Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste. This is a very important issue for us. Last December we lost the chairperson of our youth wing, Mr. Cormac Ó Braonáin. He was an amazing young man whose many talents had a huge impact on all of us in the Labour Party and further afield. His number one political objective was to ensure that children born to people not from this State or without citizenship would have this pathway. We all know the way our country has dealt with direct provision. We all know that there are children in direct provision whose home is Ireland. We all know that the longer this goes on, the more cases we will have.

Given our experience with Covid-19 and the time we have been given to breathe and to analyse, now is the time to deal with this issue. In light of the Tánaiste's very welcome comments about working with the Labour Party, I ask him to look at the legislation we have introduced to the Seanad and support it. Senator Ivana Bacik is very well versed in this area. We would really welcome that so that we could bring it forward to the Dáil. I am sure my colleagues in the Dáil would support it too.

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