Máire Devine

It is an emotion we all have - falling in love. It is a promise. It is life-affirming, with a possibility of leading to a life partner. It is a wonderful human emotion. It has the promise of finding a sense of home, of trusting somebody, with finding a soul mate - an eye on building a future together where each person has the other's back. Then the insidious gradual picking can start, seemingly in…

Well said.

Hear, hear.

I think the Minister of State should welcome this legislation. I think in some of what he said, he has, but this timed amendment of 12 months is disappointing. We live in a society in which we have seen, in the last decade and a half or two, the explosion of harm against women and often their children. It has become quite scary for women in this country and worldwide. It is to keep us in our boxes…

Give us the evidence.

How boring this is.

Before I start, the Housing Agency was tasked with researching and monitoring housing-based interventions that sought to strengthen social cohesion. I am wondering if that report informed this Bill, or if there is yet to be a report. If you ask the people of Dublin South-Central, they will clearly tell you that affordable and social housing is key in addressing the fragmentation and displacement …

I welcome the groups in the Gallery who have come to listen to this debate. I hope it proves inspiring from all of us to you. Pride, or Bród, month began with the bravery of a demonstration in Dublin in 1974. A group of men and women protested against the archaic laws of the 1800s that criminalised homosexual relations. It was not until 1993 that it was decriminalised, marking a significant step …

The Guardianship of Infants and Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2026 will always be known as Valerie's law. Thanks to Valerie's brother, David French, this is a very proud moment for all of us and especially for him and his family. His tenacity is to be admired given the arduous journey over the years to get to this point, with many occasions appearing to be confusing. I would say that trying to find …

I thank the Minister of State for the opportunity. This matter is obviously about Kilmainham Gaol and the board of visitors. I am not sure if the Minister of State knows the back story to all this, but Kilmainham Gaol itself has witnessed so much of modern Irish politics and history. It has covered everything from the United Irishmen to the Fenians, the Invincibles, the Famine and the Land League.…

As the Minister of State can imagine, I am gobsmacked and very disappointed. I find the response very disrespectful to me as a family member of an individual who spent over 700 hours doing the roof of Kilmainham Gaol. It is extremely disrespectful to us, the families and the volunteers who are still around. The late Garret FitzGerald at the time said that the trustees were to provide advice, and t…

I thank the Minister for taking this. I represent Dublin South-Central, the premier tourist route in the country. Others might disagree with that but the facts speak for themselves. You start at Trinity College and walk a straight line that brings you through Trinity College to the Iveagh Markets, St. James's Hospital - the old South Dublin Union - Roe and Co. and Guinness. Then you find yourself …

Stop it.

The Taoiseach is a great lad.

The Yanks-----

Moral.

This is so virtuous.

No, it is not.

It is moral.

Oh my God, give over.

Give over.

The Taoiseach is a great lad altogether.

I thank the Minister. I send a céad míle fáilte to the people in the Gallery, including Valerie's brother and sisters, and to SiSi, which is a collective of women survivors of intimate partner violence. I thank them for their unceasing work. Sincere thanks resonate from this Chamber for its protection of women and children as a priority. Sinn Féin welcomes the progression of legislation to restri…

This decision is inconceivable. As a long-time member of the Psychiatric Nurses Association - I stopped nursing at the last election - I am well aware of the shortages on the ground and of the crisis management we are forced to do - dissipating some of the therapeutics and trying to keep patients safe. It is inexplicable that it has been decided to shut the section 38 and to transfer everybody to …

Respectfully, this is not a sensible decision being made by the HSE. The Minister of State's response will be used in the WRC. The PNA is to meet and to discuss this with the HSE on 24 or 25 May to try to get a resolution. Keep the ten Fairview beds open and keep Linn Dara and the 20 beds in the National Children's Hospital. She should engage. There has been no engagement with the PNA or its membe…