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climate change. Our country and the European Union do not treat this emergency with the necessary urgency it deserves. In areas like housing, transport, data centres and production, climate change is not being treated like an emergency. Furthermore, the engagement of a trade deal with a region where … doing their best to help us to meet our legally binding climate targets, whether the narrative tells that or not. They have rightful concerns about their livelihoods and the value of their produce under the proposed deal. I am concerned about the impact that an inadequately regulated market

concede that childminders are hugely important and make a very significant contribution to caring for children right across communities, even in rural communities. I am very familiar with the extraordinary benefit childminders provide. The Department has committed to a review as part of the transition period. That will … point the Deputy has raised about the question of commercial rates and so on. I am engaged on that with the Minister for housing

thank all the Deputies for their contributions today. It is an honour to stand before the House on International Workers' Day, a day dedicated to recognising the invaluable contribution of workers across Ireland and the world. As Minister of State with responsibility for small business and retail … arrangements, and also publishing an action plan for collective bargaining. The Minister, Deputy Burke, has previously outlined a number of improvements to employment rights that the Government continues to make. My Department has already started a body of work to fulfil our commitments under the programme for Government

welcome the opportunity to address the House on statements on Michael Shine, and much more importantly, his victims and survivors. The abuse of trust and attack on the dignity and the person of patients by Michael Shine was a terrible betrayal. I have the deepest sympathy and concern … process to be survivor-centred and Mr. Staines will receive all necessary supports to ensure a victim-centred, trauma-informed, human-rights based approach underpins the scoping exercise and any subsequent statutory processes. I have asked that the well-being of victims and survivors remain central throughout this

must be reviewed within five years of enactment after which a report on the findings is to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Section 4 repeals a section of the Human Tissues (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Act 2024. Part 2 sets … home support provider and examine any records relating to the service and interview any employees of the provider. Section 11 provides the right of entry and inspection by the chief inspector to the business premises used or proposed to be used by a home support provider

have worked together in support of suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of egregious breaches of human rights in the Palestinian territories. Prime Minister Sánchez and I discussed the dire situation in Gaza and, indeed, the West Bank, including the urgent need for humanitarian assistance … these links, including in areas such as trade, investment, energy, education, research and culture. Additional information not given on the floor of the House We agreed to develop a joint action plan in this regard. As Deputies will be aware, our Presidency began on 1 July, with

political questioning. As a TD, as any Member of this House will know, if we put a question to the Minister for housing who has ultimate responsibility, the first line of every parliamentary reply is that water is not his responsibility. The Minister of State has been here … thorough engagement. I am asking with great sincerity tonight, not just for Kildare at all, although it is significantly felt in Kildare, but right across the region. Is there an appetite within the Minister of State, the Department or with Government colleagues to further increase political accountability

Irish Government supported the establishment of a historical investigations unit under the Stormont House Agreement in 2014 and legislated for co-operation in 2019. That unit was never delivered. Instead, the British Government introduced the shameful legacy Act, rejected by victims and widely criticised. If this State recognised … Maybe the Taoiseach would like to take the remaining minute of my time to answer that question. Is the will to act there right

girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment". That is a powerful global message. This year's theme calls for action by us all to unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where nobody is left behind. Central to this vision is empowering the next generation … fundamentally changed. Every day in my constituency office in Swords, I meet women who are victims of abuse, mental and physical. With the housing crisis and lack of spaces in refuges, there is nowhere for women to go. Women flee the family home while the abuser gets

midst of a manufactured moral panic. To divert attention from away from its failures on housing, health, disability and climate, the Government prefers to have endless statements on policing and to pass more laws that erode our civil liberties. The programme for Government contains a frightening litany … wearing of masks at protests. This is dystopian surveillance state stuff. It is also a direct attack on the right of disabled people to protest. Many disabled people need to wear masks for medical reasons and would not be able to take part in protests if banned from

such a brutal regime. That is why this Bill, sponsored by Deputies Brady, Ó Laoghaire and Ní Raghallaigh and me, is before the House today. It proposes one thing that we are entitled to do without awaiting agreement at EU level or clutching at the excuse that international … under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the unlawful occupation." This is also the advice of the leading human rights lawyer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who recently made a similar call before the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee. The Hague Group of 12 nations agreed last

once I have it, I will be very happy to share it at an early stage with Deputy Nash and with the House. Deputy Nash and I were in government together. I remember in my earlier days in the Oireachtas trying to copy the Dutch healthcare system. What … back to them with the next iteration. I am very happy - indeed eager - to have Opposition engagement on how to get this right in the times ahead

shoulders of individuals and families across the State. The question we in Sinn Féin and those on this side of the House are asking is why the Government is refusing to act. Why has it failed to bring forward a cost-of-disability payment to recognise the reality … cost-of-living package. Despite massive surpluses, it ripped away a lifeline for people with disabilities. This year's budget was described, and rightly so, by the Disability Federation of Ireland as a "devastating setback for disabled people". My office, as I am sure many others' have been

office will have the critical task of ensuring service providers comply with lawful requests and that fundamental rights, data protection and privacy rights are upheld. This is not a small undertaking and it will require co-operation between service providers and judicial authorities alike. Service providers have dual … fines imposed will be in place. I advise Deputies that the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, intends to speedily progress this Bill through the Houses, thus ensuring that Ireland is ready for the launch of the e-evidence regime on 18 August 2026. Committee Stage has already been arranged

other energy infrastructure developers to particular sites or routes or technologies." The Government, however, can assist and is assisting to ensure the right environment exists to enable the delivery of this critical piece of infrastructure. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, an independent regulator accountable … baseline of €13.8 billion guaranteed. PR6 will enable the delivery of major upgrades and developments to the electricity network across the country, facilitating housing growth and heat and transport electrification, all while enabling and driving industrial and economic growth in Ireland. The Government is committed to delivering electricity

have lived many years and know the facts about having to clean something and ensuring there is depth enough in our rivers, managed right, that allows us to ensure the water does not overflow the banks and does not flood people. Surely, we must act and act immediately … down, with water coming out on the floor. Flooding is a different animal altogether, in that the devastation can be evident in the house for years afterwards. It is a matter of what comes with the water and what is left over when it is cleaned out with

here next week and - God knows - maybe even longer. Can the Minister not muster to take this out, because it is a halfway house to nowhere? It is hindering the Bill. It is hindering the discussion. As I said to the Minister previously, it will probably create … common sense. Everybody should be on the one page here. The Minister should either define it, which I do not think is the right way to go but I will support as the lesser of two evils, or get rid of it. It is ridiculous

From day one, the Government has identified the entire area of disability and special needs as a key priority, along with housing and, as I said earlier, child poverty. That will be reflected in the forthcoming budget and has already been reflected in Government initiatives. Decisions have been … impactful for many children because it was getting therapy services to children more quickly. The legislation needs to be changed without removing any rights. To be fair, when the courts rule, it is then up to legislators to deal with that ruling by amending

taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne. I acknowledge the Bill brought forward by Deputy Nash. The principal purpose of the Bill, as outlined in the explanatory memorandum, is to establish a new body, within the current local … collaborative implementation for the many implementing bodies at national, regional and catchment level that play a vital role in its delivery. Targeting the right measure in the right place is the main approach adopted under the plan, and the results of the recent EPA water quality report show

core component of our housing system, whether some like it or not. There are over 240,000 private tenancies on the housing register, with almost half of those associated with small landlords. Five as a level is probably a good place at which to set that distinction … changes are intended to come into effect urgently from next month and that many families are understandably concerned. We have to get this right, not just for tenants, but for the long-term stability and viability of the rental sector as a whole

view of the fact that they already have to pay considerable amounts to get places in our universities. They then face the same housing and cost-of-living barriers as domestic students. Also in this regard, we must extend the duration of visas for international students … contribute to our economy. Further and higher education is indeed an economic enabler for our economy. It must be accessible, affordable and a right for any person who desires it for it to be an economic enabler for them. It cannot be an enabler unless the social

passing through this country. Most of them fell during the storm. As a country, we need to look at whether it is right to import them. Most deciduous trees withstood the gusts but they did not. The humanitarian assistance scheme needs to be broadened. Many businesses suffered … whether schools will have to make up those days. I am a former schoolteacher, like Deputy John Connolly and others in the House. That certainty needs to be brought to this issue because the school calendar needs to be nailed down. With regard to the undergrounding of cables

words: Time and again, it would appear that protecting the agent outweighed protecting the life of a victim or protecting the right of their families to seek justice for the crimes committed against their loved ones. In some cases, had the Royal Ulster Constabulary, RUC, or An Garda … forensic exhibits and gave considerable help in making contact with witnesses and persons of interest”. Guided by the principles of the Stormont House Agreement, the framework agreed by the Governments aims to promote reconciliation and provide mechanisms for truth, accountability and justice for victims and survivors

some level of incompetence, possibly on the part of the Government. We are now deciding we are going to rush it through the House. It is estimated service providers based in Ireland will receive in excess of 300,000 orders per annum because of the number of these … addressed. We are aware that there are concerns in relation to the lack of safeguards and incentives for service providers to consider data rights and other rights. We also have laws around privacy and laws to prevent overreach. That has to be taken into consideration. There

Dublin College, Loughlinstown, where craft apprentices from across south County Dublin and beyond do their phase 2 training. I raised in the House previously the phase 2 backlogs that existed post-Covid, and it is great to see progress in that area, with the numbers down from … welcome the establishment of AI Ready and the advent of the Springboard+ AI places. The harder task will be reforming the curriculum right across the system. The educators at Dublin College and those in Blackrock, Sallynoggin and, of course, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, IADT