Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Bacik's amendment to introduce the reproductive health leave Bill to the Order Paper.

In early 2020, under the previous Government, Dr. Conor O'Mahony was asked to undertake a review of LGBTQ parental rights. This review of legal rights after surrogacy and other methods of assisted human reproduction by the special rapporteur for child protection, Dr. Conor O'Mahony, was completed and given to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, on 11 December 2020. It has to be approved by the Cabinet before it can be published. That has not happened yet, however. In contrast to this, Dr. Conor O'Mahony's annual report on child protection was approved and published in quite a short period.

The immediate priority of LGBTQ family rights campaigning groups, like Equality for Children, is to see the review published so they can read and respond to it. LGBT Ireland, in consultation with LGBT families, has proposals for how this Bill could ensure legislative protection for all families. It is vital the Cabinet approves the publishing of this report in order that families affected can review and respond to it. Will the Leader engage with her Cabinet colleagues to get this review published?

The second issue I wish to raise is the impact of the Covid crisis on the mental health of students in third level and further education. It follows on from what Senator Gallagher spoke about. There are students who have now spent practically a year learning and studying from home. There are people who started college this year who have never set foot inside their college campus. We all know about the digital divide and the impact this is having on students' learning experience. The impact of Covid-19 on students' development and learning has undoubtedly been immense.

Will the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and his Department, in consultation with other stakeholders, conduct a survey of the impact of Covid-19 on post second-level students? It would be important for the Minister to get the full picture of the impact that the Covid crisis has had on students' well-being and learning. Without an understanding of this, it will be hard for the Government to adequately respond. I will be writing to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, on this issue but I wanted to flag it here today, as we need to have a conversation about the well-being of third level students and the impact Covid-19 has had on them.