I wish to object to the Order of Business, namely, the proposal that No. 1 be concluded rather than adjourned. To take Committee and all Remaining Stages of the Bill today is an insult to the House, given that it is such important legislation. I also want to raise the issue of crime.

Are you moving an amendment to the Order of Business, Senator?

I am proposing an amendment to the Order of Business.

That the Bill be adjourned rather than concluded-----

I move: "That No. 1 be adjourned and not concluded."

Thank you.

Prison numbers in our country at this time have hit 5,000. Many of our 14 prisons are overcrowded. We talk about crime here every day, including judges making the wrong decision in respect of crime, but perhaps they make those decisions because there is nowhere to send people. We need places to send people. At this time, there are 469 people without bed spaces in prisons. Limerick's female prison is the most overcrowded prison in the country. We had a site to build a super prison in Thornton Hall. In May, it was announced that 30 acres on that site would be allocated from the Department of Justice to the Department of integration. I have since found out that is not going to happen because there is a problem with the lease. We do not know when it is going to happen.

We need an urgent debate on the location of refugee centres. Community engagement is important. The community has protested at the Thornton Hall site for the past five weeks. If there is an issue with the lease, the Ministers are keeping everybody in the dark which is not good enough. That is not what community engagement is about. If people want community leaders to work with the Department, they have to give us the information. I believe the lease is nowhere near ready to go. I ask for some engagement on that. Arrogance, incompetence and ignorance are the personality traits of this Government. It is simply not good enough. The Minister and Department need to come in here and talk to us about this.

I thank Irish Business Against Litter for telling us what we already know, namely, that Dublin city has become more littered and dirty. The capital was the fourth most littered area surveyed and is less clean than it was last year. It is the fourth survey in a row in which Dublin city has grown worse.

To be honest, there are days when I cannot believe my eyes when I pass streets and alleyways. Even on main thoroughfares very close to this House, there is a pervading smell of wee or weed. Dublin West stretches across two county council areas, Fingal and Dublin City Councils. They meet at the Halfway House pub in Ashtown. The councils are streets apart in terms of cleanliness, responsiveness to emptying bins and addressing weeds and overgrowth. I commend the new political grouping of Dublin city councillors that acknowledged this and pledged to get Dublin City Council back to basics. However, I suggest that this is not just a budgetary issue; it is a structural issue.

It can be very hard to navigate and access the services of Dublin City Council as a member or a public representative. The Taoiseach announced a task force on making Dublin a more thriving, attractive and safe cityscape and a desirable location in which to live, work and do business. We all know how urgent that is, especially given the most recent attacks in the Phoenix Park and on a Canadian tourist. It is important that we show that we are willing to break through officialdom to make this change.

We need reform. I remember standing in the House and saying that Covid had changed the city and we needed a new vision and strategy. We do not have the same footfall in the city; we have a different type of footfall. The city has to adapt. It was an opportunity to make changes and I do not think the leadership on the official side of Dublin City Council was there at the time. We need that leadership now. I appeal for a debate on this issue.

I second the amendment proposed by Senator Keogan on the Order of Business. Whereas I do not share many of the views expressed in this House on in vitro fertilisation and some aspects of surrogacy that some of the people in my group hold, it is important that we have a constructive debate. There should be no emotion, just simple discussion, because there are serious issues involved.

I received an email from Senator Mullen which raised an issue we should think about further. Will a single male person be in a position to enter into a surrogacy contract and have a child by surrogacy in circumstances where that person would not be considered a suitable person to adopt a child? That is a fundamental question. We are walking straight into that without considering the implications carefully.

Surrogacy is justifiable. As I said on previous occasions, I was involved in the only case concerning surrogacy which appeared in the Supreme Court and which was decided on other matters. Curtailing this debate without carefully thinking through all of the implications of what we are doing is wrong. The Bill would benefit from detailed consideration. It would be improved if we all listened to each other in a dispassionate and less emotional way.

I want to raise an issue that has not received much attention in Ireland, namely, the aggression of China in respect of the international waters around it, specifically the Second Thomas Shoal, which is an area of natural resources within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. This is not something I am asserting; it has been established by the arbitral tribunal established by the United Nations. When the tribunal was asked about this in 2016, it made it very clear where the Second Thomas Shoal lay in terms of the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. There is no doubt in international law about where the rights lie.

Yet, in recent weeks we have seen an aggression by China in respect of the Philippine navy in that area. Only for the restraint and good judgment of the Philippine navy was a conflict not sparked as a result. We see China's aggression towards Taiwan and how its navy is constantly carrying out what it refers to as exercises in Taiwanese waters.

China has, of course, a right to establish its own national territory. I know the Chinese policy relating to one China is what it believes, but China must also, if it purports to be a member of the international community, behave in a responsible way. It is irresponsible to try to spark a conflict with another country. Whatever about Taiwan, which I believe is a separate country and democratically entitled to self-determination, the Philippines is internationally recognised as such and there is no doubt about that.

China needs to think very carefully about its dealings with its neighbouring countries in terms of its aggression, bullying and the way its military forces are behaving. This House should also make it clear what we believe in that regard. I encourage the House to have a debate on these specific issues and call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to make Ireland's position clear.