Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join Senators in commending the project in Meath and other environmental initiatives being taken by companies around the country.

With regard to the €800 million which Ireland will receive from Europe for recovery and resilience, the focus of which is on green projects and digitalisation programmes, Ireland is quite unusual in having gone directly to Europe. European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted at the weekend that she had received Ireland's recovery and resilience strategy without it ever having been debated in the Oireachtas and without the input of good ideas from all sides. While it would be somewhat later than it should have been, I ask for a discussion on the recovery and resilience strategy and the good ideas on digitalisation and the environment from across the House.

I will formally second the Employment Equality (Amendment) (Non-Disclosure Agreements) Bill 2021 later. I am delighted to co-sponsor and support this initiative by my colleague, Senator Ruane. What is important about this is that it moves from an individual justice point, which is key, to the kind of systemic change we want to see. We know from the #MeToo movement and all of the different sectoral storytelling we have seen that it is when we lay stories alongside each other that we see the kinds of systemic changes we need in society. It is difficult for people who have gone through harassment and abuse when they are pressed into signing non-disclosure agreements, which mean they will potentially see the same patterns of behaviour happen to others. It causes many people great distress to feel they cannot help others by taking actions and those who have had experiences of fear then have the fear that they may breach a non-disclosure agreement inadvertently or, indeed, in the interests of justice. This is an issue in the higher education area but it also, as the research from my colleague has shown, cuts right across many areas of Irish society. I commend the Bill to the House.