Laura Harmon
Industrial and Commercial Panel · Labour Party · Ireland
“There is not enough room for a wheelchair to go around the side of the building. There is no obvious proper entrance. The reception is upstairs. There is no lift access for anyone with mobility issues, buggies or deliveries. The classrooms are an irregular shape and are not the standard classroom size of 49 sq. m.”
“Her cause of death was recorded as “congenital debilities”. For many of those babies who died at Bessborough, the reason given for their death was congenital debility or marasmus, which was essentially starvation. The reason given for these babies’ deaths was often very vague.”
“I am speaking again about the issue of Bessborough in Cork city and to call once again on the Taoiseach to act on this. There is still time to do the right thing and to have a negotiation process with the developer now or, failing that, to look at compulsory purchase of this site. The burial records have been sealed in relation to this.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her response. Will she call for a meeting in person with the school? Could that be facilitated to give the school an update in person? Does she have an idea as to a commitment on the timeline?”
“Will the Minister of State provide an update on what has been done to progress the request for additional school accommodation for Coláiste Daibhéid in Cork city and a timeline for the project?”
“It reaches high standards academically as well as in sport, STEM and stewardship. It has fantastic students and they deserve better. At present, the school is on the edge of Douglas Street Campus on Sawmill Street. There are two buildings. One is Buckingham House, which dates from the mid-19th century.”
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“That is a pretty stark statement as to where we are at with housing. There needs to be more joined-up thinking between the Department and that of the Minister, Deputy Browne, in terms of housing. There need to be proper protections for students who are living in digs as well. The rent-a-room relief scheme is obviously welcome but it cannot be just plugging the gap in terms of the availability of accommodation. More purpose-build student accommodation needs to be built in this country. I have introduced legislation to clamp down on predators who advertise rooms in exchange for sex. We know that 5% of international students either have been directly offered or have seen these advertisements. It is welcome that the Deputy Lawless's colleague the Minister for Justice is including that in an upcoming Bill.”
“It is being felt by people as an increase, as opposed to a decrease, on last year. In relation to housing, I welcome the fact there will be a new student accommodation strategy. It absolutely needs to be delivered on by the end of the year. The sooner we can implement it, the better. Technological universities want to be able to borrow funding. They want to be able to acquire their own accommodation. There are 106,000 students attending technological universities and there is only 0.4% of available on-campus accommodation for those. We had the president of Munster Technological University, Professor Maggie Cusack, in front of the Oireachtas further and higher education committee recently and she said that she believes that housing is the biggest barrier to accessing education in this country.”
“That paved the way for our economic development, and Celtic tiger years as well, in terms of education and global investment in this country. I believe the Minister has this opportunity now, during his tenure, to abolish student fees again. It was disappointing to see that there was not a commitment to permanently reduce the student fee by €1,000 in this budget. I hope the Minister will commit to decreasing it during the lifetime of this Government, as set out in the programme for Government. I was out last night knocking on some doors in Blackrock in Cork city and I was talked to a family. They were saying how they are deeply affected by the cost of living. They are paying €2,000 in childcare and the extra €500 now in fees. For them, the squeezed middle, they are really feeling this.”
“In relation to funding for higher education, I believe the Minister has a huge opportunity to explore how the sector is funded as a whole and to ensure that we can act on the Cassells report and that we have a proper publicly funded model of higher education because we know now that a qualification, be it in further or higher education, is the same as a leaving certificate may have been in the 1980s or early 1990s. It is almost the expectation now that that is the standard educational attainment for a lot of people. Of course, apprenticeships are included as part of that as well in terms of people's choice. We have the potential for a Niamh Bhreatnach moment. The late, great Niamh Bhreatnach, former Minister for Education, abolished student fees in the nineties.”
“I welcome the Minister. It is welcome to have this discussion in the House this evening. I want to start with a positive story. There was an article in The Echo today about a woman called Annette Donoghue from Cork and she has gone to college at the age of 81 to study Irish heritage and culture in Cork College of Further Education and Training. That was a powerful story and demonstrated the power of lifelong learning, which has to be intrinsic in our education system. People now do not usually have the one career for their whole lives. They often go back and retrain or decide they want to do something different maybe every decade. This is how we live now and our colleges and universities need to reflect on that.”
“The genocide that has occurred in Gaza is a stain of shame on our humanity. In that context, services need to be included in the occupied territories Bill. I campaigned in favour of reforming the Seanad. It is disgraceful that it has been almost half a century and we have not implemented the result of the 1979 referendum to extend the franchise to all graduates. Someone had to take a case against the State in relation to this. It absolutely needs to happen. The Seanad is a powerful Chamber in terms of legislation. I am glad to have introduced two items of legislation to date. I could talk forever in terms of Cork, but I am out of time.”
“We need appropriate school places for all children and we absolutely need to ensure that we tackle child poverty and that the public childcare model is a priority for this Government. As Labour Party spokesperson on further and higher education, I am of the view that we really need to see the commitment in the programme for Government in terms of the reduction in student fees over the lifetime of this Government honoured. We also need to ensure that apprentices are paid a living wage. We have a crisis in terms of student accommodation, and that is certainly true in Cork. In the context of disability, the new unit is welcome. There is a lot of work to do. We have one of the lowest employment rates for people with disabilities in Europe. Not introducing a cost-of-disability payment in this budget was a missed opportunity.”
“Tá fáilte roimh an Taoiseach. Tá sé an-tábhachtach a chloisteáil go bhfuil an Rialtas ag tacú leis an nGaeilge. In relation to housing, as the Taoiseach knows, more than 16,000 people are homeless in Ireland, with 5,000 children homeless. I believe housing is a huge threat to our economy. It is affecting how people progress in their lives. In Cork alone, there are over 700 derelict and vacant properties within 2 km of the city centre. While it was welcome to see the new dereliction levy in the budget, which will be collected by Revenue, I believe this needs to be fast-tracked as a priority. Turning to children in this country, we know from a new ESRI report that one in five children is living below the poverty line when housing costs are taken into account. I believe every child deserves a fair start in this country.”
“Finally, if this is the kind of budget being delivered when ours is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and at a time when there is money in this country, I worry what the budget would be like if that were not the case.”
“Is that what it is? Can it not see them? Can it not see what is happening in this country, how this will affect these children throughout their lives and how that poverty will follow them around? One in five children is living in poverty in this country. Where is the budget for them? In terms of disability, disability organisations have come out being critical of the budget, saying it is a missed opportunity and will deepen poverty for these people. The Irish Wheelchair Association has said many are choosing whether they can eat or whether they can turn the heating on. This is completely unacceptable. The Labour Party would have emphasised a cost-of-disability payment. It is disappointing that that has not been prioritised in the budget.”
“It is welcome that it will be collected by Revenue, and that is something the Labour Party has called for, but the fact that we might not see any of this even collected until 2028 is appalling. We have to get serious about clamping down on derelict properties. Where is the sense of urgency? It is welcome that the renter's relief tax credit is being continued to 2028. We in the Labour Party, however, would have liked to see a significant increase in that to reflect the cost of living. It is absolutely shameful that there was no mention in today's budget of homeless people living in this country and that the word "homeless" was not uttered by any Government Minister in the Dáil today when we were watching the debate. We have over 15,000 people who are homeless, of whom over 5,000 are children. Are they invisible to this Government?”
“It was a missed opportunity not to completely abolish apprenticeship fees in terms of access to apprenticeships. It is welcome that there are more apprenticeship places as part of the budget. That is a welcome measure. It is disappointing to see there is not more emphasis put on childcare. We know that this was a huge issue during the election campaign in terms of the promises that were made. We absolutely need to move towards a public model of childcare. The 2,300 places that were announced today will be merely a drop in the ocean for families and children waiting for places. We are a long way away from free GP care for all children as well. Again, that needs more emphasis. In terms of dereliction, it is extremely worrying to see that the legislation for the introduction of the derelict property levy is not expected until 2027.”
“It is €500 extra coming out of people's pockets this year that was not there last year. In this Chamber, before the summer recess, I counted seven Fine Gael Senators in a row who said they were against any increase in the student contribution fee, so to hear Senators from Fine Gael today say they welcome this is questionable. It is really important that the Government stick to its own programme for Government and the promises that were made to the electorate when it said it would decrease the student contribution fee over the lifetime of this Government. We need to see further decreases to that fee. It is important to say we have among the highest third level fees in Europe. Students already pay significantly for their education in this country.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. It is safe to say this budget is giving "friends in high places" vibes. What I mean by that is that it is a budget for developers and in many ways for big businesses, for the likes of Starbucks and McDonald's. Instead of asking, "Do you want fries with that?", this budget in many ways asks, "Do you want elitism with that?" This budget represents a reward for many of the Government's supporters or friends in high places, just as last year's budget represented the buying of votes and many once-off measures. The €500 increase in student fees is an increase. You cannot dress it up any other way. To say it is a decrease is effectively to gaslight students and their families. Does the Government think people are fools in saying it is a decrease?”
“Young workers are some of the most precarious in terms of their roles, so their inclusion needs to be an important consideration. The Labour Party proposed an amendment to this Bill when it was before the Oireachtas which aimed to prevent employers from winding up or freezing effective workplace pension schemes during the ten-year roll-out of the scheme. This was rejected by the Government, but we are continuing to call for safeguards that would ensure that this scheme has positive effects on workers and does not incentivise employers to scale back any existing entitlements.”
“We have also seen that pension cover for self-employment contracts are insecure in nature. There needs to be cover for these individuals and a guarantee that they will be included in the auto-enrolment scheme. This is vital to prevent companies from placing workers on fabricated self-employment contracts as means of avoiding contributing to their pensions. Many have been left without pensions in recent years due to being placed on self-employment contracts, most notably in RTÉ. Another group that needs to be accounted for is young workers. Despite PRSI contributions beginning at 16 in some cases, the minimum age threshold for inclusion in this scheme is 23. This leaves seven valuable years where workers could begin to build up their pension fund.”
“Countless workers are being left without coverage after working their entire adult lives. This is unacceptable. Ireland has been lagging behind for too long. We were the last OECD country to introduce an auto-enrolment system. ICTU highlighted that 811,000 workers are without a workplace pension. Each and every one of these people will feel the impact of this delay. There are also considerations that must be accounted for come January. This scheme should add to and not take away from any existing provisions and should never become a replacement for State pensions. We need to hear assurances for those contributing to the new scheme that this will work to complement their pension and that they will not be subject to means tests for their State pension as a result.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I will be echoing a lot of the points made by Senator Cosgrove. I welcome the roll-out of the new auto-enrolment scheme. This something we in the Labour Party have long been calling for. I also welcome the appointment of Patricia King, former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, to the board. ICTU has a positive role to play here. This is something the Labour Party highlighted as this Bill was being progressed through the Oireachtas. This scheme will work to address disparities in pension provision. The 2024 CSO statistics show us that those aged 55 to 69 had the most coverage at 75%, while those aged 25 to 34 had less than 60%. It has been clear for some time now that Ireland's voluntary approach to pension savings is failing.”
“Adequate transport is a vital part of ensuring equal regional development. In general, villages and rural areas are lacking effective and timely public transport. An urgent expansion of these services alongside the development of adequate school transport links needs to be a priority for the Government. We in the Labour Party implore the Minister of State to conduct immediate further reviews of the transport system with a view to delivering full system reform.”
“Oftentimes we see parents having to give up valuable hours of work, or their job entirely, to facilitate their child's attendance at school. The demand for places has outgrown the system and families in Ireland are paying the price. The current criteria, capacity limits and process are not fit for purpose. The Labour Party's manifesto last year proposed the integration of school transport with Local Link and rural bus services. This kind of connectivity would be transformative for communities. The Department of Transport needs to take ownership of this problem. We need to ensure that every child who needs a place can access one for free and we need to see alignment between policy on feeder schools and the reality on the ground to allow all students access to education.”
“This is a clear indicator that the current system of operation is not fit for purpose and is creating barriers to education for certain children, rather than breaking those barriers down. Children who are disabled also need to be accommodated in terms of school transport. My colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, recently cited a case in Cork where 46 pupils had signed up for a school bus, yet none was sanctioned. He also heard from constituents that some young students had been refused bus places by the Department on grounds that their school is not in feeder distance, when in reality it is. As a result of Government failure in delivering this resource, families are being forced to rely on lifts from neighbours or to drive excessive distances themselves.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus gabhaim buíochas leis as bheith anseo linn inniu. Families in Ireland are facing extreme challenges in accessing school transport. Children all over the country, particularly those in rural areas, are being let down by inadequate transport links. This is an access to education issue. In August, parents in many areas across Ireland were notified that school buses would not be provided for this academic year. On behalf of the Department of education, Bus Éireann had to reduce its scope for school buses, despite extensive efforts, it stated. An over-reliance on the private sector was cited as the cause for this, due to capacity constraints in Bus Éireann. We heard from Senator Tully that there is a 95% reliance on the private sector.”
“The language in the Bill should be reviewed. The term "mental disorder" is outdated and many people with lived experience say it is stigmatising. The legislation should be reviewed within five years. There should be continual review, with engagement with organisations and those directly affected. The availability of environment and settings of care should not be the sole determinant of where care is received. It must be determined by the location of the best care for the individual. Ultimately, there is a lot that is good in the Bill. It is a unique opportunity to uphold the rights and dignity of those in society who are vulnerable. I look forward to further engagement on later Stages.”
“Second, it should establish an independent complaints mechanism for people accessing mental health services, separate from the current HSE process that is available to both adults and children. Any changes to involuntary treatment must be carefully reconsidered to ensure that such interventions are used strictly as a last resort and that there are robust safeguards in place in the legislation. There must be safeguards governing chemical restraints. That absolutely must be addressed. The Bill continues to permit the admission of children to adult units, which contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children should never be placed in age-inappropriate psychiatric units. At an absolute minimum, the legislation should introduce a strict time limit on any such placements and ensure safeguards are in place.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will not oppose the Bill on this Stage but there is significant work to be done on it and a lot of scope for amendment. I acknowledge the visitors in the Gallery. I thank the many individuals and organisations that have engaged with me in recent weeks on the Bill and raised their concerns. I refer in particular to Mental Health Reform for providing several briefings on the Bill. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to modernise Ireland's mental health laws. I will list some of the areas of concern that require improvement. The first is advocacy. The Bill should introduce a statutory right to independent advocacy as a vital safeguard for individuals receiving care.”
“On housing and homelessness, I attended the start of Simon Week in Cork yesterday. I wish the Simon Communities of Ireland well with their week. I was particularly struck by a number of their key asks. One statistic that stood out was the average life expectancy of a reasonably healthy person in Ireland is 82 years but if people are in long-term homelessness, they can only expect to live into their 40s. It is unlikely they would reach 50. That is a very staggering statistic given that we have over 15,000 children homeless in Ireland. One of the Simon Communities' key asks is that we address the issue of single adult homelessness. Some 65% of all adults who are homeless are single and account for 44% of those who are homeless in this country. We urgently need to address that and have appropriate accommodation in place too.”
“I welcome everybody back. I also wish Bridget Doody the best and thank her for her service here. We will certainly miss her. I wish the same to Martin Groves. I wish Martin Hughes the best in his role. I raise the issue of student fees. We are back from the summer recess and we hear there will be a €500 increase in the student contribution fee. It is being portrayed as a decrease but an increase is an increase. An increase on last year is being proposed in the budget. The House should have clarity from the Minister for further and higher education on this given our debate prior to the summer when Fine Gael Senators agreed with most of us in opposition that this should not happen and it needed to be stopped. We need an update on the rationale and proposals around that.”
“This stinks of a kicking-the-can-down-the-road decision to me while students and families need clarity right now. Trinity College Dublin has already issued invoices to students for €3,000 for the coming academic year. This is extremely worrying and is causing huge distress to students and their families all across the country. The lack of clarity simply cannot continue from this Government. We need clarity. What is the fee going to be in September?”
“This is a huge cost to families at a time when the cost of living is rising. I can see no logic as to why the fee would now be increased when it was implemented as a cost-of-living measure but the cost of living and the cost of accommodation are rising in this country. It raises the question as to whether this was a vote-buying measure. Was it just a vote-buying tactic for the electorate from parties that are now in government? It is the first thing the Government is coming out now and saying it will change. The student movement seems to be very united on this and will continue campaigning to ensure we do not have a fee increase in this country. As I say, the programme for Government commits to this. We hear of options papers. We had the Cassells report previously.”
“I thank the Minister of State for the response. First, I note the positive indications regarding the student grant and the Government seeking to improve that and improve those supports. That has to be noted. However, it is an extremely disappointing and disrespectful answer to students and their families that this Government cannot give clarity to students on what the fee is going to be this September. I have people calling me - students and families - who are worried about the cost of living. They are sitting around kitchen tables asking whether they can afford to send their son or daughter, or in some cases multiple children, to college. We had a case of triplets in Cork whose family were wondering how they were going to afford €9,000 in fees, potentially, for the upcoming academic year.”
“I welcome the fact that efforts are being made to change the SUSI grant for the better through looking at adjacency rates. We need to look at estrangement as well in respect of who can access that grant. Ultimately, a promise was made regarding fees in the programme for Government so I ask for a reply on what the plan is and what the fee will be this coming September.”
“We have surpluses. I do not understand why students and their families are the first in the firing line when we hear about things like tariffs. It was transformative to this society in the nineties when free fees were introduced. They were increased over a period but the late, great Niamh Bhreathnach had vision. It contributed hugely to the economic growth of this country in the nineties and into the noughties, much like free secondary level education did in the seventies. A third level qualification is now expected by many. It needs to be made as accessible as possible. We have among the highest fees in Europe. We are an outlier. The Cassells report and the OECD report have said we have among the highest student fees in Europe.”
“The programme for Government just six months ago committed to reducing the contribution fee over the lifetime of this Government. Increasing it is a poor start. I do not know how the Government will honour that commitment. It would be good to see a plan. To put it in context, the average rent in Cork city in €2,200 per month. UCC students' union in a survey last year found that 28% of students in UCC had gone to class hungry because of the cost of living. Student poverty is a real issue. We need more publicly owned student accommodation that is affordable. We are still waiting on the student accommodation strategy. We were told it would be ready before the summer and then that it would be the third quarter of this year. We need that concrete strategy in place. What will the fee be this September? We need another Niamh Bhreathnach moment.”
“There has been a huge amount of miscommunication and a lack of clarity from the Government to students and their families. The Minister said one thing, while one of his colleagues in Fine Gael took to another radio show saying a different thing. In this Chamber, eight Fine Gael Senators consecutively said they disagreed with the Minister. They are in a Government party. We need clarity on what is happening. The people suffering are students and their families. They have been disrespected by this Government. We need a plan for families. They need to be able to budget. The cost of living, rent and fuel costs are all rising. The cost of living is going up, not down, so I cannot see the justification for any change upwards in student fees.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. I would like clarity on the issue of student fees and supports. I was president of the national students' union, USI, ten years ago. Student fees, the cost of living, student housing and access to education were all issues then and are more prominent now than ever. It needs to be a priority for this Government. It is dismaying and alarming that the Minister for further and higher education, Deputy Lawless, went on the airwaves a couple of weeks ago and announced that there would be an increase in student fees of potentially €1,000 this September. There was previously a decrease in the fee but the decrease rowback is an increase. We have to call it out for what it is. What will the fee be for students going to college this September?”
“To clarify, the Cathaoirleach used his discretion earlier, as I was covering the Chair, to give the earlier slot to the Cross-Party Group. I used my four minutes so it now Senator Stephenson's turn to speak. She has six minutes.”
“How will this inquiry co-operate with the Garda on information sharing and how will we ensure the survivor's expectations of criminal justice will be met?”
“It is important that we do not retraumatise survivors and we minimise that impact as much as possible. My party leader, Deputy Ivana Bacik, published a Bill that would facilitate the child sexual abuse proceedings against unincorporated associations, including religious orders, and would provide a mechanism for recovering damages from the lay-run trusts set up by these bodies and to which many of their assets have been typically transferred. I understand this Bill has been sent on to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach. A response is needed on this and how we progress it because the State must be able to compel these orders to provide redress and justice. It is welcome that this process will ensure that survivors with additional needs are able to access it. I share the concerns that Inclusion Ireland have highlighted about this as well.”
“I acknowledge Mark Ryan and his brother David, who was in the Dáil Gallery yesterday, for their tremendous work in this regard. This commission is welcome but it certainly is not before its time. Irish society and the State need to reckon with our painful and shameful history of violence and sexual violence against children in our schools. This needs to inform our future as a nation. I want to record my utmost respect for survivors, those who spoke out, and everyone who has brought us to this point. They have done a huge service to us all. Speaking out about what they experienced and calling it out have come at a personal cost for so many. Openness and transparency have to be paramount to this process. The Minister has said that survivors will not be put through a cross-examination process.”
“It is absolutely damaging our humanity and our ability to call ourselves human in this world if we cannot do everything in our power to stop this.”
“It would be very useful for the House to hear from the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on what is happening at third level and in our universities. A lot of work is happening on building links with academics in Palestine and those in institutions there. It would be good to see how this can be strengthened and how we can build on it. The Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs is meeting today and it is important that we ensure services are included in the occupied territories Bill and that we get it passed as soon as possible. What is happening in the world today is absolutely grotesque. There is a genocide happening. It is being televised and we see it every day. It needs to stop.”
“As we approach the all-Ireland finals I take this opportunity to wish the Cork hurlers well on Sunday. It is deeply saddening we have a group of 33 young GAA players and 14 mentors from Palestine trying to come to Ireland to play and participate in hurling in this country but they are being denied visas. The Minister for justice needs to give an explanation to the House on this. We need to do everything we can in our power as a country to culturally, socially, economically and politically isolate Israel. We need to build links where we can with the Palestinian people when it comes to sport, culture and the arts. I met the Palestinian ambassador this morning as part of the Oireachtas friends of Palestine group. It is certainly something we need to build on.”
“We are happy to see this progressed in the Dáil and now in the Seanad. My fellow party member, Deputy Mark Wall, raised this in the Seanad in 2022 as well, highlighting the rise in couples who are unmarried and choosing not to marry and the need to provide support to all families suffering this kind of loss. This Bill can go a long way to address this inequality. The Labour Party has long called for the protection of cohabiting partners and we need to support these changes as a step towards equality for families in this country. There should not be one rule for married people and another for unmarried people in 2025. The law has to evolve to recognise the diversity of families in this country and we will be supporting this.”
“I welcome this Bill which will allow bereaved partners to receive a pension as a bereaved partner but also recognise that all families and children must be treated equally in the State. The work recently done on this Bill is as a result of Johnny O'Meara's appeal in the Supreme Court. It is extremely unfortunate that he had to take this case to the Supreme Court. Mr. O'Meara brought this case before the courts because he was denied access to the social protection afforded to widows following the death of his partner, Michelle. Despite Johnny and his partner being together for over 20 years and having three children together, he had to go all the way to the Supreme Court level to receive the protections that are afforded to married people. The Labour Party, and particularly, Deputy Alan Kelly, has supported Johnny all the way in this.”
“I welcome the visitors in the Gallery, including one of my best friends, Patrick Dempsey, and his sisters, Tiffany and Gabrielle. On this Bill, I welcome the Minister. It is good to have this engagement. The social welfare system, as it stands, is failing couples who are not married or whose marriages have not been formalised. The Department of Social Protection is inconsistent in that it measures both members of an unmarried partnership when means testing for jobseeker's or carer's allowance but provides not guarantee of support upon the death of partner. This inconsistency must be amended. Grieving partners are being shunned by the Government upon the death of their loved one and we must put an end to this.”
“I would argue that it has been delayed long enough. Senator Ryan has been able to draft this well-constructed, well-researched, caring, compassionate and health-led Bill and she has been a Senator for less than six months, but the Minister is saying he needs a whole year to consider how it can be done. That is unacceptable and the Government needs to step up to the mark for women and their partners throughout the country.”
“I particularly welcome the fact that the Bill has a provision to register the loss in a confidential manner because this is about acknowledging people, the grief that is experienced, the true loss that is experienced and allowing people to have that recognition. This is crucially important. A total of 51% of the population in Ireland are women and one in four pregnancies will end in loss. Other Senators have mentioned this but I just wanted to say that there is a trend by the Government of kicking the can down the road when it comes to legislation that comes from this House. It seems that there is a delaying tactic. How many pregnancies will end in loss in the space of 12 months? A full-term pregnancy is nine months. How many pregnancies will end in loss in the course of the 12 months the Government proposes to delay this?”
“This is part of a wider journey of opening doors and opening the conversation on pregnancy, pregnancy loss and the stigma that exists around it, and it is an issue that has been in the dark for a very long time. It is therefore really welcome we are having such an open discussion on it here today. We can see how it affects so many Senators in this room, regardless of their gender. It is a really important Bill. We know that one in four pregnancies will end in loss. In terms of the Bill itself, this is an issue that needs to be dealt in terms of the working time Act and employment rights. The fact that the Bill makes provision for leave from work is very important and it needs to be recognised. It is a health issue in terms of physical health, emotional health and mental health, and that does need to be recognised.”
“It affects people regardless of gender and affects partners regardless of gender, but it has predominantly affected women. This House has a strong record of bringing forward issues in relation to pregnancy, be it in contraception or reproductive rights. We saw Mary Robinson, when she was a Senator decades ago, spearheading the campaign for contraception. We have seen the likes of Ivana Bacik on the abortion issue. It is about a whole spectrum of issues and it is truly extraordinary that we do not have legislation like this in place already. I would argue that we do not have it because, over the years, there was not enough diversity in political representation to bring it forward.”
“I fully support this Pregnancy Loss (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025. I commend Senator Nicole Ryan on bringing forward this extremely well thought-out, researched, detailed, compassionate, caring and health-focused Bill to the House today. I thank the Sinn Féin Senators for bringing forward this Bill. I have been struck by this debate. I was not actually going to speak but it is important to say that representation and diversity really matter in politics. We now have more women in the Seanad than ever. Today, I am the 11th woman to speak on this Bill. I have not experienced pregnancy loss but I have known people who have, including people in my family. This is not just a women's issue. Senator Clonan spoke eloquently spoke of his personal experience of this.”