Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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There are a number of petitions before us. Members have had a chance to consider them. I understand it is in order for me to read out the title of the petitions, if that is okay.

The first petition, P00006/25, is to give practical application to the right not to attend religious instruction in school. It was submitted by Atheist Ireland. Do members have views on the petition? The proposal is that we will forward the correspondence from the petitioner to the Department of Education and Youth and request that it comment within 14 days. Is that agreed? Agreed.

P00007/25 involves a call to ban election posters in Ireland. It was submitted by Mr. Evin Conway. The proposal is that we consider all of the previous documents that have been submitted in this regard and include the petition for discussion at a later date. Is that agreed? Agreed. We also have correspondence from the petitioner. The proposal is that we forward this to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for comment within 14 days. That will give us some information on the position of the Department and help us to do our work. Is that agreed? Agreed.

P00014/25 relates to reform of the Irish laws on pet theft. It was submitted by Ms Lisa O'Connor. We want to join this with the correspondence previously submitted. The petition will be held over. Do members agree with the proposal to join the correspondence?

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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That petition is particularly important for me.

The state of dog and animal welfare in Ireland is lamentable. This needs to be tackled. This would be one way of doing it.

In the context of the petition, Lisa O'Connor has done a lot of work in this area. During the pandemic, there was a situation where stolen dogs were probably more lucrative than drug transportation. This matter is really important. I do not think anybody could equate a stolen mobile with a stolen family pet. It would be important and a good time to deal with this because people are increasingly conscious of the poor treatment of animals and of the position regarding dog welfare in Ireland. It would be important if the petitioner could be heard at some point this year, if that is possible.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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Absolutely. I commend Senator Andrews and others on the work they do regarding animal welfare. I do not think anyone would disagree that we do not have a great record on legislating to protect animals that are essentially a part of our family in a way that, as the Senator rightly pointed out, a mobile phone is not. It would be in order. In light of that, I will ask the secretariat if we can schedule a hearing to take place for definite this year. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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P00015/25 was submitted by Mr. Frank Moran. It concerns legislation relating to pensions and social security to ensure the entitlement of same-sex couples to benefit from occupational pension schemes. This is a very worthy petition. I also note that the bereaved partners legislation is making its way through the social protection committee and will be before the Dáil and hopefully dealt with before the end of this term. It would be timely to consider this petition if the committee is in agreement. I ask the secretariat to get us ready for it.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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The Chair is right. In light of what is going through other committees at the moment, this is vital for people who have been affected by the way pensions have been for same-sex couples compared with heterosexual couples or whomever. The timing is good. It is very important for the new members of the committee to get a feel for the real-life stories of how people have been treated and how that affects them. I would be delighted to see that come back to the committee again.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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We can all agree on that. Is the proposal agreed? Agreed.

That concludes our consideration of public petitions for this afternoon. I invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal, which is available at petitions.oireachtas.ie. I also invite members of the committee to circulate that within their party structures and to constituents, as appropriate. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or an issue of public policy.

Is there any other business? Aon ghnó eile ar bith?

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the committee, the secretariat and the case workers. We are presented with summaries. As we have seen from one of the documents, there are 26 or 27 pages of stuff to go through. This work is absolutely phenomenal.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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On my behalf, as Chair, and on behalf of every other member of the committee, I thank the secretariat. What people do not see is all of the hard work that goes on in the background. As a committee, we very grateful for the secretariat's work.

We will adjourn until 11 a.m. on Tuesday, 8 July 2025, when we will meet in both private and public session.