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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“I will speak about AI smart glasses. We need more regulation in this area. This is something I raised at the Committee on Artificial Intelligence this morning. In Cork, we have recently seen a number of instances where women were filmed without their consent. One woman was filmed in her workplace and other was filmed in a very vulnerable position, receiving medical care. This is of great concern. Responsibility in these cases always lies with the person taking the image or the video. We need more regulation. Meta current produces such glasses and Snapchat is apparently seeking to create its own glasses. As Snapchat has a wide youth following, this needs greater regulation. I would welcome a debate in this House on that specific issue.”
“Yes, and I am putting that on the record because I have serious concerns about this, as do many members of the public. We have all got thousands of emails in relation to this. I take it very seriously that the public have concerns about this. I think there needs to be more awareness in relation to it. In fairness, Senator McDowell made the point so cogently. Senator Higgins has been arguing against this since its inception. It is really important that we raise more awareness about the damages this will have if it is fully implemented.”
“I would argue it is opening us up to being undermined or harmed. It is also opening up our democratic sovereignty. The Labour Party has opposed this Bill at every Stage in the Dáil and here in the Seanad. We will be bringing forward further amendments with the Opposition here, not because we cannot see the benefits of trade. Of course we are pro-trade. We are pro-fair trade but we do not believe that this Bill contributes to that or that it gives a fair deal to the Irish people. We cannot overrule our Government, we cannot be overruling our legislators in relation to this. I saw the Minister of State roll his eyes as well.”
“This Bill is crazy. I really think the Government is selling the interests of the Irish people down the Swanee with this. As we have heard, the impact of it will affect future generation in terms of democracy, workers' rights and the environment. We have also heard of a potential impact in relation to housing in Ireland. For example, Canadian investment is already over-represented in our housing system. It is not difficult to imagine a situation where, one day, if we finally have a Government that invests properly in affordable housing so that rents begin to fall, an investment fund could sue the Irish State for letting rents come down. Are these the kind of loopholes we are allowing ourselves to be open to? The Government is saying that this Bill is about Ireland being open for investment.”
“We must also address the dangerous escalation involving Iran. It is entirely possible, indeed necessary, to condemn the repression and brutality of the Iranian regime, including its appalling treatment of women, trade unionists and pro-democracy activists, while also insisting that international law be upheld by all states, including the rights of Iranian civilians, who should not be subjected to illegal wars. We cannot support a politics of endless military escalation. The lessons of Iraq must never be forgotten. Diplomacy and de-escalation must almost always take precedence over actions that risk plunging regions and the world into wider catastrophe. Ireland has rightly shown solidarity with Ukraine. We must continue to do that. Silence in the face of suffering is not neutrality.”
“We see tension escalating in Iran and we are witnessing devastating consequences of war, authoritarianism, genocide, displacement and the absolute erosion of international law. Ireland might be a small country but its voice absolutely matters when it is principled, consistent and rooted in international solidarity. On Palestine, what we have been witnessing is a genocide. Unfortunately, the Irish Government has not done enough. We have not enacted the occupied territories Bill, covering services. Why is there such a delay? It is such a shame that the Government did not pass the arms embargo Bill in this Chamber a number of weeks ago. We had very sensible proposals from the Opposition. International law cannot be conditional. No state should be placed beyond accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.”
“I am not saying that is a correct statement but that it is extremely worrying that there are children growing up in this country now who are watching footage of conflict consistently. They do not feel safe and feel the world is very volatile. Donald Trump is not the leader of the free world. We need to hold the US and Israel to account. We have a responsibility to do so not only for our own citizens but also for all the other citizens across the globe who are facing inequality and destruction because of narcissists and authoritarians in power. I thought it was very interesting that children do not feel safe growing up. They see conflict every day on the news, from Gaza and Lebanon to Sudan and Ukraine, and they are very exposed to it.”
“I want to start by talking about how the world is seen through the eyes of a child. This was very illuminating to me recently. I was doing some school visits in Cork and visited a primary school in Crosshaven, where I spoke to some girls. I always ask pupils what they know about politics and who they know who is a politician. Of course, they all know Donald Trump, unfortunately, because of the attention paid to him in the media. My visit was shortly after St. Patrick’s Day and the Taoiseach had been to the White House. There was a debate around that. We asked what would have happened if the Taoiseach had not gone to the White House. One of the girls, who must have been about ten years old, said he would have bombed us all.”
“I thank the Aire Stáit for that detailed response. It is really great to hear the statistics in relation to the gap closing between women's and men's participation. We absolutely need to continue that and to see more visibility and diversity in terms of reporting on sport in the media. We look forward to working with the Minister of State and the Department on this matter. I agree with Senator Ní Chuilinn in that we should have a full debate in the Seanad on the issue of sport and the recommendations contained in the report. We look forward to calling for such a debate. Hopefully, Senators across the House will participate in it.”
“These groups provide such an important space, not just for sport, health and well-being but also in terms of mental health, being able to make friends and build a community outside of other spaces, and certainly outside places that involve alcohol. It is really important that we encourage inclusion across the board. It could be absolutely transformative for our country and could really foster confidence in people who may have given up sport at a younger age and were able to come back to it again. Age should not be a barrier when we talk about inclusion in sport. I really welcome this debate. It is good to have a debate in which the Government and the Opposition are in agreement, because I really feel this is something that should unite everybody.”
“I welcome the Aire Stáit. I firmly believe that sport does and can unite us all. It is so important that we promote inclusion in sport at all levels and for all types of sports, be it for women, disabled people, members of the Traveller community, those of different ethnicities and members of the LGBTQ+ community, of which I am one. It was great to join Na Laochra Aeracha in Cork in my late 30s recently and to go back to playing GAA after 20 years. It is an important club. Unfortunately, many clubs face barriers in terms of funding, regulations and the boundaries that the GAA might set for where people need to be living. We need to look at these issues and have a consistent across the board. I am also a member of Frontrunners in Cork, which is an international group for LGBT runners. There is also one in Dublin.”
“There needs to be a fully funded national plan to replace all of these machines. They have been described as being akin to Windows 95, with the machines being among the oldest in Europe in terms of their quality This is urgent. I have just come from a briefing in the audiovisual room on sport for the LGBTQI+ community in Ireland and funding and support for that sector. As part of that community, I am a member of the Frontrunners group in Cork and I have also attended Frontrunners in Dublin. I sometimes attend the Phoenix Tigers soccer group in Dublin and I recently joined Na Laochra Aeracha, an LGBTQI+ GAA club in Cork. I am in my late 30s and going back to sport, having not played GAA for about 20 years, it has been lovely to be able to be part of that community and to have this outlet.”
“I raise the issue of cancer care in Ireland. This morning, it was extremely alarming to hear that 80% of the radiation therapy machines in the country need to be replaced within the next few years. Cork is an outlier here. We heard from Professor Aisling Barry, chair of radiation oncology at University College Cork, that currently the only plans to replace these radiation therapy machines are for Dublin. We heard from one patient recently who said that during their 25 appointments for treatment, the machine broke down six times. Patients have had to book in to hotels while they are waiting for machines to be fixed. Some 50% of people diagnosed with cancer will need radiation therapy, which is life-saving. Oncologists have described this as a national disgrace. We need to act.”
“We call him Malcolm in the Middle, but he is certainly putting Green policies in the middle of our Cross-Party Group. I just wanted to say that.”
“I thank the Minister of State for supporting this important motion. I acknowledge Wildlife Rescue Cork, who are in the Gallery, and Julie Cronin, who is here with Cathy and the whole team. I encourage the Minister of State to meet them and view the work they are doing. Patricia Stephenson's mother, Marga, is here too. There are a number of parents in the Gallery. It is clear that the Minister of State is committed to his role and to nature restoration. He is genuine and hard-working. It is appreciated. I know he took up the baton from my colleague, Senator Malcolm Noonan, who was a pioneer in this area and the first Minister of State who was recognised nationally as having such a focus on nature. It is fitting that Malcolm is bringing forward this motion today.”
“A lot of the public are simply not aware that if you find an animal injured on the road or wherever or if it flies into your home, there is somewhere you can bring it and there is help to be found. I think the public want to be able to help when they see an animal in pain or in need. It is a much cheaper option long term because it is much more expensive to restore a population of animals in decline or ecosystems in decline. This is actually a preventative measure. It is really welcome that the Government is supporting this motion.”
“The resources they have are very much stretched. They should not be relying so heavily on public donations. They provide training programmes for vets and veterinary nurses on how to treat wildlife in practice. That training element is important as well. Wildlife centres are vital to enhancing biodiversity in Ireland. We lag behind many countries in preserving biodiversity as opposed to the environment itself. It is my understanding that we are among the lowest in the EU for land that is protected for birds, for example. Similarly, we are far behind the global target of 30% for protection of land and marine. We need to work better towards our general targets in this regard. This motion is a start. It would be transformative for the work already happening, which we need to recognise.”
“Aside from the economic benefits and social benefits in education, a real reason behind this is compassion and suffering. A lot of the injuries that happen to wildlife are because of human behaviour and how we have changed the world and the habitat. From that perspective, we have a duty of care to our wildlife. Wildlife Rescue Cork does not just treat wildlife from Cork, it takes in animals from Kerry, Tipperary, Waterford and Limerick. It is a real beacon in Munster for their work. Funding for the sector will allow it to professionalise further and to continue education programmes. It also takes on interns as they do in other centres such as in Kildare. It will allow them to have guaranteed funding to progress salaried positions to care for these animals around the clock, which they already do anyway.”
“I welcome the guests in the Gallery including my parents, Mary and Ted. It is their first time sitting in the Seanad Gallery. It is very welcome that the Minister of State and the Government are not opposing our motion. I commend Senator Noonan in particular on leading on this cross-party motion. I was blown away recently when I visited Wildlife Rescue Cork - I told the Minister of State about this - to see the work it does in rehabilitation and the number of animals it treats and allows back into the wild. They ring all the birds of prey and waterbirds. They have had re-sightings of herons, swans and gulls that have migrated and come back. It goes to show that rehabilitation works and animals will behave in the same way when they are released back into the wild.”
“I am just conscious that it was agreed earlier today that we would end at 6.10 p.m., because there is another debate afterwards. That is what we are working towards because a previous debate ran over. To be clear, I am not trying to cut anybody off. I am asking people to be mindful of their contributions in the context of the time constraints.”
“I remind Members that we have until 6.10 p.m. for this debate, and that includes the ten-minute reply of the Minister of State. I therefore ask Members to be mindful of the time. I call Senator Kennelly.”
“I know it comes down to staffing and recruitment, which the Minister of State is working on, but we need to improve that. We need to keep people in the country in terms of recruitment. This comes down to workforce planning. The Minister for further and higher education has a role to play. We need a whole-of-government approach as part of this. I refer to employment. We are 20% below our European counterparts in terms of workforce participation. What can be done about that? Do we need more carrot-and-stick approaches for employers? What solutions can be put in place?”
“We heard from groups after the budget, including disability organisations, which said disabled people were made less well off by €1,400 by the budget. Introducing an emergency cost of disability payment as a starting point is necessary. Regarding housing, local authorities need more resources and more planning is required for disability teams, not just in housing adaptation but how we build houses and universal design. We are way behind the curve and that has an impact on independent living. I am struck by the disparity between regions. At the committee, we heard the average hours of personal assistance provided in Dublin can be much higher than in the south west. It is similar for home care supports. Why is there such disparity between regions?”
“People are not registered at an early age and, therefore, are not getting early intervention from childhood onwards. Care should be for a whole life cycle. Many of us in the Chamber, as Senator Clonan often correctly reminds us, will develop or may have developed a disability. This is something that the entire population may experience during their lifetime. The word "inhumane" was used by some witnesses at the committee. The lack of dignity was cited. One of the witnesses said she felt we are going backwards. Another said he feels they are living in a black hole. That is a very dark description and language to use for that experience. They feel they are being completely let down by the State. One area is the cost of disability.”
“A lot of light has been shed on the area in recent years. In many ways, we have played catch-up with recent Ministers to address the scale of the crisis and how far behind we are as a country. There is no unique experience. Everyone's experience of disability can be very different. Sometimes it can be the same, but it can be very different for an individual depending on their disability, which is what we are discussing. There is a need for personalised care. At today's meeting of the disability matters committee, numerous groups and parents spoke, including those from the Before We Die campaign. It is completely unacceptable that parents in this country are caring into their 90s for their children, care for which they should receive support and that the State should be providing.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I do not doubt her commitment to her brief and progressing these matters but the pace of change is too slow. Some progress has been made. It was good to hear the Minister of State mention that we cannot work in silos. That needs to apply to the Government and Departments as a whole. At the disability matters committee earlier today, we heard people's lived experiences of feeling they are being passed around the houses from pillar to post when seeking support, be it by the Minister of State's Department or housing, Transport, Heath or Social Protection. The joined-up piece is important when we speak of disability and other issues. We need to move away from managing crises in this country and in this area to solving them. There was a lot of talk about disability during the general election.”
“Does the Minister of State honestly think that the Irish people would not stand in the way and prevent that if they could? Absolutely. As the Minister of State knows, every Saturday in Cork people walk and march for the people of Palestine. The Irish public are completely behind this. The Government often says to the Opposition that we are not providing solutions but all I ever hear from us here in opposition is practical solutions. I want to be proud of our Government. I want to be proud that Ireland played a leadership role in relation to this. Look at Pedro Sánchez in Spain. It is incredible to see what you can do with moral and courageous leadership and taking a stance. I would like to see more of that in Ireland. This is a very practical and simple Bill, as are the amendments. I encourage everybody to vote in support of this.”
“I wanted to come in again to make a few more points on this. First, I want to break this down. We have weapons passing through Ireland’s airspace going into areas where there are illegal wars, war crimes and genocide happening. We are not doing everything in our power to stop that. That is what it breaks down to. We are not doing everything in our power to stop that. We have the power to carry out inspections, which are not happening. This needs to happen. As Senator Higgins said, this is about broadening it out. It is obviously not just about Palestine. It is about any part of the globe where illegal war crimes are happening, including in Lebanon. Consider if this were happening on land. Imagine if people were walking through Ireland now carrying these weapons and trying to get to the other side to deliver them.”
“I urge Senators on both sides of the House to support this Bill because we are lagging behind other European countries in tackling the arms supply. Slovenia, Spain and France have all brought forward restrictions or embargoes, so we need to play our part. That is why we are supporting this Bill. I urge everybody to support the CEG and the Bill it is bringing forward.”
“We have an opportunity now to actually do something very important and meaningful and that the Irish people want. In October, the Government granted an exemption for an Omni Air International flight chartered by the US military to carry arms to the Israeli military. That was the first time since 2006 that our Government had openly acknowledged authorising a flight that was carrying weapons through Shannon to Israel. In the midst of what we have all watched over the past three years, that is absolutely shocking. It flies in the face of the steadfast solidarity and support that the Irish people have shown during this period to the Palestinians. We have a chance before us today to make absolutely clear that this cannot and will not be accepted.”
“According to data collected by the military plane tracker, Shannon Warport, as an example, at least 1,300 US military and military-contracted civilian aircraft flew within 60 km, or 37 miles, of Shannon Airport between January 2024 and March 2026, including at least 45 flights that travelled to or from Israel. We have seen the reports that Belgium's Challenge Airlines made 21 flights carrying weapons to Israel through Irish airspace from October 2023 to January 2025. These were illegal flights, I would argue, but it is clear that the Government has effectively turned a blind eye. On the one side, we are issuing statements of platitude and condemning the genocide and what is happening, and on the other side, we are turning a blind eye and not doing anything.”
“The amendments proposed to the Bill aim to strengthen the Minister's powers to refuse exemptions to any countries subject to investigation by the International Criminal Court, ICJ, for breaches of the UN Charter and to close the gap that allows commercial aircraft to illegally carry weapons without necessary permissions. There are also technical amendments. We know that the ICJ has ordered states to take provisional measures to prevent acts being committed in contravention of Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide against the people of Gaza. We have a responsibility here to act on this. In April 2024, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling for an arms embargo on Israel.”
“I was shocked by that and that the Minister had granted a record 1,354 exemptions in 2024 and exemptions for a further 1,280 flights in 2025, with no inspections of any aircraft. This Bill would ensure that the Minister appoints authorised officers to inspect aircraft that have secured exemptions for the carriage of munitions of war through the State. The Minister would be obliged to provide a report to the Houses of the Oireachtas outlining the number of aircraft inspections every three months. I do not think that is onerous. That is a very sensible provision within this Bill.”
“We are all in extremely privileged positions in this Chamber in the Houses of the Oireachtas and we have an opportunity to act here and bring forward laws that could change the outcome for so many. We will be judged, as other Senators have said, in the future. Our children and grandchildren - future generations - will look back. This is a pivotal time not only in Irish history, but in the history of the world as a whole and we will be judged on every single action that we have and have not taken on this. That is why it is important that we stand on the correct side of history and support this Bill. There is no record of any inspection having been carried out since 2020.”
“She walked 220 km at 91 years of age with many people because the Irish public feels so passionately about this and because she feels so passionately that we need to ensure we are not being compromised as a nation, that we are not damaging our neutrality and that Shannon is not being used by other countries and nations that are implementing illegal wars. We need to stop this. Regarding this Bill and the amendments that are in place, the Air Navigation and Transport (Arms Embargo) Bill 2024 seeks "to provide for restrictions on the transit and export of weapons of war from and through the State to the state of Israel". It is very important that we do this. I cannot believe that these inspections are not taking place in the first place. Why are we not doing this?”
“There has been such a delay in that Bill and I know the Irish people want to see more from our Government on this. I thought that we were going to be leaders in this area initially but we have lagged behind so many other countries that have taken way more action than us. I see it every week in Cork. Every single Saturday in Cork, we march for the people of Palestine, and not just Palestine, but for those who are being affected by illegal military invasions and genocides throughout the world. This Bill is important. Just last week, we had a march on Leinster House led by Lelia Doolan, who is aged 91 and walked from Shannon to Dublin.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I commend the Civil Engagement Group, CEG, on bringing forward this really important Bill. We need to ensure that it passes in full through the Oireachtas and I encourage the Government to support it today. It is extremely disheartening and, to be honest, angering to see the lack of follow-up action by the Government on the issue of illegal wars and the genocide that is happening in Palestine. I was hopeful we would see more action from the Government but, unfortunately, it has been found wanting in so many ways. The occupied territories Bill is an example of that. There were so many platitudes around it - the urgency, the need to take action and the need for sanctions. Where are the sanctions related to goods and services?”
“We need to increase the right to education for people who are in prison, as well as the right to more movement. Many prisoners spend more than 16 to 20 hours a day in their cells. That is inhumane. The conditions of some of the prisons in this country are simply inhumane. We absolutely need to deal with this. We need to expand capacity in relation to it. It is welcome that the Minister is looking at this area and at how we can divert people away from prisons and reduce the pressure on the system in terms of overcrowding, as well as having more humane pathways to deal with health issues. We should have the Minister for Health in here as well, because many people in prison are suffering with healthcare issues such as addiction and, of course, mental health, and we need to be talking about that more openly and reducing stigma.”
“We need a standardised healthcare approach when we are dealing with the issue of addiction. There is not a family in Ireland not affected in some way by the issue of addiction and there is so much stigma around it that we simply do not talk about it. That is a key area we need to address. As for overcrowding, Cork Prison is one example among many prisons that are overcrowded. It is frequently operating at about 138% or 139% capacity. It frequently holds over 400 prisoners when its capacity is 296. Many of the prisoners are sleeping on mattresses. We heard from the Irish Penal Reform Trust as well and we know that many prisoners have limited access to privacy. Many of them share toilets in open spaces and sleep near toilets as well. There is a complete lack of education in prison.”
“Ireland has never, in the history of the State, fully dealt with the issue of addiction. We have never had a proper, open, national discussion on addiction. We talk a lot about drugs and that is very important because we need to implement a comprehensive, well-resourced drugs strategy. Many people with addictions are cross-addicted as well. They may have multiple addictions, although it is not always the case. Alcohol is the elephant in the room here and we need to tackle that as a country. There is a huge disparity between people who have health insurance and those who do not in terms of what rehabilitation they can access and the level and length of treatment. We need to have a national comparative analysis of rehabilitation centres in terms of success rates and how they operate.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. This is a very welcome debate and we need to look at prison reform and alternatives. We need to be doing everything we can to keep people out of prison where possible. It is welcome to see more investment and emphasis on probation services as well. I will talk about a number of issues. First of all, when we talk about prison and people who are in prison, those with a history of addiction and drug use are the norm as opposed to the exception. People who have suffered with addiction are already in prison and this is a doubling-down and an extra prison sentence for them. We cannot have a situation any longer where prisons have to deal with issues we are not dealing with from a public health perspective. We need to improve how we deal with addiction.”
“I move amendment No. 234. In page 128, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “Review of Complaints Procedures 130. (1) Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall request the Commission to conduct a review of: (a) the procedures made by registered mental health services for dealing with complaints made by or on behalf of a person who is or was receiving any of the services or who is seeking or has sought any such service; (b) the effectiveness, timeliness and independence of such procedures; (c) the merits of providing for a statutory right to an independent complaints process for people accessing mental health services. (2) On conclusion of the review under subsection (1) , the Minister shall cause a report on the review to be published and laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.”.”
“It is essential to protect the dignity and voice of vulnerable people and essential to ensuring that we have a properly functioning mental health system. It is simply too important to omit. That is why we are proposing a structured review process with a clear timeline through this amendment. We believe that this is a very reasonable and sensible proposal to amend this legislation. The review will examine how effective the current arrangements for independent advocacy are, how truly independent they are, and the operational, structural and financial terms, and would make a recommendation on whether we need to legislate for that statutory right to independent advocacy.”
“This right is essential to protecting the dignity, autonomy and voice of individuals in inherently vulnerable and maybe coercive circumstances, particularly where treatment occurs without consent. Access to an independent advocate ensures that people can exercise their rights and express their wishes and concerns. Comparable protections exist in England, Scotland and Wales. A right to independent advocacy has been consistently identified as a top priority in consultations with people with lived experience of accessing mental health services in this country. This amendment seeks to put in place a six-month timeline for a proper review of how we can best ensure that independent advocacy is delivered. The right to advocacy like this is of vital importance.”
“We believe that a key omission from the Bill is the absence of a statutory right to independent advocacy for people subject to involuntary detention and treatment. It is very welcome that the Minister of State has made a commitment to looking at introducing the statutory right to advocacy through secondary legislation. This amendment, however, would enshrine that at the heart of this Bill. This legislation is the most significant change to mental health laws in this country in a generation and the right to advocacy should be included in it. We believe the Minister of State needs to deliver what has been promised now, and the purpose of this amendment is to hold the Government to account on this crucial issue.”
“(2) The review conducted under subsection (1) shall examine— (a) the merits of providing for a statutory right for every person receiving mental health services to obtain independent advocacy services in order to support the person in understanding and exercising his or her rights, (b) the effectiveness of the current arrangements by which a person receiving mental health services can obtain independent advocacy services, and any improvements to the timeliness and accessibility of those arrangements, and (c) whether an appropriate operational, structural and financial independence in relation to the provision of such advocacy services is achieved under the current arrangements.”. The amendment would require the Minister to publish a report on existing advocacy arrangements and examine the merits of legislating for a right to advocacy.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I wish to talk about my amendment No. 38. It states: In page 26, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following: “Review of independent advocacy services 11. (1) The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, conduct a review of the provision of independent advocacy services to persons in receipt of mental health services, and shall cause a report on the review to be published and laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.”
“We need to protect renters to ensure they are not falling into homelessness. There were 20,000 evictions in 2025. Single people are the fastest group falling into homelessness. I do not know what we are going to do but this is not moving in the right direction.”
“I will talk about some other statistics which may show that many people within the Oireachtas are out of touch with what is actually happening in relation to homelessness. Only 3% of Members of the Oireachtas are renting, that is, eight people, according to a survey by The Irish Times last year, compared with one in three households in Ireland. One in five TDs or 25%, identify as landlords, as compared to between 5% and 7% of the general population. One in three TDs own a second property, be that a home, another rental or land. In the real world, this is simply not the case. We need to ensure we are in touch when making legislation affecting people's lives. One in five children in this country are living in poverty. One in eight people over 65 are living in poverty. That rises to 40% for those renting.”
“It feels as though I am banging my head off a brick wall when I am talking about housing and homelessness. It feels like Groundhog Day every month when new homeless figures are released on a Friday afternoon to avoid maximum media exposure. More than 17,000 people are recorded as homeless. Those represent lives on pause, lives stunted, children living in hotels and doing their homework on hotel floors and not being able to play with their friends. It involves shame for people that does not belong to them, as well as poverty and exclusion. It also involves trauma that we have to deal with collectively as a society. People living in homelessness are more likely to become sick. They suffer chronic stress levels that we in this House or in the Houses of the Oireachtas cannot imagine.”