I am delighted to welcome the Minister of State back today. He has outlined important legislation. He touched on two parts that I think are of the utmost importance. First is the part pertaining to online issues. How matters are reported online and associated disinformation happens has to have some sort of filter or safeguard. That is an important part which the Minister of State has hinted at. He also mentioned the national media, the priority, and the guarantees to our national media. It is something else that we…

Next Tuesday.

Next Tuesday.

Next Tuesday at 2.30 p.m.

I refer to the local democracy task force established by the Minister, Deputy Browne, which is looking at recommendations on supports and boundaries. The biggest issue is to do with the role of councillors. Most Members of this Houses were councillors for quite a while. The roles and powers of councillors certainly have diminished in recent years. They could achieve a lot more as elected representatives instead of having some faceless civil servant or whoever else making particular decisions. Councillors put their …

I have been in the Seanad for about ten years. To speak to something the Minister of State said, this has been on our radar for the past seven or eight years. The guys over there have been talking about it a lot more than I have. While we are here to fully implement the legislation, the agreement has been in use for seven or eight years. We have been talking about a lot of figures here. What has been the upside for the economy? Can the Minister of State give us figures in that regard? Can he just give us a couple o…

Are you the Chair?

On a point of order-----

As a father of young children, I want that man to withdraw that remark.

He did not address what you said.

He is not standing over what he said.

He has not addressed what he is saying.

He should know the difference between UK beef and Brazilian beef.

I am the father of two kids getting school meals and I want to know should I not do the school meals any more.

I want to know should I ask my kids school meals-----

I am delighted to see the Minister back here again today. He is here nearly every week. The legislation he is bringing to us is very comprehensive. As the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers is evidently going to be hands-on in implementing it. I am curious about how he sees that working. Will he put some meat on the bones that he has shown to us here today? For argument's sake, let us say a key project is envisaged, whether a bridge, water supply infrastructure or whatever else. While it already happe…

Go raibh maith agat. I can see the smile on the face of the former Senator and Minister of State. Waterford is going well again, so he has something to shout about. The county will have a difficult weekend ahead of it, but I have faith in it. I have a proposal. I recently heard an Teachta Geoghegan mentioning more security surveillance in towns and cities and all this type of stuff. It is quite a noble idea and I can see where he is coming from, but possibly a more pertinent way to do this would be to provide a gra…

I am also delighted to welcome the Minister of State here. We served shoulder to shoulder here in the Seanad for many years. It is quite fitting that he is here in the Upper House today. I met an old adversary of his, Terry Leyden, in the corridors today. I well remember those two colossuses of politics clashing here in the Upper House, usually on the topic of Roscommon hospital if my memory serves me right. They had several heated debates here. I was remembering them with a wry smile when the Minister of State cam…

I move: That Seanad Éireann: notes: - the publication of the Government’s Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan; - that major strategic infrastructure projects are now taking significantly longer to plan and deliver than in previous decades, with delivery timelines in some sectors having doubled; - the evidence within the report that delays in the delivery of critical infrastructure including water, energy and transport are acting as constraints on housing delivery, balanced regional development, econo…

I commend Senator Flynn. It sounds like very logical legislation. I am sure our Leader and Deputy Leader will have an interesting conversation with the Senator. Today, I bring up a topic that is seldom discussed. It might not apply to the Leader or the Cathaoirleach just yet but it is about men's health and a national men's health check from 40 years of age onwards. Our compatriots across the water have a system in place whereby men in the UK between the ages of 40 and 76, without existing conditions, are entitled …