I thank the Senator. As there are no other speakers, I call the Minister to make his statement.

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

When is it proposed to sit again?

It is interesting that this morning the other House is debating the Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2021. I am seeking a debate in this House with the Minister for Finance on the future of banking. This summer, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided to launch an investigation phase of the digital euro project. Our Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, was there in his role as the President of the Eurogroup and he expressed his full support for the project. As cryptocurrencies increase steadily in …

I am glad everyone has the right time for the debate. It takes me a couple of days after the clocks go back to adjust. I am glad we are still limiting our clock changes to twice a year. The Government seems satisfied more with changing the sunset clauses in its legislation. It is with great pleasure that I inform the Minister that I am one of the reckless elected Members who will vote against the motion. It really was a show in the Lower House yesterday - I will touch on that in a moment - but the Minister's speech…

Hear, hear.

I seek a debate on the Government's approach to tackling homelessness in the capital. A recent article in The Sunday Times reported on the number of voluntary groups involved in the provision of food services in Dublin, which was approximately 27. This has even led to argument among the organisations over prime locations. Were these all self-funded ventures, the duplication of service would not be any of our business. However, it is the remit of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, to co-ordinate the efforts…

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is welcome to the House to discuss the most important topic of energy security. While there is much to be said about the coming winter and the rising cost of electricity in Ireland and across Europe, I trust my colleagues to bring these issues to the fore and will instead take the opportunity to look forward to the future. Prevention is the best remedy. Now is the time to tackle the problems of the future. When we debated the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bil…

Today, I want to raise something that is very difficult to talk about but must be talked about. My town of Duleek had the darkest of days in 2018 and 2019 when we suffered five young deaths by suicide. This morning, I am highlighting my birth parish of Denn in County Cavan, which has experienced three young deaths by suicide this past year, all of whom were neighbours. On Tuesday, I listened to Joe Finnegan of Northern Sound talking to the Heaslip family of Carrickaboy - Raymond, Maggie, Chloe and Finn. I heard abo…

Unfortunately, there is no legislation relating to minors when it comes to this issue. Perhaps, as legislators, we could examine the matter.

I wish to express my grave reservations over our media and their coverage of the current state of Covid-19 in this country. Ever since the beginning of our vaccination programme, I have been consistent in warning against the dangers of dividing society along the lines of vaccination status and opposed any legislation that encouraged it. Imagine my disappointment then when I tuned into "The Pat Kenny Show" to hear the host demonising 17-year-old children for going to the cinema and referring to them as "vaccinatable…

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber again. The only question that occurs to me is to ask if we are really going to do this now. As we face into our second winter with Covid-19, and when we have just kicked the reopening ball down the road again, we are revisiting a ten-year-old promise from Fine Gael and the Labour Party to solve the problems in the public health sector by eliminating the private health sector. In November 2015, we were told that Sláintecare had been put on hold due to the Department of Health fi…

There has been a lot of conversation on the energy crisis this past week in the media and both Houses. I could not help but think of a discussion we had on 25 June during the Second Stage debate on the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill. There was a lot of talk about energy during that debate. Senator Joe O'Reilly rightly stated that we have to avoid energy poverty and we must ensure that low-income households do not suffer on account of the transition to renewable energy sources. Yet, it se…

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. The Minister is welcome to the House for the last hurrah of Covid measures, we hope. It seems like only yesterday that the legislation to which this motion refers was rushed through the House, all Stages in one sitting, with pre-legislative scrutiny having been waived. I opposed it then and oppose it now. I watched the motion being debated in the Lower House yesterday and was struck by the clear and candid summary of events by Deputy Connolly. We were told this legislation was essen…

On behalf of the Green Party, I call Senator Pauline O'Reilly, who is sharing time with Senator Róisín Garvey.

The Senator's contribution was inspirational and I thank her for sharing her experience as a teacher with us.

I thank the Senator for organising the briefing this afternoon and for his contribution on this debate.

I thank the Minister of State for joining us this evening. When is it proposed to sit again?

I raise an issue with child safeguarding in schools of which I have recently been made aware. As the House will be aware, parents in Ireland have a right to be informed of issues relating to their children and to be consulted on educational matters. Both the Constitution and the Education Act 1998 are clear on the requirement for parents to be kept advised of all relevant issues. However, I have been reliably informed this is not happening in a serious way, as there are cases of schools making logistical decisions …