An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-21 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I concur with what Senator Gallagher said. I sit on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food and these issues are debated weekly, but I think there are good reasons for it. Certainly, within the European Union, it makes sense that we do business. That is just a general comment. I would welcome a debate in this House, but I think there are many reasons for this situation. We advocate for trade and competition, of course, and therefore we must engage with competition, certainly within the member states. I thank the Leader's office for facilitating additional time this afternoon for the debate on the Government’s package of fuel supports. It is worthy of debate. I thank the Leader and the Leader's office for being open to extending the period for the debate, given the measure of interest in this topic outside these Houses. I convey my thanks for that and I look forward to engaging with the topic. Additional supports of €100 million have been provided specifically for farmers, fishers, foresters, etc. That is important. We will have that debate later and I acknowledge that. I was in Galway the week before last in the context of the forthcoming by-election. I want to speak about something I have been talking about for all the years I have been in the Seanad, which is the publication of rural housing guidelines. Today, however, the Cabinet is talking about modular housing, an idea dreamt up less than 12 months ago. We now have a circular today on issues relating to that. Everyone in this House from a rural area has spoken about it, whether it is Senators from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, but somehow it is falling on deaf ears. No one is listening. No Minister will come in here and give us a commitment. All we are asking is that a draft copy of the rural housing guidelines be published. I will revisit this matter tomorrow. It is a big issue for everyone on the doors in Galway, but it should be everywhere. It is time we stopped talking out of both sides of our mouths and got clarity on what is the Government's intention in respect of this matter. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-21