Sinéad Gibney

I thank the Minister for being here. We welcome the opportunity to make these statements and broadly welcome this new strategy that sets out a human rights-framed vision for disability action over the coming years. Of course, we have to also highlight that the waiting still goes on, particularly for the disability community. Reports, analyses and strategies including this one are very welcome, par…

I wish a happy Pride to everybody who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning or intersex and anybody who has diverse ranges of sexual identity, gender expression, gender identity and sex characteristics. I would like to focus my comments on one particular community within that, and that is the trans community. I missed the Minister of State's speech but I will look back at it. …

GAA Palestine insists all of the documentation was in order and yet they were denied visas. It has since been dismissed by the Department of justice.

Any solution through the Department of justice appeal process leaves them too late. The €40,000 they paid for flights will be gone because they had to pay beforehand. We need to discuss this, and the broader issue of visas from Palestine, today.

A huge number of residents of Dundrum and nearby locations contacted me recently. They are worried about privacy, noise and disruption and they are worried about drones. After several trials around Dublin and complaints from residents going unaddressed by this Government, a new drone depot is proposed for Dundrum. Let me be clear: I do not blame a company that, in the absence of regulation, has de…

It is not addressing privacy.

We need to regulate them.

Meanwhile, privacy and noise-----

I welcome the establishment of this commission of investigation. While I have hope for it I am concerned that while the Commission of Investigation Act 2004 does allow for human rights compliance in the establishment of tribunals, inquiries and commissions of investigation, unfortunately in the two decades since the levels of compliance make a patchwork quilt when it comes to domestic and internat…

2. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade whether his Department has had engagement with, or diplomatic representations from, US counterparts around the exclusion of services from the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38290/25]

My question is on whether the Tánaiste's Department has had engagement with or diplomatic representations from US counterparts around the exclusion of services from the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. Last week, the Taoiseach said in comments to the media that the aim of the OTB must be to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza and not "disadvantage Ireland unduly". …

The question was about the last Bill.

I am not totally clear. The Tánaiste mentioned interactions with the ambassador but perhaps he could clarify exactly the extent of the diplomatic interactions he had with the US. I am specifically asking about the previous Bill, not this one.

My concern relates to whether we are saying that the wishes of the House and the Irish people on this matter are subservient to legislation passed in, say, Alabama or New Jersey and whether we are unwilling to fulfill our obligations under international law because state-level law in another country means it might cost us something. When it comes to international trade and sanctioning of Ireland o…

I am glad the Tánaiste clarified that. That is exactly the case. The occupied territories Bill is not designed to stop the genocide in Gaza. It would simply put pressure on Israel but its actual function, as drafted in 2018, long before the current genocide erupted 18 months ago, is to cease trade with illegal settlements on stolen land. We all know that. Whether the US or a US state likes it or n…

13. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade whether he is aware of the case of a person (details supplied) who is married to an Irish citizen and has been detained arbitrarily in the UAE for the past 17 years; the steps his Department is taking to provide consular assistance and seek his release from arbitrary detention; and if he will make a statement on…

Is the Tánaiste's Department aware of the case of Ryan Cornelius, who is married to an Irish citizen and has been detained arbitrarily in the UAE for the past 17 years? What steps is it taking to provide consular assistance to Mrs. Cornelius and to seek Ryan's release from arbitrary detention?

I welcome that the Department will meet with Heather, her legal team and her brother-in-law, who is assisting her. When I wrote to the Minister about this matter on 13 May, I received a reply similar to what the Minister has just outlined, that is, that the responsibility for this case lies with the British consulate. Heather is an Irish citizen, as we have established. She is a victim of this inj…

Speed is of the essence because they have reached their wits' end with support from the UK. That is why Heather has turned to Ireland, essentially, for help. At the 93rd session of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2022, it found Ryan Cornelius to be arbitrarily detained. There were massive procedural issues with the original conviction in 2008. There are a huge number of issues to de…

55. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the course of action he plans to take should the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement continue to be blocked at EU Council level, despite clear evidence of the breach of the human rights provisions of the agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38292/25]

Many of us in this Chamber use sport as a form of escapism. For those 33 kids who we are talking about from the West Bank, this is a potential escape from hell, a living hell that has rained down on them for 20 months at the hands of the Israeli genocide. It gives them a sliver of hope in their darkest hour. At the last minute, the Government has shattered their dreams and tried to extinguish that…

It has until Monday to sort it out. What is the Government going to do to help these children get here and give them back that sliver of hope?

Everything is in order.

Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a scourge on our society that continues to grow. I commend the focus the Minister's predecessor brought to this issue in her term of office as Minister for Justice and the establishment of Cuan as an agency, but we have so much work to do in the Minister's portfolio in the justice sector to continue to equip the courts and front-line services to recogn…

I thank the Minister of State for being here today, although I must call out that it is a shame that more members of her Government do not choose to be here to discuss this very important topic because I, as a member of the Social Democrats, am very proud to bring forward this motion which really speaks to some of the challenges faced by the poorest in our society in simply making ends meet. I wil…