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that. I hope those experts are invited to appear before the foreign affairs committee so that the Tánaiste's stated issues with the legality of the services aspect of that Bill are set aside and that he and the Government can get fully behind it. We can have

letter from 350-plus of Ireland's most prominent lawyers stating that they do not consider there to be any insurmountable legal obstacles preventing the adoption of legislation prohibiting the import of goods and services produced in the unlawful Israeli settlements. Two of the UK's most prominent

realise their own rights because the State is failing them so badly and because they are not able to access the appropriate services, the seirbhísí cuí, that they should simply have available to them by virtue of the legal status provided for in our Constitution. Time and again … realise their rights. Where there is not one there should be one, and it should recognise the power dynamic of the State having a lot more legal power to bring to those battles and what it is doing by fighting tooth and nail against people who are simply

have over 20 pages of independent, robust legal opinion clearly stating that the Bill is compliant with Irish law, European law and international law. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, stated the Bill would step outside the EU financial services legislation. That is bogus. The Minister should know that Ireland

last year, The Irish Times reported that former health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, had sought legal advice on whether the State had power to take over the running of children’s hospital services in Dublin, and that advice was reportedly sought due to concern over issues around scoliosis surgery

excluding services is. He said we have a narrow legal pathway identified by the ICJ and the Attorney General. However, the ICJ makes no distinction between trade in goods and trade in services. It says that states are under an obligation to abstain from entering into economic … Ditch, and which Deputy O'Gorman has referred to, says there has been no reference to an issue around services in his very detailed legal advice. People can check that for themselves. Not including services seems to me to be a policy choice. The Tánaiste has said

commercial service. That means the roll-out of publicly funded and delivered childcare services, better pay and conditions for early educators, who should be paid directly by the State, and a guaranteed legal right to affordable, accessible and universal early education for every child

advisory opinion for member states to seek to move ahead unilaterally, for want of a better phrase. We have not yet been able to identify the narrow pathway on services. That is the truth. It is not a policy position; it is a legal position. However

position is different now, at least legally, than it was in 2018. Deputies Murphy, Ó Murchú, Stanley and Connolly all asked a very fair question in asking me to tell them the legal difference in relation to goods versus services. That is a perfectly appropriate question … Black I made the point that the position of my Department, from a legal point of view, was that goods were potentially legally permissible but services may not be. I also said I was happy to be proven wrong on that. There is a practical implication around services

This comes back to parents who want access to these services for their children, whether they go into the primary care setting, CDNTs or CAMHS, being signposted in the right direction and getting access to the services they need. The issue of the length of time … them early or accelerated access to services but they often find themselves on a further waiting list after getting their assessments of need. There is also the issue of legal bills when parents feel they have to resort to the legal system to ensure they get their assessments

service plan has to be drawn up and the liaison officer is then supposed to arrange the delivery of services. This is where it really gets difficult because next you have to do battle to try to get these sessions. I can tell the Minister of State that … action, make the funding available and set specific target dates by which the Government can comply with its legal obligation and deliver long-term solutions. As the Minister of State knows as well as I do, that needs workforce planning. We need to start training and recruiting people

will have to offer a repair service beyond the legal or commercial guarantee period, either directly or subcontracted. The manufacturer can offer the repair service for free, or for a reasonable price. The length of time the repair service needs to be offered for will depend … initiatives will be able to include their details on this site to enable consumers to find the most appropriate repair service. Article 13 states that member states will have to take at least one measure promoting repair, and this must be reported to the Commission five years after

State and for providing essential services that prevent hospital overcrowding and delay the need for residential care. We in the Social Democrats have long advocated for a rights-based model of care. That means putting people first, not processes. It means making home support a legal entitlement

home for the selling of war bonds that assist Israel in carrying out the genocide. No assistance should be given to the terrorist State of Israel. It is inconceivable to assist Israel at a time when its forces are engaged in terrorism, genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine … side. The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers has advised that this can be done. I commend the Labour Party on putting forward this motion, but we need to go much further. We need to: pass the occupied territories Bill and include services and goods in it; stop

come into my constituency office who are frustrated at the long waiting times for their children and who cannot progress or get the service they require without first having this assessment carried out. It is important that children are assessed at an early age so that they … initial contact from the children's disability network. This is contrary to the terms of the Disability Act 2005, which states that children are legally entitled to an assessment of need within six months of applying. In reality, only a tiny percentage of those who have applied

they have to recognise that two states exist. Here at home, we are working on advancing the occupied Palestinian territories Bill. Regarding services, I will keep saying that I do not have a policy difference with people who want to include services. I want to make sure that … does not fall at the first legal hurdle. I am happy to be challenged and to be proven wrong at the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee about this issue. I want to work constructively with Deputies on this. I am working constructively with Senator Black. We will forward that

State in education appropriate to their need with the therapeutic supports necessary to make their situation comfortable. It is well past time for the Government to finally act on the assessment of need crisis. What is happening in our health and disability services is not a minor administrative … delay. It is a systematic failure and a breach of legal obligations. It is a betrayal of the children and families impacted. Under the Disability Act 2005 every child is legally entitled to have their assessment of need completed within six months of their application. That

they political, legal, diplomatic or humanitarian, in response to this dreadful conflict. Next week will mark one year since Ireland, in tandem with Norway and Spain, recognised the State of Palestine. The decision was about keeping the hope for a peaceful two-state solution alive and about … state solution is the only way forward for Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side. Since then, Ireland has consistently raised our voice in pursuit of the two-state solution. In September 2024, we joined the global alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution during

given to feed 2% of the Gazan population for half a week. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation director overseeing the delivery resigned in protest, stating aid could not be distributed according to basic humanitarian principles. Aid is blatantly militarised and used as a weapon of war. Israel … legal opinion, but there is nowhere to hide. The Oireachtas’s own experts back the legality of our Bill and many of our country’s top lawyers support the inclusion of services in the occupied territories Bill. In the flurry of interviews he has done on this issue

Given the state of relations between Ireland and Israel at this moment in time are at an all-time low and for very good reason, it is a rather perverse irony that Ireland is regarded as Israel's home country for the purpose of facilitating the sale … facilitating their sale in the EU. To be sold in the EU, bonds from non-EU countries must have their bond prospectus a legal document setting out details of the bond, approved by the central bank of a country that is in the EU. Before Brexit

never told us why. It has said it received legal advice. What is it? In the letter the Attorney General sent us last year, there was no mention of the need to make a distinction between goods and services. There was a 23-page letter going into great … Bill but there was not one reference to the need to make a distinction between goods and services. Let us remember the obligation the ICJ says member states have regarding the occupied territories: to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the occupied territories

ground. I say this on a day when the Taoiseach was an absolute disgrace and embarrassment, knowing he is not complying with his legal obligations under an Act passed 20 years ago and, rather than deal with that failure, he said he will change the law. He said … obligation to provide services but there was an obligation to carry out an assessment of need and to lay out a service plan for the services required. Two years later, we signed up to the UN protocol. It took us another 11 years to ratify it. I have

state, directly resulting from years of poor planning and under-resourcing. All of this did not come about by chance. These are the results of poor political decision-making over many years. They can be resolved by more progressive political decision-making. The chronic neglect of disability services … families at the mercy of a disjointed patchwork of a support system for their children. The Disability Act 2005 provided children with a legal right to an assessment of need within six months of being applied for. In reality, more than 90% of assessments of need are completed

capable of delivery for children in school settings, which is directing additional pressure to overburdened specialist services. I visited two schools in Clare with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, St. Anne's in Ennis and St. Conaire's in Shannon, and witnessed this. The HSE anticipates that … Cara's Fund to clear the backlog and to get a specific target date by which the Minister aims to comply with her legal obligation

Tánaiste is going to be dealing with the issue of services until we see delivery. The timeline is vital. I agree with Deputy Murphy. The Tánaiste has to elaborate to some degree on what the legal issues are. It cannot be beyond us to find a solution … when he was here, spoke about the need to see a tipping point. That tipping point is only going to be reached when states like Ireland take action and, as the Tánaiste said, we see action further afield that makes Israel feel like the pariah state

provide a full, itemised, disaggregated and centre-by-centre breakdown of all financial, operational, service-based, and legal expenditures and arrangements associated with the accommodation and support of international protection applicants in the State from January 2020 to date; and to provide this information in full, without aggregation

contracted by public bodies, local authorities, or State-funded companies to maintain and service heavy-duty mechanically propelled vehicles possess the specific qualifications required under Irish and EU law to work on such vehicles; if he will outline the minimum legal and regulatory requirements in place under Irish

contracted by public bodies, local authorities, or State-funded companies to maintain and service heavy-duty mechanically propelled vehicles possess the specific qualifications required under Irish and EU law to work on such vehicles; if he will outline the minimum legal and regulatory requirements in place under Irish