That rhetorical device should not be accepted in this House.

I thank the Minister of State for that information. On a personal level, I thank him for deviating from the brief he was given to try to address some of my questions. I do appreciate it. Again, I apologise for the comments I made about what I called the rhetorical device. I know it was not something the Minister of State wrote himself. I reiterate that it is personal to the Minister of State and I do appreciate the frankness of his reply. This case is emblematic of the moral injury experienced by people, our disabl…

On our return to the House, I wish to raise Israel’s escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. I highlight to the House that in the past 36 hours, Israel has launched three separate waves of airstrikes across south Lebanon, deep into the Beqaa Valley, and striking targets in Beirut, in Dahieh province, which is a suburb. In that period, Israel has slaughtered more than 500 people. As of this morning, I think it is in excess of 600 civilians, including 100 women and more than 50 children. This is the femicide a…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister for coming along today. In regard to the first group of amendments, this is an oppressive and wholly inappropriate instrument. It does not just give rise to the risk of creating two categories of Irish citizenship, it de facto creates a two-tier Irish citizenship, and in doing so devalues the whole concept and value of Irish citizenship in the first place. I share the concerns set out by Senator Ruane and those communicated to all of us in this House by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, th…

I have just done so in an informed way.

I have just done it on an informed basis, on the basis of evidence that I have given you. I have been to Guantanamo Bay - I do not think Senator O'Reilly has - and I have read the legislation.

When you say "we", are you referring to the royal we?

I am talking about the procedures as set out. I am not comparing Dublin to Guantanamo Bay. For a start, the weather does not compare. However, the concept does. It creates a two-tier citizenship where naturalised citizens have diminished rights as compared with those of citizens by birth. I will give another example. Shamima Begum, a 15-year-old girl from Bethnal Green in London, and a couple of her school friends went to Syria in 2015 as children. When they got there, she was married to a Belgian jihadist and then…

It is a matter of public record that she was convicted of these offences in the courts.

She could never be stripped of her citizenship because she is a citizen by birth. However, if she, like Shamima Begum, was a citizen by naturalisation, then she would have this double jeopardy of being on the one hand a child who was groomed and trafficked into the caliphate and then stripped of her citizenship as a further punishment. Everybody here, myself included, has constituents who are naturalised citizens. I would ask everybody in this House, are you really going to promote and support legislation that will…

I am sorry I am late. I welcome Senator Bradley to the Chamber. We met before on International Women's Day in the University of Limerick. I think it was just before Covid started. I had the privilege of hearing some of her life's journey and incredible achievements. I am delighted to see her here and to meet her again. When I heard the news, I thought it was a really great appointment. I think she will make a significant contribution to this Chamber, wider society and our culture. Again, I am sorry I am late. I tha…

I echo the universal support for the spirit of the Bill and, having read the Bill, it is not motivated by a desire to censor or in some way restrict freedom of expression in any way but is motivated by a duty of care towards children. Smartphones really proliferated in the mid-noughties, so we now have a generation who are reaching majority who have been exposed to that technology in a way that perhaps we in this Chamber have not. I was very interested in the research cited by Senator O'Loughlin into the psychologi…

I echo the congratulations to Regina Doherty on her election to Europe. In the two years that I have been here, she has been a great colleague and mentor. She is originally from Finglas and Ballymun so while I am not saying it is the Finglas Mafia who were in play, she is a great colleague and I am delighted to see her go to Europe. I wish to welcome Nikki Bradley to the House whom I met with the Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, this morning.

I am just welcoming Ms Bradley to the House out of politeness. I have not said anything else. I had the great pleasure to meet her with the Taoiseach on the way in this morning. She will be a fantastic appointment, when that takes place. Yesterday, I spoke about the waiting lists for scoliosis for spinal surgery in the Children's Hospital Ireland group. Despite the commitments given by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that the waiting lists would be reduced, we still have hundreds of children on th…

Of course what I said was accurate.

I echo the expressions of sympathy to the family of our former colleague, Senator O'Mahony. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. I echo the condemnation of Russia's attack on the children's hospital in Kyiv. It was part of two waves of missiles that were fired at Kyiv yesterday. In the first wave, the Russians fired what NATO designated AS103 Kodiak missiles. These are very sophisticated and they have a GLONASS, which is a variant of a GPS guidance system that gives them a 7 m to 10 m error or accuracy ratio, so ther…

I thank the Minister very much for coming in. This Bill has arrived at a very particular moment in the development and transformation of the Defence Forces. From an operational perspective, when I retired back in 2000 the Defence Forces did one thing for one agency, and that was peacekeeping for the United Nations. Now they do peace enforcement, peacekeeping for the United Nations and for NATO as part of our membership of Partnership for Peace, and they also participate and lead in European Union missions such as t…

Hear, hear.