First, I very much welcome that throughout this Second Stage debate, we have had Members from all sides of this House condemn the recent spate of attacks, assaults, or attempts to intimidate members of An Garda Síochána. It is very important this House sends out that message. The second point I wish to make while introducing this legislation is that it is important, as Minister for Justice, that one listens to everybody. I try to listen to everyone and to different views but it is particularly important that the Mi…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)(a) and 181(1).

I am pleased to have the opportunity to attend Seanad Éireann at the request of my colleague, Senator Murphy, to address the important issue he has brought to our attention. Under Housing for All, there are many initiatives under way to promote and encourage people to take up careers in construction and retrofitting. The Senator is correct that we need an awful lot more people working in this area. I have a report that suggests we need about 50,000 more people working in construction and green skills by 2030 to ens…

I thank Senator Murphy again for highlighting this issue. I could not agree more that this partnership approach is very important, both in terms of meeting the skills and societal challenges we face in the country. It is good to have industry, education and government working together to see how we can all play our part in making sure there are enough people with the appropriate qualifications and skills to meet the requirements of our country. I will be happy to take up the Senator's invitation to meet the Irish P…

I am delighted to be here in Seanad Éireann to commence the passage of the Family Courts Bill. This Bill represents a major milestone on the path to achieving the commitment in the programme for Government to enact a family courts Bill to create a new dedicated family court within the existing court structure and provide for court procedures that support a less adversarial resolution of disputes. Reform of family justice and access to a courts system that is less adversarial and reduces the costs of dealing with fa…

I thank Senators. The depth of feeling and priority they assign to this area is clear from their contributions. It was fascinating and insightful listening to the Senators' experiences. It reminded us of the urgency of, and reasoning for, doing this. Be Senators advocates, practitioners or both, it is clear that we have a wealth of expertise in the Seanad, which we will be eager to draw on as we work our way through the legislative process. I acknowledge what Senators Pauline O'Reilly, Horkan and Martin stated. Thi…

Sure.

Yes.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am delighted to have an opportunity to introduce the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022 to the House. I look forward to hearing contributions from Deputies today and in the coming days. As Deputies will be aware, this Bill is aimed at providing a robust statutory basis for the operating of recording devices by An Garda Síochána. An Garda Síochána plays a vitally important role in our society. Its members are on the front line every day keeping people sa…

I thank Deputy Durkan for consistently raising this issue. I will make a number of quick points. First, we will introduce the Family Courts Bill into the Seanad this week. That is a really important reform of how our courts work in this regard. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, held a public consultation on the topic of parental alienation. We are currently reviewing all the responses. The Department of Justice has also arranged for a stand-alone piece of independent research on parental alienation, which…

I move: That, notwithstanding Standing Order 215 of the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business or the Resolution of the Dáil of 14th December, 2022, the following Further Revised Estimate for Public Services for the year ending 31st December, 2023, be presented to the Dáil on 24th January, 2023, being a date later than that prescribed for the presentation of Estimates: Vote 42 — Rural and Community Development ( Further Revised Estimate ).

What about friends in low places?

How is Jonathan?

It is called democracy.

With you in the hot seat.

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for the question. She is correct; the Government decision this week allocated an additional €32 million to HEIs for the provision of, as she said, 667 additional units. As the Deputy probably knows, they are in Maynooth, Galway and Limerick. I can come back on some of those details in a moment. My Department has been engaged intensively in examining issues with student accommodation in the context both of the overall pressures within the general residential rental market, which are posin…

I welcome the Deputy's welcome. I think there was political consensus in the House the State should intervene in providing funding to build college-owned student accommodation. We might have differing views but there was a general consensus across the House that needed to happen and it is now happening. If it does not sound too peculiar to say, I contend it is wrong to focus on the 667. It is great they are unlocked in Maynooth, Galway and Limerick and I thank those institutions. They will now proceed and go to con…

There are two elements here. Everybody benefits from extra supply. If we take Maynooth University, we know for every person who got a student accommodation bed on campus this year there were six applications. Therefore, even at current market rates there is demand for more. To be clear, what we are funding are not-for-profit units. We are funding publicly-funded institutions to deliver student accommodation. It is student accommodation that has to wash its face but not student accommodation seeking to make profit. …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We have obviously introduced some measures in the budget as an immediate and tangible relief against some of the challenges of the rising cost of living. This included a once-off payment in 2022 of €500 for PhD students who receive an Irish Research Council, IRC, or Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, award and a €500 increase to the stipend baseline in 2023 for PhD students who receive an IRC or SFI award. In certain circumstances, PhD students may also qualify for support f…

This is a root-and-branch review. It is not simply looking at what the level of the stipend should be; it is looking at all the issues, including how a PhD researcher is classified and whether they are students or employees. I have had engagement with postgraduates. There are some countries people reference as good examples of how PhD researchers are looked after where they are employees and there are other countries people reference where they are not. Looking at international comparisons is important, as is looki…