The parents have provided me with a great deal of extensive and lengthy briefings. They have set out every law from the Equal Status Act to the Equality Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which we are in breach of, contrary to the letter and spirit of the convention. At the moment there is no pathway of treatment for these children through the Health Service Executive CDNT model. To get the intensive speech therapy these children need, their only shot is to get it by means of thes…

Hear, hear.

I raise the issue of the cost-of-living crisis. Earlier, I attended a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters. Again, we had disabled citizens in tears describing their abject living conditions and the enduring and grinding poverty that they are forced to live in in this country. We are outliers in the European sense in that throughout the European Union, the disability allowance as we know it is disaggregated or not connected to income. It is a non-means-tested universal payment. We means-t…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I welcome our guests to the Visitors Gallery. When I saw this on the schedule, I decided to come along and speak to the issue of AIDS. Sadly, I will be 60 in August. I did my leaving certificate in 1984. That summer, and in 1985, all of my friends and I went to London, as young guys from Finglas. We went on the ferry and took the train down. I remember it stopped in Rugby at about 3 a.m. and some eejit got off the train and wandered off into the night. That summer, we a…

It is great to see the Minister of State here today. It is the first time I have seen her since her elevation. I congratulate her on her appointment and wish her the best of luck with her portfolio. I thank the Civil Engagement Group for bringing forward this legislation. It comes at a timely moment. We know about automation in weapons systems. There were radical changes in the automation of weapons systems during the 20th century and that has continued into the 21st century. However, the concept of an autonomous w…

In the spirit of collegiality, I also commend the iarCheannaire on his leadership here in the House. Although we crossed swords from time to time-----

Not every time. Come on. I think Christmas Eve, no? Anyway, mar a deirtear as Gaeilge, cogann na faoileáin, ach cagann siad ar an gcloch chéanna. I commend the collegiality of this House and, in that spirit, I congratulate Senator Costello from Fianna Fáil on the great work she has done on having givinostat approved as a drug for people suffering from Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. In that same spirit, I ask, please, that similar action be taken in relation to Skyclarys, the drug that supports people with Friedreic…

The Minister of State is very welcome, as are the Department's officials. I hope they will be able to address my concerns in the time provided. I echo what Senator Stephenson said. I have a concern about section 69B(2)(a) which states, "the person provides a home support service to fewer than 4 persons". Senator Stephenson quite correctly pointed out a concern about whether an unscrupulous operator could get a pile of smaller care providers, limit them to three clients and in that way try to evade regulation. That …

The brokerage model-----

Would the HSE be able to say that it is not giving funding for that service provider because they are not amenable to regulation, and that it would be irresponsible of it to release public funds to a carer in that situation? That is something that I really need to get an answer on because if that were the case, that would then confine all of us to using a model we do not want. For example, most recently when funding was cleared for supports for my adult son, his preference was to go with the care provider that had …

I condemn the violence perpetrated on Stephen Ogilvie in Belfast in recent days, when he was almost decapitated by an alleged perpetrator who is now before the courts. I also condemn the murders of 23 Catholics and Protestants who similarly had their throats cut, were attacked by axes, mutilated, tortured and in some cases subsequently shot by people such as Lenny Murphy and John Murphy. Do I suspect every loyalist or member of the unionist community of being so violent? No, I do not. Most of them are fine, decent …

The Minister of State is welcome to the House. Fáilte isteach. I commend Senator Stephenson and the Cross-Party Group on bringing forward this Bill. I am disappointed with the position that the Government has taken. I know that the Minister of State is not the line Minister, and that he is here to read out the Government's position, so I do not mean any personal slight to him whatsoever. I know him to be a person of the highest integrity. Like me, as a family man, I know the Minister of State is as horrified as we …

Hear, hear.

I was outside at 3 p.m. in the rain with five beautiful young Irish citizens who suffer from Friedreich's ataxia. This is a degenerative condition that causes consecutive and cumulative failure of the nervous and muscular systems. It is not a good way to die. I have had a sibling die a slow and painful death. I have a son who I now hear struggling for breath. Why are we allowing this to take place in our Republic? Why are they out there with their parents in the rain? One of the mums, who is from Clonmel, asked me …

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I will deal with amendments Nos. 4, 5 and 6 in reverse order. Amendment No. 6 seeks to insert: “(4) For the avoidance of doubt, awards under an international agreement referred to in subsection (1) shall not be enforceable or recognised in the State if such awards were sought in a foreign jurisdiction or an international body.”. We have had some very interesting debates in this House over the last number of weeks about the Omagh bombing inquiry Bill. The Minister f…

I am speaking, if the Minister of State could contain himself.

Cathaoirleach, if I-----

I am sticking to it-----

-----and whether or not-----

We must be careful to keep the record of this House correct. I certainly never called for another 1916 Rising. What I am saying is that we must have a republic that serves the interests of its citizens. Amendments Nos. 4, 5 and 6, as set out, seek to do that. I cannot understand why any Government of this Republic would oppose or not support those amendments for all of the reasons I have set out. We have to draw a distinction between what the Government does not like to hear and what it thinks is relevant or irrele…