Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 17 be taken before No. 1. This concerns the Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024, which will revolutionise the situation for disabled citizens in the State who cannot get the services, supports, therapies and surgeries they need. It would take control away from the HSE and put it into the hands of disabled citizens and carers. I thank my colleagues in Seanad Éireann for signing the Bill, co-sponsoring it and supporting me. I got support from across the House from almost 30 of the 60 Senators, from all political parties, including my colleagues in Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, the Seanad Independent Group, the Civic Engagement Group, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. This legislation will bring us into the 21st century. We are 30 years behind the rest of the European Union and the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Bill is based on every bit of research and consultation that this Government and previous Governments have done with disabled persons' organisations right up to and including the disability action plan launched by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, before Christmas. I am delighted to introduce it. I understand Senator Lynn Ruane will second the amendment. The Bill is of huge significance to me as a parent and a carer, and I really appreciate that support from my Trinity College Dublin colleague.

I also want to raise the situation that confronts our troops in Lebanon. I have been writing in The Guardian and have been interviewed in the Financial Times and Der Spiegel. It is recognised internationally that our troops are in a very dangerous moment. They are not safe and are in harm’s way. Benjamin Netanyahu, with his words demanding that UNIFIL evacuate from south Lebanon, is using the same language he used to threaten Gazans and the Lebanese in the villages there with imminent death. This signals to me that it is not just a local, spontaneous decision by commanders on the ground to open fire on the UN but it is Netanyahu’s political and military strategy. We need to apply pressure. The United Nations 50-nation coalition in Lebanon cannot be forced out of that country at gunpoint by Benjamin Netanyahu. It speaks to the heart of the rules-based international order and the integrity and authority of the United Nations.

I ask that when our troops return in November, we have a civic reception for them. We welcome home our Paralympians, Olympians and soccer teams, and rightly so. We should do the same and recognise the service of these young men and women, some of whom are teenagers of 19 years of age. They are putting their lives on the line in the cause of peace to help save the lives of those Lebanese men, women and children who have not been able to evacuate or flee. Blessed are the peacekeepers. I hope we can have a civic reception for them. Perhaps we might invite the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to the House to discuss that.