Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not be distracted by the Leader. The children's families are wondering. Money can be found for so many different things, so why must they have to watch their children shut down in this manner? There will be another opportunity to meet these families on Thursday when they come to protest outside Leinster House. I urge everyone, including parents with perfectly healthy children, to come along and support them in their fight for Spinraza.

I wish to refer to last night's "Claire Byrne Live" special on Clodagh Hawe and her sons, Liam, Niall and Ryan, who were killed by her husband and their father, Alan Hawe, in August 2016. I am certain that everyone across the House supports the call for an inquiry that will tell her family the truth. For me, it was the ultimate manifestation of the power and control that prevail in domestic violence situations. I call again for the House to support an all-island strategy on domestic violence. We must work together across the island to make homes safer for women, children and men. I welcome the legislation that was enacted late last year, but we need to do much more.