Victor Boyhan
Agricultural Panel · Independent · Ireland
“It also mentions the agrifood sector and the importance of diversification in agriculture, the maritime sector, coastal communities and fishing communities in terms of rural policy.”
“I know from my engagement with both the Department and the Minister that over 900 submissions to the consultation process were received. No Member or parliamentarian will have had the opportunity to consider the anonymised version of these consultations, which contain many good suggestions in favour of the regulations and many concerns in…”
“I welcome the Minister and the official to the Seanad. This is particularly important Private Members' business. I thank Senators Collins and Tully for setting out the background and the rationale behind their Private Members' motion. I acknowledge the Minister's exceptional commitment to rural Ireland and his Ministry.”
“I am conscious of the Minister's public consultation, and I acknowledge it and thank them for it, in relation to the Our Rural Future work programme in 2025. In fairness to him, he did not stop at that. I received a further update when I requested it from his office very recently.”
“This will come about through that process. It is for the Minister to decide. Maybe he will do so tomorrow when the regulations are dealt with. However, when Senators are in this Chamber discussing these regulations tomorrow, they will have no sight of any constituent who made a submission. That is my first item.”
“I am pleased to see Senator Byrne in the Leader’s chair. I wish him well in that job. I also wish him well in his new position as Government Whip. There are three items I wish to discuss today. First is the exempt development regulations, which are being covered extensively in the media.”
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“I wished to indicate in respect of an earlier amendment, which I would like to speak on briefly. When I looked at the debate in the Dáil and the commentary in the stenographers’ report, the reasons for the ruling out of order of amendments were missing. As the Leas-Chathaoirleach will know, it is provided for that Deputies can make a request of the Ceann Comhairle in that regard. It did not happen there for some reason, but it is going to happen here under my watch. It is important that the Leas-Chathaoirleach read out the memo she has been provided, or should have been provided with, stating why amendments have been ruled out of order. When we look back on these things, we need to have the record straight. It is not a willingness on our part, or necessarily on the part of the Minister, to frustrate it. Rather, it is a process.”
“However, the Minister is honest, and I have to admire that. He laid it out fairly and squarely. There is a challenge in that, though, and he has to do something about it.”
“However, these are students and trainees who cannot afford accommodation. We have an issue there, and I ask the Minister to look at it. I will finish on this point. There are many forms of students. There are students in the academic universities who cannot secure accommodation internally on campus but are using private student accommodation as well as ordinary private accommodation. Student nurses contacted my office yesterday expressing serious concerns. Young trainee members of An Garda Síochána and young people in our Defence Forces are competing for accommodation in the private sector, given not many of them are living on campus as such. That is an issue and a challenge. I ask the Minister to take it on board. The Minister confirmed all of that. I sought out the source of that article and it raises some concerns.”
“The Minister said that too, and I understand that. However, these groups will be subject to regular hikes in rent - that is the reality - and particularly students. It was reported in the Irish Independent on Tuesday that the Minister had said that while measure would be looked at for student-specific accommodation, measures for students in the private market would not be introduced. In the same article, he is also quoted as saying, “We're working out issues around students while working over the bill.” However, he went on to say, “However, in the private rental sector, as it is at the moment, there won't be any special measures put in [place], in terms of the private rental sector [for these people].” That is very disappointing. I know the challenges. I know where the Minister’s hands are tied.”
“Tenancies after March 2026 will be subject to a six-year tenancy agreement and landlords will be allowed to reset the rents on market rates after six years. That is factually correct too. Concerns are being raised in relation to students who rent for a limited period. The Minister knows why there is a limited period for students in respect of renting. They cannot afford to take the long-term rental commitments for the academic year, so it is tied into the academic year in most cases. We have to look at trainee nurses, trainee doctors and young An Garda Síochána recruits. There are difficulties with these professions in the city of Dublin and other parts, so that is a challenge we need to focus on. While we have not red-circled those or particular areas or groups, where do we draw the line?”
“I appreciate that a lot of this is on his head and it is not easy, but it is essential that he meet with the communications strategists in his Department within days to get a really clear line of messages out on that. I am supportive of many aspects of the Bill. We could argue about it being emergency legislation or about what we have been doing for the last few weeks. I am not going down that road but I want to raise the issue of students and the media coverage of what the Minister said with regard to students. The Minister can correct me if I am wrong but students in private rental accommodation will not have any additional protection under this legislation, with regard to new rental market rules. That is simple and factual and has been confirmed.”
“The Minister has a formidable team of Ministers of State around him. I ask him to confirm that their devolved functions have been signed off and they are fully aware of what is expected of them in terms of putting shoulders to the wheel in implementing Government policy. That is really important. I want to pick up on my colleague Senator McCarthy's point about the information deficit. There needs to be an information strategy within the next week or two on how we communicate this message. There are so many mixed messages. People have different agendas and there is a lot of misinformation out there. The Minister is the key driver in terms of his credibility.”
“I welcome the Minister. I do not think I have had the opportunity since he became Minister to welcome him and wish him well. I have served two terms on the Oireachtas joint committee on housing. With regard to Rebuilding Ireland and Housing for All, we have just talked them out. I know there are challenges and difficulties. I am not going to be a hurler on the ditch, hurl abuse and say everyone is failing because they are not. There are so many facets to the whole housing issue and I genuinely wish the Minister well with it. Before I move on to the substantive issue I want to talk about, I ask the Minister to confirm before leaving the Chamber that he has devolved functions to his Ministers of State. The Minister has a big task and challenge. It is about collaboration in policy but it is also about collaboration in his Department.”
“Let us all get our act together and collectively use this House for what it is meant to do, which is to scrutinise legislation for the betterment of the citizens we present.”
“We were promised a full inquiry and I pay credit to the former Senator and Leader of this House Regina Doherty MEP, who pursued the issue exhaustively, but we got no progress. We need to do something about that. On a positive note, I congratulate the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy McEntee, who will be in later, on the education plan for 2025, which was launched today. I ask that we have statements on that. I welcome one aspect of it in particular, namely, the Minister's commitment to the reintroduction of therapeutic services within our school system. This is a really positive move. I have had a brief look at the summary of this document and it is positive. I welcome it and I ask that the Minister come to the House and let us have statements on it. I will finish on this.”
“There are mornings or afternoons where there is nothing going on and somehow nobody can manage to use the time of this Parliament effectively to represent the people and scrutinise legislation. I will leave that alone for now. We will be dealing with the residential institutional abuse Bill later and I know that will not be guillotined. I wish to raise a matter on behalf of Mick Finnegan from the St. John Ambulance brigade. I acknowledge Senator Andrews for his work in championing this issue and raising it in the Seanad recently. Too many survivors have carried the scars of their experiences in silence and been left without justice or closure. The Minister, Deputy Foley, did not come to the House but one of the Ministers of State did.”
“Quite frankly, it is simply not good enough for democratically elected parliamentarians who are ambitious to come in to this revising Chamber, as we saw many months ago, and were competitive in their desire to tell their electorate that they would be involved in reform and legislation to then be told on the back stairs of this place that they do what they are told because they are in government and under a Whip system. That is the reality. I want to put on the record my disappointment at the Government, the powers that be and the functionaries involved in all of this. It is very disappointing that all Stages of a Bill would be guillotined in one day in is meant to be a revising Chamber. We swan around here on days when there is no business or work in this Seanad Chamber.”
“The first issue I want to raise is the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025. The Government has proposed that all Stages of the Bill will be guillotined in this Chamber today, but we do not have to agree with that. It is up to the Members to decide. We are the Upper House and a revising Chamber. We are meant to revise legislation. It was 5 p.m. yesterday when the time for amendments to the Bill closed. This is an important Bill. I will not talk about the substantive issues of the Bill, because it would not be appropriate to do so and we will have time to do so later.”
“The people of Westbank want justice and they want an acknowledgement that what they said and are continuing to say is true. They want to be believed. It is incumbent on us, particularly later today, not to pass the buck but, rather, to take our responsibility seriously and engage with the Minister of State and other Ministers. For us to come in here and keep saying we can do nothing is simply not on. I thank the Minister of State for his time.”
“I thank the Minister of State. The one line that jumps off the page in his official written response is that the Westbank was not generally regarded as a mother and baby home but, rather, as an orphanage. What is the difference? Abuse is abuse. Emotional abuse, physical abuse or sexual abuse in any setting, whether in a State school, this building or anywhere else, is not acceptable and justice has to be done at the end of the day. I welcome and will take up the Minister of State's invitation to collaborate and work together to see what we can do. I was speaking to a person yesterday about this matter who made the poignant observation that rising above the weight of the past is not easy; the past continually elbows its way back into the present. Escaping the memories of horrific abuse is a journey with many turns and indeed many setbacks.”
“On behalf of the Westbank residents, as a conduit and a voice for them, I am calling on the Government to reopen the situation. I believe they have a strong case. I have reviewed all the files in relation to this matter. I have sought external advice. There may be other options that will have to be triggered in the coming days if there is not a favourable response from the Government on the final requests that have been made in the past few days. The Minister of State might be able to enlighten us today on what reliefs or alternatives could be available for the past residents of Westbank.”
“The Minister's compensation scheme made me ineligible for compensation. I will not even get an 'enhanced' medical card, though that is of little benefit where I live in Armagh. […] The Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry (MBHCI) recognised the injustice of denial of redress to Westbank residents. The MBHCI twice called on the government to grant redress to Westbank residents. - The Commission's 2nd Interim Report (2016) stated (section 5.14) that Westbank "should have been included in the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme." - The MBHCI's ... Final Report [in 2020, not that long ago] emphatically restated this position. It said that Westbank was "unfairly excluded from" the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme.”
“However, unfortunately Westbank is excluded from that. For context I will read very briefly from a letter that was addressed to the then Taoiseach, Simon Harris on Monday, 8 April 2024 which I subsequently forwarded to Deputy Roderic O'Gorman who wrote back saying it was not a matter for him but rather Deputy Norma Foley as the then Minister for Education. The letter reads: Congratulations on your election as Taoiseach, scheduled for tomorrow. I rang your office on Tuesday last (2 April). I was asked to write to you to explain the injustice of denial of redress to residents of Westbank orphanage. […] In 2018, Minister Katherine Zappone invited nr to join Collaborative Forum, to advise on compensations arrangements for former mother and baby home residents. I continued in that capacity to advise current minister Roderic O'Gorman.”
“It is an extraordinary situation that I find myself in here as an advocate very regularly advocating around these organisations. I think everyone here will appreciate there is a need to understand and make sense of what happened in anyone’s past, but particularly in relation to Westbank orphanage. Many children came from Northern Ireland into this establishment. There is also a need to learn from the past. We all must learn from the past so that similar things would never happen again as they did in Westbank. There is also the call for collective solidarity which is really important. The former residents of Westbank talk of a desire for justice, compensation and redress. Later we will discuss all those issues in the context of the legislation to wrap up Caranua and put in place some educational and health supports. That is for later.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming here to take this Commencement matter. It relates to Westbank orphanage in Greystones, County Wicklow. I have raised the need for the Minister to explore all options to provide supports and redress for the survivors affected and by persons who availed of its services. This organisation is very well known. This matter has been well documented on current affairs programmes on RTÉ radio and television. Everyone shakes their head and says it is all shocking. You meet people in here day in, day out with so many of these stories. They are all saying it is all terrible yet they are in the heart of power in the corridors of power here and suddenly they are helpless to do anything.”
“It is about collaboration and co-operation with the national strategies. It is about agri-enterprise. We do not use the word "enterprise" enough when we talk about agriculture. Agriculture, like anything else, is a business. There are feed-offs and enterprise opportunities there. I thank Teagasc for its education and training. I commend this booklet that has just come in on Teagasc's research highlights for 2024. There is amazing stuff in there. The Minister of State is familiar - I know because I visited with him - with Galway BIA Innovator. The Innovator programmes are amazing. I look forward to going down in the coming days to look at the next stage of development of the food hub in Athy, County Kildare. It is exciting. All of this feeds into successful global markets. Taking advantage of global markets requires global leadership.”
“It is a huge growing sector, as is the horticultural industry and sector. I have some key words for the Minister of State to take on board, though not necessarily to touch on today. These are the challenges as I see them. These are the tasks and asks that will be critical to the success of his time in this Ministry. They are innovation, sustainability and Origin Green. At the heart of Origin Green is sustainability. I commend Bord Bia on that. Smart farming is really important, as is food safety. We could go on for weeks about Food Vision 2030. We have to track and monitor it. There are systems in place and a dashboard has been introduced, which is a great tool for people tracking and monitoring the success of that. It is about technological advancements in the sector and national strategies.”
“There are opportunities to develop new markets and greater collaboration, research exchange and knowledge transfer. We must never close that door. Sustainability, traceability and quality in Irish food and innovation is something I talked about earlier. That is critical. Our reputation and integrity is the reason people want to buy our produce. We must always keep that to the fore. Bord Bia's work is really important. Bord Bia has a talent academy and it equips many of our graduates with the skill sets to drive growth in the food and drinks sector. The drinks sector is enormous. Whiskey is going through a difficult time but there are many new Irish whiskeys. It is a phenomenal business and one that is particularly pertinent to the American market and investment. I am conscious of Chinese investment in Irish whiskey companies.”
“There have been setbacks in relation to Brexit but there are also options. We are a collective in terms of the European Union in our aspirations and objectives regarding agriculture. We are also members of a collective in negotiations and we cannot be jumping ahead with bilateral arrangements. We are in a union. There will be many challenges next year with the Presidency for Ireland and I foresee great openings in that regard. Let us keep that relationship and dialogue open. I never fail to be impressed when I go to the United Kingdom, particularly Northern Ireland, by the quality of agriculture and food production. There is enormous potential for expansion, greater co-operation and greater synergy through the all-island initiative, which I know the Taoiseach is very much behind.”
“Will the Minister of State touch on that? I acknowledge the Minister, Deputy Heydon's, work and trade missions. He was in Iceland and by all accounts it was a successful trade mission. The fishing sector, which Senator Daly alluded to, is an important part of this. We had IBM in at the fisheries committee yesterday to talk about its strategy, its plan and its performances in 2024 and they were very impressive. We need to continue to be equally ambitious. The Minister of State mentioned comprehensive dialogue with the USA. I fully agree. We have to have dialogue and meaningful engagement with anybody who wants to engage with and buy our produce. I wish the Minister of State well in that. We have to keep an open door towards our closest trading neighbour and partner, the United Kingdom. Within that, there is vast potential.”
“There are really progressive and ambitious targets to address the challenges around peat in the horticulture sector for soft fruits, flowers and ornamentals, although it is primarily an issue for the mushroom sector. I wish Teagasc well in that. The Minister of State talked about the Department of agriculture counsellors and attachés. If he has time, I would like him to expand on that. What are his plans because this is a critical link? It is about people on the ground in the countries that matter to us. The Minister of State led a trade mission to Vietnam. It is clear that we and the Minister of State have more work to do to open up pathways for the beef trade because there are challenges in Cambodia and Vietnam and right across Asia as regards meat, including pork. They are exciting. We have to be ambitious and tap in to that.”
“I cannot let this opportunity to go without commending our mushrooms. Over 90% of our mushrooms are exported. Our mushrooms are going out to Paris within days of being picked. Irish-produced mushrooms are going to London to Sainsburys and all of the other stores. It has not been easy at a time when there are controversial issues in respect of peat and challenges in respect of the growing medium for mushrooms. I commend Teagasc on the very significant work it has done and for the pilot schemes and research. Senator Paul Daly and I have gone to Monaghan and Ashtown to see the mushrooms. We have seen some of the trials run by Teagasc.”
“Our reputation is vitally important if we are to keep these standards. That is what people ask for. It is really unique. Our grass-based production and traceability systems are known the world over. We must pride ourselves on those systems and defend and protect them at all costs. There are many who challenge our grass-based system. There are many who detract from it but it is what the international market wants and it is what it respects. Traceability and integrity around food are vital and contribute greatly to the success of our agriculture industry. I talked about collaboration and the Minister of State touched on Bord Bia. I will take this opportunity to salute Bord Bia. Anyone who was at Bloom will have seen the showcasing of artisan and local food and small, medium and large food enterprises.”
“The Minister of State touched on the attachés in his speech. What are our plans for more of that because trade missions are critical? Last week, we heard about the Minister coming back from Japan. The other day, I spoke about the success of that trip at the fisheries committee. The Minister of State was in Cambodia and Vietnam in March. That is really important. We have to continue to go out and sell. We cannot sit on our laurels but 90% of our beef, sheep meat and dairy products are destined for international markets and that has to be commended. As the Minister of State has said, dairy remains our largest export category, followed by beef. Who does not love Irish beef or, for that matter, Irish dairy products? Quality is important but what is also important is our reputation, which the Minister of State mentioned.”
“In his opening statement, the Minister of State made reference to the latest CSO figures, which I think relate to 2024. These show Irish food exports now reaching a record value of €19.15 billion. What a fantastic story and achievement that is. We do not celebrate or talk about that enough. That €19.15 billion confirmed by the CSO is a real stand-out figure. I salute all the people involved in that. It is not an easy task. It requires great effort, collaboration and co-ordination. As we know, approximately 90% of our beef, sheep meat and dairy products are destined for international markets. What does that tell us? International markets are critical. Our food attachés, ambassadors, counsellors and embassies are gates that can be opened and represent opportunities that can be taken.”
“The Minister of State has great experience in agriculture but also in rural communities. It is really important that someone in such a role has that background in rural communities and in the marginal agricultural land within rural communities the Minister of State knows so well. The Taoiseach's choice in appointing the Minister of State to this portfolio was timely and it is exceptionally welcome. I wish him well. As the Minister of State knows, the agriculture and food sector is actively pursuing a transition towards more sustainable and technologically advanced food systems. That is critical to the development of sustainable food and food practices. This involves embracing smart farming solutions, enhancing food safety standards and fostering greater collaboration across all aspects of the agricultural sector.”
“I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, to the Seanad today. We go back a hell of a long time. I will not tell anyone here but we have known each other for many years and we have soldiered together on many things in politics. I very much look forward to engaging with him today on all aspects of his brief. As he has said, his brief is primarily focused on food production, new markets, and research and development at the Department of agriculture. He has a very formidable team up there. As a member of the Oireachtas joint committee for the last five years, I know of the work of Department officials and I know the importance of collaboration and working together with them. We will have our challenges but it is important that we work together with the team there. I wish them all very well.”
“It will be interesting to see when phase 2 is actually starting. Is this another one of these phases that will be sitting there for another 12 months? However, I appreciate that the Minister of State will take this back to the Department. I will continue to talk to the public representatives this afternoon, and I will certainly be asking them, because there is time on their side, to politically mobilise and get commitments.”
“One of the great benefits of a Commencement matter is that you now have it on the record. This is not an encouraging day from the Government to the community of Stepaside and this Montessori school, but I welcome and thank the Minister of State for at least agreeing to take this back. We have county childcare committees, of course, but, come hell or high water, these people want a place for their children. There are parents listening in this morning who will be contacting their employers to say they may be taking career breaks because they cannot put their two- and three-year-olds into support. That is a pity because there has been a positive partnership between the existing primary school on site and this. I want to make it clear here, on the record, that we do not want to stop phase 2.”
“As the Minister of State was reading, I was going through his reply line by line, and with the last line I wondered if we were talking about the same place at all. The last line states that "Mountainside Montessori should consider all other options available to it". It is not very encouraging for a Government policy that is encouraging them. However, what this does, and this is what I always say about these things, is that it puts it on the record, so there is no talking out of both sides of people's mouths in the constituency about what is actually happening. I will circulate this to the media today and to all politicians and councillors in that constituency and let them advocate for the people. I do not even live in this constituency, but it is important.”
“I hope the Department will commit to that. It needs to do something. We will of course hear pronouncements and condemnations by TDs across all parties and none in the next few weeks, but we now have time on our side to do something.”
“The correspondence states: I wish to advise that the Department of Education has instructed us that any existing rental agreement should not be renewed, and no other rental agreement should be entered into for the interim accommodation on the Stepaside ETSS school site [That is the Educate Together site]. The Department is currently reviewing accommodation requirements for the Stepaside ETSS to establish which units will be retained [these are the prefabricated units] and what will need to be removed to facilitate the construction of phase 2 of the school-building project. In essence, those involved - all of the children and all of the parents - are anxious and need an interim facility. All that is being sought is the use of empty prefabs on a school site for less than 12 months, from September this year to next June.”
“It has been brought to my attention that there are a number of prefabs vacant at Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School, which is very close to Holy Trinity and would be perfect for Montessori use under an agreed licence and subject to any terms and conditions required by Tusla. It is approved by Tusla and is compliant with all the regulations, so that is not an issue. Clearly, this is about resources. I am talking about an interim measure for the next year. We, or the Government and TDs in that constituency, will have a problem on their hands on 1 September. I have seen correspondence from the Department of Education and Youth, which I had hoped to put to the Minister today, but she is not here. This is from the principal.”
“They have been raised with the county childcare committee, which has engaged with Mountainside looking at various options, but nothing has been delivered. Effectively, having received notice from Holy Trinity National School in 2024 that its space would now be utilised and would no longer be available to the preschool, the preschool has not been successful in securing an alternative. Families affected by the cessation of Mountainside Montessori are very anxious about where their children will go in September. This is a reasonable, accessible and inclusive Montessori service in Stepaside, an area that is growing significantly. Working parents are now thinking about possibly having to pull out of work. They do not know where their children will be going on 1 September, which is a disappointment.”
“It is fully committed to offering equal access to all children and families and is inclusive of gender, civil status, religion, age, race, disability, family and membership of the Traveller community. It offers an open-door policy at all times throughout the school year and encourages close collaboration and partnership with the parents and guardians of the children. Mountainside operates the ECCE scheme, which offers up to two years for preschool education three hours per day to children under the age of two years and eight months. It opens from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday to Friday. Most of the children there follow on to Holy Trinity National School, which is on the same site, and the Montessori follows that school's calendar. The community section of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is fully aware of the issues.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. I spoke to the Minister for Education and Youth yesterday outside the Seanad and she indicated that she hoped to be here for this Commencement matter but, clearly, she is unable to attend. I am sorry about that but I thank and welcome the Minister of State for agreeing to step in. I acknowledge that it is not his Department but I will set out the case as I understand it to be. I was contacted by the independent councillor Michael Fleming from Stepaside in Dublin who asked me to meet the parents of Mountainside Montessori in Stepaside, County Dublin. I also met the management of the Montessori. Mountainside Montessori at Holy Trinity National School is an inclusive preschool provider.”
“We are a revising Chamber and it is up to us to consider all additional issues and to revise legislation if we think it is relevant, supportive and in line with the amendments we have. I thank the Minister of State for his time today. I do not doubt his commitment. I have yet to see and hear the full explanation for the support and I hope it will be forthcoming. I assure my colleagues in the Civil Engagement Group that they have my full support for each and every amendment they are tabling today.”
“Even though political party colleagues were supportive of the Bill then, it is important that we can continue to have that support. If there has been any change since the previous Minister of State was in the House, we would need to understand that and the rationale to be clearly set out for our consideration. I hope that we can address all of these outstanding issues and overcome the challenges the Minister of State might envisage, or his advisers might anticipate or suggest, bringing to the attention of the House. The Seanad was set up to be a revising House. That is our function. We are not a rubber stamp for legislation that falls up to us from the Lower House.”
“In the previous Seanad, the Minister of State's predecessor said there were significant legal and technical issues that needed to be addressed. What has changed since then? I listened to the Minister of State's introduction where he said he would consider them. He has not actually confirmed to the House yet, as he had not had the opportunity yet, his position on each and every one of the 43 amendments. I am supportive of all the amendments, I want to be clear about that. Through the parliamentary process, though, we need to understand the Minister of State's view on them or his intention in respect of them. He talked about unintended consequences. He has to be afforded the opportunity to set out his stall to this House, where we are considering this important legislation.”
“To describe child sexual abuse material as pornography is outdated, clearly, and does not reflect its nature, which is ultimately abusive. I understand the Bill is based on the Luxembourg guidelines, which were devised by 18 international organisations, including Interpol, Europol and multiple UN organisations. The Minister of State will be aware of that, and it is critical when discussing this legislation in the Irish context. The principle of the Bill is also supported by the Irish Rape Crisis Centre, which wants existing prosecutions to be upheld and for those convicted under the existing legislation to be subject to the same requirements. The Civil Engagement Group's amendments address these concerns.”
“I thank Senators Flynn, Black, Higgins and Ruane for this important legislation. They have been pursuing it for a long time. I also welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House. Section 1 broadly covers the Bill, so it is quite convenient to cover more or less anything in the Bill when we speak to this section. I commend my colleagues in the Civil Engagement Group for introducing the Bill, which replaces the term "child pornography" in legislation with the term "child sexual abuse material", CSAM. Likewise, it replaces all mentions of "child trafficking and pornography" with the term "child trafficking and child sexual abuse material". The Minister of State was right in his introduction that words mattered.”
“I am trying to be helpful. For clarification, my understanding is that there is one amendment at a time, so there is only one live amendment. The Senator may wish to move it, and if it is agreed, then we go onto the next one and we take them one by one because some people may wish to speak. I have no difficulty with that. Only one amendment is live on the floor at any one time. Would that be the Cathaoirleach's ruling?”
“Let us not tie ourselves up in any more words or more sheets of legislation but commit to a working agenda with Sage Advocacy and the great advocate Patricia Carey and help people, most of whom are now in their 70s, to finish their last days with the dignity, respect, love and affection they should have had long ago. If we do that, we can put our hands on our hearts and say we are really repentant and that we will do something for these people to ensure their last days in this life have a little comfort, the comfort they rightly deserve.”
“We have the necessary documentation about these reports. SmithKline and the Wellcome Foundation were involved. It has all been documented. We must give the people who were impacted justice. A former Minister, Mr. Alan Shatter, spoke to me at the time and talked about the right to bodily integrity enshrined in our Constitution. We owe it to the people, to the children and their families. They were used without parental consent. No one seems to know under what loco parentis they stood. They were used as guinea pigs for vaccines. It was wholly wrong and it must be revisited. I will finish on that. I thank the Minister for her time. I want us to work together on practical measures.”
“There are the children who were born to multiracial families that were away and then - the Cathaoirleach has great commitment on this - the forgotten Irish, the Irish walking the streets of London, Birmingham, Liverpool and further afield who have no place to come back to. Ireland is a very different place now, thankfully. They need help. In fairness to our ambassador in London, amazing work is going on. I urge the Minister to reach out to the existing agencies and support these people. We have never addressed the issue of the drug trials. I lived in an institution where drug trials took place. There is no dispute over it. Micheál Martin spoke at great length in both Houses about this. Drug trials were carried out on children in this State and no compensation has been given. It is accepted that it happened.”