I thank the Minister of State for taking the Commencement matter. I want to let the family know that the Minister of State did actually reach out to me, which does not always happen. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, was very struck by Carmel’s story and she wanted to convey to them personally her sympathy and her solidarity. I think there is an opportunity for us to quantify the abuse of children in this manner. The information will be there. For example, in Carmel’s case, she passed away in the care of St. Br…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I endorse everything Senator Ryan said. I will comment briefly on gaps in supports. A very high threshold is required when people are being denied their liberty and detained involuntarily. I have sat on Mental Health Commission tribunals for more than a decade and have attended hundreds of tribunals where people were involuntarily detained. One of the recurring themes that arose at those tribunals was the lack of proper supports and care in the community and th…

I raise again a case I have raised many times this year and in 2024, namely, that of Caitlin Hassan whose mum Louise Hassan has raised her case repeatedly here. Louise's daughter Caitlin was raped while in State-funded care as a vulnerable 27-year-old adult. Despite repeated attempts and pleas, no report has been furnished to Louise Hassan, her mother. Her daughter has been discharged from the service and is now at home, most of the time in the foetal position in their one-bedroom apartment. She is a single mother.…

Hear, hear.

I wish to again raise in this House a grave issue of national security. There are three types of drone. The first type is a consumer drone. These are small, hand-held and often used by domestic enthusiasts - people who want to use them for leisure purposes. Those small consumer drones caused Dublin Airport to be closed up to eight times in 2023. According to an aviation expert last week, if one of those small consumer drones strikes an aircraft when it is coming into land, it would cause serious structural damage t…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear. Well said.

The brutal murder of two people this week - I refer to the burning alive of a child and his grandmother in their own home - shows the level of savagery that these so-called organised crime gangs have sunk to. It is an enduring and persistent problem. In that context, I want to raise the cases of Mark Noonan and Glen Murphy. Glen Murphy was 19 years old and Mark Noonan was 23 years old with a ten-month-old daughter. On the night of 23 November 2010, they left their apartment in town with their girlfriends to go to C…

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister of State for coming here this afternoon and congratulate her once more on her new appointment. I thank everybody for allowing this Bill to go forward. I was elected unexpectedly in a by-election in 2022. On my first day in the Chamber, I said I was here to learn, to make friends and to try to make a coalition of people who are willing to support disability rights in the Republic. This is a very short Bill. It is small, but it contains within it a transformative provision. It redresses an imbala…

Leahy.

I welcome our guests from the women's network. I want to speak on the issue of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. At present, 16 million women and girls in Afghanistan are subject to the most appalling interpretation of Sharia law. They are not allowed to access education or proper maternity services. They are being held in medieval conditions. Young girls and teenage girls who speak out suffer the appalling punishment of having their nose cut off and removed from their face. They …

Hear, hear.

I raise a number of colliding issues that are of great urgency. One is the presence of a Russian spy ship, Yantar , not far from Irish waters. This is a surveillance vessel which is part of the Russian order of battle. It has been in Irish waters almost consistently for a number of years now. It is obvious, based on the circumstances, that it is mapping not just our subsea oceanic fibre optic cables that connect transatlantically and carry one third of European Union data between Ireland and the United States, but …

I will not take up the full three minutes but at least I have some idea. All these issues around defence, security and intelligence are coming together. We are not in a position to generate intelligence meaningfully. An Garda Síochána is the primary intelligence agency in the State. It does not have the resources, national technical means, signals, etc. It just does not have them to proactively generate intelligence. All these things together are bringing forward a very profound question around defence and security…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome this motion on migration and commend my colleagues in Fine Gael on bringing forward this very important debate. I particularly welcome the publication of a new migration and integration strategy, and I hope I have time at the end to elaborate on that a little. There are concerns expressed by some voices in Irish society, and Senator Byrne mentioned extremes on both sides. They talk about the indigenous aboriginal Irish and they talk about protecting our culture. Culture …

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

It is the sum of all fears as the parent of an 18-year-old, a 21-year-old, a 23-year old and a 24-year-old. Your heart is in your mouth when they go out and you just want them to come home. My heart and my deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends in the communities who have lost those five beautiful young people. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha dílse. I want to raise again the issue of the triple lock. The Cathaoirleach and I have sat on the defence and national security committee and have heard expe…

I raise the difference between political ambition and political entitlement. It has come very much to the fore during this presidential campaign. Ambition is when you are not happy with the state of affairs and the status quo and not happy with your role and status in life. To change that situation, though, you put the work in. We have seen two candidates who have put considerable work in over the past number of weeks. It is a bruising contest. Entitlement, then, is when someone is not happy with the status quo , b…