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exodus of criminal law practitioners from the legal aid panel. I do not believe it will. Approximately 825 solicitors are on the criminal legal aid panel. This number has gone up significantly since 2023, when there were only 672 solicitors. This means there is a significant number … panel. Three emails came into the Department from solicitors stating that they would be resigning. As the Deputy knows, however, in order to resign from the panel, solicitors have to contact the section of the Courts Service that deals with this area. I will be keeping a very

move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — child protection and welfare represent one of the most fundamental constitutional obligations of the State; — Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, operates as a statutory agency at arm's length from direct departmental control, funded by the Exchequer, but structurally separate from … pressure; — any reform must protect service continuity and safeguard vulnerable children; and — structural reform must be carefully phased, and evidence based; and calls on the Government to: — commission an independent governance review, examining the feasibility of dissolving Tusla as a separate legal entity, and transferring its statutory powers

access and a legal entitlement to home care must finally be progressed to ensure people have that choice, alongside proper resourcing and building up the public system instead of relying on outsourcing. I also want to speak about healthcare assistants who provide these services … know the staff in a number of counties have been balloted by their union but the same issues are replicated across the State. I call on the Minister and the HSE to engage with their representatives and get these issues resolved. They are a very important group

largest EV fleet in the country, and the site has been fitted out for further EV post vans to be pressed into service throughout the north west. An Post also advises that the cases of both Barnatra and Ballyhaunis represent an opportunity to plan for and organise this … sustainable An Post and post office network as a key component of the economic and social infrastructure throughout Ireland. The programme for Government states the Government will continue to provide the nationwide network of post offices with funding to ensure their sustainability and enhance the value they bring

safe third country. This motion would dramatically lower that threshold. In fact, simply passing through an airport in a designated state without ever claiming asylum there or even being offered protection could be grounds for refusal. That is not how a fair asylum system should operate. People often … schools, elderly people with care needs, people with disabilities and those still living in emergency accommodation. We need guarantees that legal status, services and supports will not be disrupted simply because a category expires. Any transition must be led with compassion and tailored to the realities people

only be designated as a safe country of origin at Union level in accordance with the APR where, on the basis of the legal situation, the application of the law within a democratic system and general political circumstances, it can be shown that there is no persecution … must be based on a range of relevant sources of information, including information from fellow member states, the EU Agency for Asylum, the European External Action Service or even the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. These decisions will not be made on a whim. They will obviously

Minister of State said there are 1,050 cases outstanding. It would be very helpful if she could tell us how many of those are minors. As we approach 23 April, and it is approaching quickly, it is worth noting this is not something that came … look at what can be done. The centre raised the failure to resource the public bodies, the Legal Aid Board, the National Advocacy Service and the Decision Support Service. That needs to be looked at. The fifth concern related to some of the wider issues and the lack

assessments of need, with more than 14,000 children currently waiting. More and more parents are struggling. They are battling the State and taking legal action against it. This is totally avoidable. We need the Government to give serious priority to and to take action on reducing these … waiting list and stated that if it did not hear from them by a certain date, they would be removed from it. Parents have enough to deal with, particularly when they have children with additional needs and when everything in the State is a battle, whether

Social Democrats, I am delighted to welcome this Bill and say we will be supporting it. We support access to free, safe and legal abortion. We need to trust women, listen to them, provide care with compassion and remove barriers to access. There are currently too many barriers … unnecessary and insulting to women. It is the only form of healthcare with a State-imposed delay. It is a paternalistic restriction, and we have a history of paternalistic attitudes in our healthcare service that need to be undone. It is interfering with women's ability to make

survivors deserve the right to move forward free from unfair discrimination. The Bill will ensure they cannot be penalised or excluded from financial services solely due to past illness. Their privacy is protected and there is no need to disclose what should no longer be relevant. There … should serve people, especially those who have already suffered. This is the State standing by them. We know too well how faceless corporations can wield disproportionate powers. The Bill restores balance with a clear legal definition of what constitutes discrimination in this context. These are concrete protections after

required to take concrete measures to ensure the quality of the interpretation and translation services. However, the article does not mandate member states to establish a register. The Minister has been advised that there are no plans at present to create such a register. Where the court … trial, it may direct that the interpreter be replaced. The Minister has been advised by the Courts Service that on the rare occasion where an issue arises, defendants, with their legal representatives, can and do have the entitlement to inform the court that a defendant cannot follow proceedings

unfortunately, gone beyond an emergency. It is a crisis on steroids and one that is locking thousands of children into near-permanent states of homelessness every day of the week as an indictment of ineffective Government policy that stands head and shoulders above all else. I accept that … billion euro over the next few years to International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, accommodation. Where will this all end? That is even before we mention the fact that IPAS residents, who are working in this State and provided with accommodation, still do not have to pay a single

court system by the new legal aid model. Deputy Tom Brabazon - to discuss the proposed new Garda station at Northern Cross. Deputy Barry Ward - to discuss removing the means test for carer's allowance. Deputy Séamus McGrath - to discuss the State acquiring the Bessborough site in Cork city … Hearne - to discuss the cessation of the financial contribution scheme in Dublin North-West. Deputy Mark Wall - to discuss the provision of youth services in Newbridge, County Kildare. Deputy Pa Daly - to discuss measures to prevent the spread of harmful content on social media platforms. Deputy Colm Burke

public discourse when it is trained on live data, optimised for engagement and applied in real-time and, in Grok's case, enables legal non-consensual image manipulation. These systems are not neutral. They reflect incentives, values and commercial priorities. When these priorities conflict with the truth, well … fact. What should the office be doing immediately? It must act as a centre of real technical expertise in the State, not only regarding a legal interpretation of things such as the EU AI Act but a genuine understanding of how models are trained, how data flows

adoption across enterprise, the public sector, research and academia. It also includes targeted measures to improve public services and strengthen our health service. The 85 recommendations in the committee's report naturally cut across the work of many Departments. I will focus specifically on some … regulation, it is directly applicable and binding to all EU member states and ensures uniform rules for artificial intelligence to be applied across the EU. That said, the Act also imposes obligations on member states that require national implementing measures, including establishing a regulatory regime to supervise

financial advice as opposed to being calculators. My own view is that as technology continues to evolve, we as a training system and State must remain ahead of and on top to it and embrace it in some cases. One initiative I recently launched which … recently. I had a technological round table event last week at the Vodafone office. Later this month, I will bring together professional services including accounting, legal and consultancy-type firms to ask what changes they are seeing in their workforce and how the training system education systems

reconciliation in a post-conflict society. By stopping normal legal routes and offering conditional immunity to those who caused harm, we deny the dignity and humanity of victims. Dr. Sandra Peake, CEO of the WAVE Trauma Centre, stated at a recent meeting of the Good Friday Agreement committee … bereaved. The state was in effect saying those who had died no longer mattered and their cases were no longer of concern to the state. In an 18-month period, her organisation received over 1,000 new referrals from those bereaved who had not accessed services previously. While

major urban centres. Rural roads, water services, electricity networks and community infrastructure must receive the same priority if balanced regional development is to become a reality. The Government says that these changes will reduce delays, increase housing supply and improve legal certainty. Those are worthwhile goals. However … thing we have to be careful of. I met a group from Wexford last week. Its members want clarity. The Minister of State might be able to give it to me today or at a future date. Precisely what grant of planning permission exists for new railways overbridge

effectively attempting to address a lot of the gaps we are talking about today and to try to make right the legal inequality for the families we are talking about. It is not just about a child’s right to citizenship or inheritance; it is also about … regard to the surrogacy agreements that are out there now. I hear what the Minister of State is saying with regard to the real concerns about women who provide surrogacy services. There are real concerns about exploitation and all of that and I absolutely stand with the Minister

educational assessment for all children with additional educational needs, the consequent development of a statutory individual educational plan, the delivery of detailed education services on foot of this plan, and an independent appeals process. The Minister wants us to believe these sections were not commenced because there were … only ever about the Minister, the Department and the State itself protecting themselves, just as they are trying to row back on assessments of need. I note the recommendation to review the Disability Act 2005 and legal framework governing assessments of need and I have a serious problem

centre. Almost 30% of all properties are used by the Department in the operation of the harbours, providing facilities for net mending, pier service areas, storage for fishing gear and weighbridges, for instance. The remaining properties are occupied by a variety of public and private sector tenants under … harbour such as car parking, marina and boat houses. The Department works closely with the Office of the Chief State Solicitor to progress the often complex and protracted legal aspects relating to property leases. A solicitor is employed by the office at the Department’s request to deal

rates and I thank him for doing so. It is stating the obvious to say that commercial rates are an important contributor to the funding base of any local authority in terms of the provision of services. It is important that we are always aware of the challenges … suite of options already available to local authority to try to support local businesses. Local authorities are using have used this new legal framework since January 2024. Provisions include new rate waiver schemes to be decided by local authority members as part of the annual budget process

price gouging, although we are very likely to see that. Prices have already started to increase. The Government must intervene. It has the legal power to control prices. It refused to do that during the recent cost-of-living crisis, but it must do it now. Instead … transition. Pharmaceuticals and tech are sectors that can provide socially useful essential goods and services. They must be repurposed and geared towards satisfying the needs of people, here and internationally. We need State intervention to defend and create jobs. We cannot rely on multinationals and the profit motive

workers' pay in this sector. This will help support these organisations to recruit and retain staff to deliver services on behalf of the State. In line with the October 2023 agreement, and following approval of the public sector pay deal, relevant Departments, agencies, employer representatives and unions reconvened … empowered to pursue meaningful careers. I will also be working closely with the Minister of State for Disability, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, on delivering on the ambition of the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026. We have set ambitious targets in the plan to provide for unmet need

innovation on the other needs to be rejected. AI has the potential to deliver so much good in healthcare and how we deliver services and productivity but to unlock any of those benefits requires public trust. Securing that public trust requires effective regulation. That … been pushed before. At some point, the model breaks, not as a matter of legal technicality but as a matter of basic constitutional principle. As the Minister of State knows, our Constitution is built on a separation of powers. The judicial function is reserved to the courts