Ruth Coppinger

I will not stop calling you out.

Did the Leas-Cheann Comhairle not put my name on the list?

I hope I will get a bit of extra time for the shock of that. It is International Women's Day on Sunday and I hope thousands will march all around the country. We will meet at 1 p.m. at City Hall in Dublin, in case anyone would like to join here or in other cities. Yesterday, thousands of students and staff at UCD gathered to show their solidarity with a medical student who was raped, and with all…

-----which they did up to recently, when doctors signed an open letter. The school have impugned her character and her mental health, which is a disgusting thing to do-----

-----and they also warned medical students yesterday not to attend the protest, asking if they felt safe at a protest against violence. There is something rotten in that school of medicine.

He might meet her.

People will gather today at 12.30 p.m. at O'Reilly Hall in University College Dublin, UCD, in what I anticipate will be one of the biggest protests there has been in UCD in decades, and probably ever. I do not know. I do know that everyone in the college and in other colleges is talking about what happened to a medical student. This is not removed from what we are discussing today. Does the Minist…

I will start with a few questions, which will give the Minister a chance to think about the answers. I will then make a few general points after. The first question relates to Harvey specifically. Across the whole of society, the story of what happened touched a nerve. Why have the head of the spinal management unit, David Moore, or CHI not informed Gillian and Stephen of why Harvey was removed fr…

I have some general points. Parents have been expressing disappointment that the input into the terms of reference that was agreed in meetings does not seem to have been heard. Parents were not consulted and did not have a real say in the facilitator. I know nothing about the facilitator, but they should have been involved in that. It is also problematic, and I do not know if she can answer how sh…

1. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the first meeting of the delivery and monitoring committee for the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, which he chaired on 8 December 2025. [10447/26]

20. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach if he will report on implementation of the well-being framework published by his Department. [10448/26]

I am sure the Taoiseach would agree that the way sexual assaults survivors are treated is a key part of well-being in any country, and we have already seen the battle for people not to have their own therapy notes used against them in court. This week, we are seeing how third level institutions treat victims of gendered violence. I highlighted the medical student who was raped, had image-based se…

95. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Transport to report on the issue of cancelled buses on the Dublin Bus and Go Ahead networks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15474/26]

How seriously does the Department take the issue of ghost buses or cancelled buses? In the first six months of last year there were 6,000 complaints to the NTA in Dublin about this. Those are just people who get the strength to make complaints. This is causing real problems in my area, particularly with the 238 which is an absolutely infamous ghost bus. The people of Tyrrelstown are losing their j…

Congestion, drivers, mechanics, breakdowns and all sorts of reasons are given. Is it not some reflection that we cannot get workers to work in these services? As the Minister knows, one of the issues with Go Ahead is that it has reduced conditions compared with Dublin Bus. Drivers were eating their lunch on the side of the road at one point. However, I want to talk about the 238. It is absolutely…

I will also mention the other services for Tyrrelstown and Hollystown. The Minister knows these areas well from his time on Fingal County Council. He knows the figures for Fingal. It is the fastest growing area and so on. I do not need to recite the figures to him. Dublin West has never had the transport it needs. It is the most recurring issue that people are contacting me about. It is causing ha…

Fianna Fáil was in power.

The Minister may have heard the case of a UCD medical student who was raped and had image-based sexual abuse used against her. As a result of being raped, she became pregnant. She had to have a termination and missed some of her medical exams due to having to schedule that. She asked UCD if she could resit her exams over the summer but UCD said no. It attempted to make her drop back a year, into t…

I do not know why anybody is surprised, if they are, at the ferocity of the backlash against this review. You are not paying attention if you were. We had the Green Paper withdrawn after a movement of disabled people. The referendum on care was defeated by disabled people. On school places, we have a had a mini-social movement in this country for the past three to four years, led primarily by wome…

All the bigwig Ministers are here. A few things have to be stated very honestly. Those four survivors were left outside there for over 40 days and, but for Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Maurice Patton O'Connell suffering and putting their health at risk, nothing would have been given. I remember raising this on the floor of the Dáil. I think Catherine Connolly, who i…

In here last week for several hours, a number of TDs took up the Government on some egregious things that it is bringing in, particularly in relation to children being detained and some really negative attacks on human rights that this Bill represents. Regarding this amendment, I cannot support it as it is currently worded. I do not agree that before any accommodation is provided for the IPAS serv…

The fear being experienced by minorities in this country, people who are working and living here, is not mentioned. None of Sinn Féin's speakers have mentioned it either. If Sinn Féin were to be fair, it would concede that most of the party's speakers have used their time to talk about profiteering and all of the other problems but have never focused on the racism being generated in society. All o…

I am sorry; Deputy Doherty did not blame Ukrainians. Donegal has also suffered massive emigration so it could do with people coming in, but only if the investment is put in. However, Deputy Doherty never mentioned that. He never mentioned that communities could get together and demand massive investment if IPAS centres are provided. I did not hear him say that at any point.

The last thing I would say is that-----

We have had debates here previously about supports for Ukrainians being reduced and I also participated in a debate on the radio about that issue. We know the position of different parties in the Dáil. Sinn Féin thinks they are affecting the housing crisis. The statistics came out and showed that most of the people who were taking Ukrainians into their homes were not landlords and would never be p…