Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that only Committee Stage of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill 2017 be taken today on the basis that while we are broadly supportive of the Bill, we would like to see much more meaningful engagement with stakeholders.

At 11 a.m. an announcement will be made and 17 former British soldiers will hear whether they are to be prosecuted for opening fire on Bloody Sunday. We know that 14 innocent unarmed civil rights protesters were killed on that day. I hope that today the families of those victims get the justice they deserve. In my eyes, murder is murder and there is no way it can be hidden or that it falls under any other act. The Saville inquiry confirmed the troops were sent to the Bogside and that they killed peaceful protesters. This was one of the darkest days of our troubled history and I hope the families of the victims are happy with the determination made today. All eyes will be watching what happens and the decision made by the Crown Prosecution Service.

I commend students throughout the country who will be striking tomorrow to demand action on climate change. This is being done because we have delayed. As politicians, we are not doing our best to ensure there is a reversal of the disastrous effects of climate change. The global strike tomorrow was started by a Swedish 16 year old schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, who began protesting outside her parliament in Sweden last August. We will not be thanked for our failures and history will judge us poorly on our inaction. I support the schoolchildren throughout the country. We should do more in the Seanad. We should have another debate on climate action and perhaps there are small steps we can take to improve the situation and reverse the damaging effects of climate change.