After debating the Wildlife Bill for 12 hours in the Seanad, Senator Higgins was happy to report last-minute wins in two areas. Senator Higgins succeeded in persuading the Minister to accept her amendment which requires a report to be produced on the condition, restoration and rewetting potential of ALL blanket bog National Heritage Areas before any order to remove protection of these bogs can be made. Which means no golf course or other ill-conceived developments in these National Heritage Areas for the foreseeable future. The Minister also accepted Senator Higgins' amendment to require a report on how turbury (peat cutting) rights operate – to include recommendations on a definition of ‘household use’ – important not only in terms of climate action but also a just transition.
A Cross-party group of Senators and TDs wrote to Facebook Ireland to request that the social media platform roll-out their new transparency features in Ireland in advance of the referendum on the 8th amendment on May 25th.
"We are closer to being a republic that not only respects and trusts women but one which women can trust and which they know they can shape."
On the eve of the centenary of the first women's suffrage in Ireland, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 passed through all stages of the Oireachtas.
