I welcome the opportunity to comment on today's Bill. I have three key points to deal with: first, fragmentation of services; then the suitability of the people making assessments; and, finally, the root causes of these issues. First, accessing services is fragmented, difficult and plagued with delays. This Bill and this Government, instead of ensuring that children are not waiting ten years for primary care psychology or speech and language therapy, are simply moving the goalposts and creating a new system which f…

The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have recognised that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide but the Department of justice does not seem to think it has ever happened because it is asking people to access documents when most of the buildings in Gaza have been razed to the ground and more than 70,000 people are now dead. What the Department is asking of these students who are trying to study here is the impossible when they have already overcome impossible barriers. It was impossible to continue in education when you…

Student visas.

But the Government changed the goalposts this year.

The Government is moving the goalposts.

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett and colleagues for bringing forward this motion. The Social Democrats are very proud to support it. I want to make three key points in my comments. First, data centres are affecting our communities and we have a duty and responsibility as representatives to simply reset the scales. We have all seen research that shows the very people who contact us worried about how to heat their homes are facing higher prices due to the sheer volume of data centres in Ireland. When an industry that has …

I raise the topic of online safety and the regulation of social media platforms, which is a very topical issue given the EU KIDS Act, which we have been slowly learning about over the course of this week, as well as the focus on it during Ursula von der Leyen's state of the Union address just yesterday and the online safety conference run by the Minister of State's Department last week. I will start by talking about what we are trying to make safe and what the harms are. Across my constituency, including Dundrum, S…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. The first issue I have with it is the focus on age. I raised today the topic of online safety, not online safety for children. I appreciate that, as legislators, we have a particular role to play in protecting people who cannot protect themselves as well as everyone else but if we only talk about blocking children and making things safe for children, we are not addressing online safety, because everyone else still has to deal with it. Let us talk about age assurance a…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this vital motion. This is the most important issue that will be discussed in the Dáil in the coming months, and it is crucial that we have honest conversations about it. The Minister used the phrase "muddy the waters" throughout her speech. All of the mud that flows into the water of this debate is coming from the Government's side of the House. All of the disconnect from reality is emanating from the Government's benches. Every time that I contribute on this issue, I have to…

The other part of this I really have to call out is the Minister's depiction of Europe because I have continuously called out that we are on a path toward militarisation in Europe. I have attended two events this week where representatives of the Government have said that Europe is the most important peace project in the history of the world, which I fully agree with, but it is not right now because of what is happening, including increased spending on defence and restructuring of financial frameworks towards defen…

----- or drones. He said it is not all about weapons, it is about drones.

As if drone warfare has not been the scourge of the Middle East for the past number of decades.

Exactly, but that is what I am saying.

They all kill people. Regardless, it is not where we need to be. We need to be fostering an indigenous Irish business sector that is not creating weapons or anything adjacent to weapons. This is what I am trying to say. The Minister is denying the reality that this is what is happening, that there is a military industrial complex and that multiple economies in Europe are propped up entirely or partially by arms development. As long as she continues to deny that, everything she says is disingenuous. She is the one w…

I look forward to coming back to the topic of the triple lock in a few questions' time. I have read with extreme concern the reports over the past week on the lack of support provided by the Department of Defence to Women of Honour, whose members are participating in the Defence Forces tribunal. I absolutely understand that it is important to guarantee the independence of the tribunal and I also understand that limited supports are in place, but it is vital that we listen when victims of abuse within our Defence Fo…

I appreciate that the Minister has taken the time to listen to victims and survivors, and I appreciate her respect and admiration. I share her respect and admiration for the very difficult thing these women are doing. I completely understand that the tribunal is beyond the scope of the Minister's remit and this House. However, psychological and pastoral support for those giving testimony has been provided by the Department to a limited degree and it should continue to provide it. When survivors of abuse are saying …

I am glad to hear that intention. I request that the Minister keep my office up to date on how her office is dealing with this. I am aware that some of these supports are in place, but, as was reported a few days ago, several people who have gone through this have said that, while giving evidence, the only assistance offered to them if they became distressed was the opportunity to pause proceedings and have a glass of water. While an employee assistance programme like Inspire, which the Minister referred to, is goo…

I acknowledge that.

I will build on the Minister's conversations with Deputy Ó Laoghaire and ask about the status of her plans to abolish the triple lock, the timelines and so forth as regards the legislation that is intended to be discussed later this year.

I am curious as to why the Minister has chosen not to take this question. In her earlier exchange with Deputy Ó Laoghaire, she said that she welcomed debate. For continuity, I intended to pick up on some of the things the Minister said, so it is a shame that we are chopping and changing. The triple lock and the UN constitute international law in action. That it is what we are looking at. It is not, as the Minister of State has reduced it to, a veto. That is not what is happening here. Throughout this debate, the De…