-----we have to be very responsible in the language that we use.

The MEPs are very welcome. I know the sacrifice they make in terms of lost time with their families when it comes to operating in Strasbourg and Brussels. I thank them for their public service. We are well represented in Europe, notwithstanding the differences we might have. On disability rights, in advance of our Presidency, Ireland is in an outlier in the European Union. We do not have legal rights to services, supports or therapies for disabled citizens. We are the only country in the EU without that. We are in …

It is called hate speech.

The Senator did not listen to what I said.

I am very grateful to Senators Harmon, Cosgrove, Stephenson and Noonan from the Cross-Party Group for tabling the Bill. I thank everybody here and our guests. I have been lobbied very intensively and very effectively by people, including Samantha O'Flanagan. In terms of my own interest in the Bill, a long time ago, more than 40 years ago, I went to Coláiste Mhuire in Marino, coláiste de chuid Choláiste na Tríonóide. Rinne mé céim san oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge chun a bheith i mo mhúinteoir bunscoile. I went to …

I raise the issue of disability again in this House. What is happening on the watch of this Government? It campaigned on a note of disability in the general election after the previous Government lost the care referendum. The wording of that referendum was designed to indemnify the State from any responsibility towards disabled citizens and their inalienable fundamental human rights. It was defeated by 75% of those who voted. Here we are, having campaigned on a disability platform, we find that 500 spinal surgeries…

I am going to address the Bill from the perspective of disabled citizens. I will make some brief points and leave some questions for the Minister in regard. I acknowledge the points that the Senator made about the construction of houses. I know that we have not reached the targets that were set out. As a father to four adult children aged from 25 down to 18, I do recognise and acknowledge that an effort is being made to address the building of social and affordable housing. However, it is also clearly and patently …

I wish to raise two issues this morning. First, I would like to refer a report that has been prepared, Violence against Persons with Disabilities in Institutions. This report is about institutions in Ireland. It was funded by the European Fundamental Rights Agency and conducted by Dr. Lucy Michael and Dr. Rosaleen McDonagh. It is a very disturbing report in terms of the safeguarding of adults with intellectual or physical disabilities in community settings or congregated settings. They have no protections. There is…

Thanks very much. Dr. McDonagh and Dr. Michael have identified that a legislative gap in Ireland for safeguarding sets us apart from our European partners. They have said that we really need to put in place adequate legislative supports for safeguarding, particularly for disabled citizens. They have reported on the appalling abuse that is routinely experienced by disabled citizens - I am sorry to use the word "routinely", as I do not mean to be facile - including physical abuse, peer-to-peer abuse, staff abuse, and…

-----who have been raped in State-funded care services. I have drawn attention to restrictive practices, such as people being restrained physically or chemically by inappropriately prescribing drugs to sedate them. I have spoken about financial abuse, where the financial affairs of disabled or vulnerable citizens are exploited, and about neglect. I heard this morning on "Morning Ireland" that some HSE facilities have a limit of four continence pads for 24 hours. I am going to introduce safeguarding legislation in t…

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister of State for coming along today. I am here to support my colleagues in the Cross-Party group and Senator Cosgrove for this Private Member's motion. I also want to thank the Government for not opposing it, but more importantly, for supporting this motion on maternal mental health supports. I want to say, as a man and as a father, I have had five children and have been in and out of the Coombe plenty of times, as well as Holles Street hospital. It is a very fast-moving, tough environment for ever…

I thank the Minister for coming along this evening. I commend my colleague, Senator Ryan and Sinn Féin on proposing this Bill. I am not going to go over the discussion that has just taken place, but will rather address the instrument by which the Government is using to delay or postpone the Bill. The Government has time amended the Bill for 18 months. To echo Senator Ryan's question, why is it 18 months? Why not six or 12 months? This is a Parliament parley. It is where we come together to talk and discuss. It is t…

Hear, hear.

Well said.

I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for being here. I commend Senator Joe Conway on bringing forward the motion. We have heard all the evidence to support both the sense of and the absolute ethical imperative for doing this. I just want to add to the lived experience component of the debate. My father, who passed away a long time ago, was a garda in Dublin. Unusually for a garda in Dublin, he was from Dublin. He was a very tall man. Before he joined the Garda, he was a carpenter. That was something he kep…

I raise today the issue of Ireland's emergency response capacity. Every household in the Republic received a booklet a number of years ago entitled Preparing for Major Emergencies. On the opening page of it, the Government gives us a definition of what constitutes an emergency: A major emergency is an event which, usually with little or no warning, causes or threatens injury or death, or serious disruption of essential services. It may also cause damage to property, the environment or infrastructure beyond the norm…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, for coming along today and I thank Senators Wilson and Gallagher for bringing forward this Private Members' motion. It gives us an opportunity to talk about defence and security at a time of near unprecedented flux and turbulence in the geopolitical security environment. That is one lens through which we need to look at our security and defence but another, probably more important one - if you can imagine that at this time - is what is on the political horizon, which is…

Thank you.

I thank the Minister of State for coming here today. I put on the record of this House and Oireachtas the life of Carmel Crehan, who was born on 11 June 1950. She would be 75 years of age if she were alive today. She was born in the St. Patrick's institution, Navan Road, and like tens of thousands of Irish citizens she found herself, through no fault of her own, in a system of unparalleled cruelty and abuse for all of her life. She was fostered out for two years, and then she was sent to St. Teresa's industrial sch…