Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the Tánaiste is open to assigning Dáil time to a debate on the findings of the report. It would be a very useful discussion to have. Try as she might to soften their edges, the findings are shocking, particularly in regard to child poverty and poverty in families headed by single parents. There is probably nothing very new in those findings but they are shocking nonetheless particularly as the Tánaiste proposes to increase the burden on single parent homes in the near future.

When can the House expect to see the consolidated domestic violence legislation? In terms of the findings and outcomes of the Constitutional Convention, we have raised repeatedly with the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach the huge disappointment that having heralded the convention as a significant initiative of reform, the Government is now indifferent to the deliberations of the citizen participants in particular. It is clear now that we will not see the range of issues discussed and decided on brought to referendum. It appears we may not even see Dáil debates on the full range of issues. If we are to see those debates, can the Tánaiste tell us when they will happen?

The Government has published legislation on the issue of amendment of the voting age and the removal of the blasphemy provision, which I see in the new legislative programme. Does the Government intend to publish legislation on the outstanding Constitutional Convention commitments? I refer in particular to gender equality, the women-in-the-home clause, extending the right to vote in presidential elections to citizens resident outside the State, and on enshrining full economic, social and cultural rights.

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