I welcome all our guests. I want to talk about aluminium. According to West Point and the institute for advanced studies, aluminium is the foundational metal of war and we are exporting almost 1 million tonnes of it to Russia. A total of 826,000 tonnes of alumina are being exported to Russia and we are the largest exporter to Russia. Since the war started in Ukraine - Putin's criminal enterprise and his unparalleled savagery and brutality in Ukraine - the increase has grown from 23%. A total of 68% of all alumina e…

Hear, hear.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Seanad. I congratulate my colleagues on both sides of the House for their initiative in the previous Commencement matter, especially on a day when another woman has been murdered. Anything that we can do to support women and children in these violent circumstances is very much to be welcomed. I am sorry that the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, is not here but this is something that, perhaps, the Minister of State could relay to him. I visited Cluain Traini…

I thank the Minister of State for actually addressing me and addressing the question as opposed to reading out some script written by a public servant, which generally fails to address the underlying issue. I hear what the Minister of State says. It is an historical arrangement and an agreement that goes back 25 years, but asserting that does not make it the right thing to do. This should be client focused and person focused, and should not preserve an administrative system that is simply anachronistic. I cannot se…

I want to raise a couple of issues here this morning. The first is in relation to Commencement matters. I have submitted a number of Commencement matters in relation to Cluain services, an extraordinary resource in Clonmel, County Tipperary, that provides education, training, activities and respite for people with disabilities and people with mental health issues. It is the only centre in that part of south Tipperary doing this. However, would-be students who are taken on that course have to transfer their disabili…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Seanad. Before I came down to the Chamber, I saw footage of a small girl collecting water in Gaza from a recognised aid point. She was shot dead in front of her brother. These were two small children. He was sitting beside her body in the aftermath of that shooting. Where did those 5.56 mm high-velocity rounds come from? I will tell the House where they came from. Those rounds came from the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri and they got to Israel through our airs…

We have to know what is transiting through our airspace, for all of these reasons. Back in 2006, when the Israelis invaded Lebanon, they closed down the cellular network in Lebanon and I could not reach any of the contacts I had there as a journalist. Do Senators remember 11811? I dialled that; it is international inquiries. I got, "Eleven eight eleven. Mary speaking." I said, "Would you have a number for the Lebanese Parliament?" She said she did not and would have to route me through its embassy in London. Lo and…

I will speak directly to the amendment No. 2 in relation to dual-use materials and to echo what Senator Harmon said. This is not a radical proposal and it is not an adversarial proposal. It is simply one that will assist us in implementing existing legislation. In relation to dual-use weapons, I know that my colleagues in Government share our concern about the export of alumina to Russia. Alumina is an absolutely essential component of weapons systems. I know we have great colleagues here who selflessly travelled t…

Apologies.

I think it is important in terms of the barbarity of the times we live in-----

-----when the President of the United States uses those words against a state he has not declared war against. He calls Putin's special military operation a special combat operation. We are living in a time when full spectrum powers have turned their back on the international rules-based order and on the conventions and laws of armed conflict. By definition, what is happening in Lebanon where our troops are is war crimes. We are unhappy about the transit of alumina from Aughinish Alumina to Russia, quite rightly, b…

I second the amendment.

I will try to be brief. This amendment is about simply inspecting what is in the cargo hold. Prior to the Minister of State's arrival, I said that there is a compelling primary intelligence interest in trying to ascertain what is on aircraft that are coming through our airspace and that are using Shannon for refuelling and onward navigation. The reason I say that is because the Israeli military has been using cluster munitions in south Lebanon, near Irish positions. Where does it get them? It gets them from the Uni…

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Teach. I am always struck by the statements Ministers read out when they come in here. They are full of facts and figures but, in their quantitative way, they do not really describe the objective circumstances of living for disabled citizens. Here are some facts and figures: it was 269 m long and 28.2 m wide, could travel at a speed of 24 knots, cost €7.5 billion in today's money and burned 600 tonnes of coal per day. Fantastic - the figures are like Top Trumps. It sank in…

We are 30 years behind England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We should be ashamed of ourselves. I heard parents say in the Leinster House complex this morning that they wished their children would die. What kind of a society is that? The Government just does not get it. As one of the mothers said this morning, the Government needs to come out of its bubble. I have been saying this ad nauseam for the last four years. I have to go home now and be a carer with the minimum support from the State, despite its c…

Disabled people are worse off to the tune of-----