Dobbs v . Jackson case, overturning Roe v . Wade and related court decisions, I thought of a famous campaign slogan from American politics in the 1980s: "It's morning again in America." Following the darkness of almost 50 years of federally mandated abortion, which resulted in 60 million dead, it will now be possible for American states to enact laws that, it is to be hoped, will protect the …

It might reduce the number of abortions.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. My colleague, Senator McDowell, has already adverted to the strange situation where we get five minutes in which to make Second Stage contributions in respect of a Bill of this importance. It is in keeping with a pattern in recent years of less and less respect for the deliberative process in these Houses, in particular the Seanad. I regret that. I listened with interest to the Minister's speech. He galloped through it but, thankfully, with the help of a script, it was possible to follo…

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage may well be licking his wounds this morning after Independent Deputy, Carol Nolan, effectively went through him for a shortcut yesterday in the Dáil because of the way he answered her question about social cohesion issues that might arise from the combined challenges of the housing crisis, immigration and asylum issues and accommodating victims of the war on Ukraine by Russia. In accusing Deputy Nolan of threatening social cohesion, the Minister failed to reco…

That is not what is being said.

I heard what Senator Moynihan had to say about the latest British abortion statistics and the number of women giving Irish addresses. What she did not mention, of course, is that the vast majority of abortions are now taking place in Ireland and that the figures for abortions taking place have vastly increased since abortion was legalised. Thousands more innocent lives have been lost. This is something we should think about. There are children who would be alive today who are not because we legalised abortion in Ir…

I will try to stay within the allocated time as well. Having listened to Senator O'Reilly and the Minister of State, I was struck by their eloquence and the importance of what they have said, particularly what the former said about the most vulnerable people in the world. I empathise deeply with what they have said but I find myself feeling that there are things that I must say here because they are the truth and hence I feel a need to put them on the record. Today is the feast day of St. Thomas More, who is the pa…