Jennifer Whitmore

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I want to raise the issue of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, portal. The council has a new process in place to identify and ensure there is capacity for children who need special classes as part of their education. In moving to this new system, there has been a major gap in the process, which I am really worried about. Essentially parents were to upload the information and medica…

I absolutely understand the need to forward plan and it is welcome. I have spoken to school principals who say that when this process is up and running properly, it will be a huge help to them, but as the Minister of State said, in the first year of this process, there are clear flaws and gaps in it and, unfortunately, children with additional needs or special needs are falling through those gaps …

I welcome this motion and the opportunity to speak on this really important issue. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. The Social Democrats will be 100% supportive of this motion. Objection to the Mercosur free trade agreement is not just a matter of trade but of principle, sovereignty, environmental integrity and protecting our indigenous industries. This deal is a direct threat to our bee…

-----in relation to ensuring we have a robust farming sector that works with our environmental sector, where are they tonight?

I am not specifically talking about the Minister of State. I am talking about the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. Where is he tonight? He is not here for this debate. Where is his support for rural communities when it comes to Mercosur? Is he just going to roll over and accept it because Europe says so? In relation to this deal, the numbers speak for themselves. The Mercosur trade de…

Is the Leas-Cheann Comhairle allowing that to happen?

Are you allowing him to come in here and interrupt this debate?

Stay in your seat and stay quiet.

Stay in your seat and stay quiet; it is not your time to talk.

Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

-----this is unacceptable.

He is completely interrupting this debate. He does not know when it is his turn to speak, and it is not his turn to speak now.

Sit down and be quiet.

Sit down and be quiet.

Sit down and be quiet.

I never mentioned your name at all.

It is your brother sitting on the ministerial benches that I mentioned.

You have not been. You have just walked back in.

You have just walked back.

You have not been here all the time. Would you stop?

Okay, if we are let get back to it. Meanwhile imports produced with lower environmental safeguards effectively undercut these efforts. That is not fair competition; that is regulatory hypocrisy. Embedding references to the Paris Agreement into the text might provide political signalling but without binding enforceable environmental conditionality, it will not close the gap. If we are serious abou…

That is not what people want to see. That is not who they want to see representing them in the manner they are being represented.

They want the Government to stand with them and to oppose this deal. They will not forgive the Government if it does not do that. They will never forgive it if its lets them down at this stage.

I am pleased that the young people in the Gallery today got to see the Minister of State's passion when he was talking at the end of his speech. It is clear that it is so important to who he is and who he has become to have that participation in democracy and to be involved. What we want is to bring that passion forward a little bit more so that it is not a tokenistic involvement in democracy, and…