I ask Senator Ó Donnghaile not to compare me to Arlene Foster. We are bad enough but I am from a different gene pool. I thank our former colleague, Pádraig Ó Céidigh, for all the great work that he has done on this legislation. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne. I am surprised by the remarks made by Senator Mullen because only for the good work done by the Minister of State, this Bill would not be here today. I am very disappointed.

Senator Mullen is here and he has spoken. I do not know if Goldilocks was in his bed when he went home last night and ate his porridge this morning because he has been in a bad humour since he came in. I am disappointed with the reaction to the Minister of State and the work done by him. Without that, this Bill would not be here, so I take exception to what has been said.

I take exception to what has been said.

To get back to the Bill and the amendments, I firmly feel this is a worthwhile Bill and I will certainly back it.

I raise a matter on which the Cathaoirleach has worked hard for some years. In the eight years since I became a member of the executive of the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, I have met umpteen Ministers and civil servants to discuss councillors' remuneration and conditions. I am delighted that the revised Moorhead report, on which considerable work was done, was approved at Cabinet today. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has primary responsibility for the matter. I compliment the members of …

I welcome our re-elected Senators, Senator Maria Byrne and, particularly, Senator Horkan. Senator Horkan has been a good friend and ally of mine over the years and I am delighted for him to be able to represent the people again and give us an Oireachtas Member in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area. The push is on to get him into the Dáil. It is a cornerstone of his campaign to get elected here. I would be delighted to be his campaign manager and get him into the Dáil. I will do all in my power through my connections t…

On a serious note, well done. It is a great honour. All the talk was about splits in the Government and that they were not talking or getting on but the facts are in the votes. Maybe some journalists should study the facts in relation to this. On a more serious note, not that that was not a serious matter, school places are something most politicians here are getting calls on day in and day out. Allocation of secondary school places has become a nightmare and more so this year because there has been a change in pol…

I propose we consider catch-all legislation regarding the renewal of any business or profession that requires a State licence or certificate. During the Covid pandemic, many businesses have been closed and for a long time. The State still requires closed businesses to comply with regulations and standards. If a business has met such required standards in 2019, the least we can do in 2021 is to introduce a waiver through catch-all legislation. I spoke briefly to my good friend, Senator McDowell, and he concurred. It…

I welcome all the good work that Senators Higgins and Ruane have done on the Bill. They have spent quite a bit of time on the legislation and not even small details were omitted. Senator Higgins spoke passionately about the legislation and to the point, which was great. Contracts are never simple and basing procurement on quality would not guarantee that we know the final price. Over the years I have been involved with a lot of contracts so I know there are always extras and add-ons. The devil is in the detail at t…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, to the Seanad - we are sitting today in the Dáil Chamber and the Minister is well used to being here - and all the good work he is doing in his portfolio. It is a challenging portfolio at present where there are massive infrastructural projects ongoing. I certainly welcome the brave steps the Minister has taken with some very brave infrastructure projects. One area the Minister alluded to was rural Ireland. It is something close to the Minister's heart which we have t…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, Teachta Brophy. As he will be aware, we are under strict limitations at present as a result of Covid. All of us who are present in the House are extremely aware of that and of all that has been done in that regard. This is, however, an important issue. As we are an island nation, passports are unfortunately required for people to leave this island to travel to college, to work or for medical or emergency reasons. Many people need passports to open bank accounts, to apply for drivi…

I do not mean to contradict the Minister of State, and I appreciate him coming to the House today, but I have had experience dealing with people who feel this service is being provided on a piecemeal basis. He mentioned towards the end of his contribution that information is taken into consideration. Parents who want to get their child a passport must send in their own passports. All their certificates and everything that they supply is caught up in the system. There is no guarantee of return when they look for doc…

Some people's paperwork is in the system since October.

Unfortunately, it has. It has been tied up. That is the problem.

I wish to raise today the "pause", which is the word that is being used, in respect of the issuing of passports by the Passport Office. When our Covid-19 crisis is behind us, there will be a tremendous backlog of passports to be administered at that stage. The Passport Office is telling people on its website that when we get to level 4, they will have their passports and their information back in 20 days. That is unbelievable. Apart from wanting to leave the country, which is not recommended at present and we are c…

I fully agree with the general push of this Private Members' motion. I have worked with Senators Boyhan and Keogan for many years on councillors' pay and conditions, the latter during her time as a councillor and as a Senator. Most of this has been agreed by the Government parties and is due to be implemented during its first year in office. As far as I am aware, the Government has not been in place for a year, although maybe I am missing something. I was lucky to have served on the Association of Irish Local Gover…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and I appreciate that he has selected this matter today. I welcome the Minister to the House. I know he has a busy portfolio and is very active in it. I wish him well in all his endeavours. I am sure the Minister is aware that there is quite a large backlog in relation to the theory test. This has been flagged to me by several councillors nationwide. Councillors Arthur McDonald and Paul Taylor have recently contacted me about clients who are trying to book a theory test. Some spots availab…

I am delighted to hear the scheme the Minister had introduced on a pilot basis has been a success. However, we are more than a year into this pandemic. There will probably be changes for another year. It would be a step forward to have the theory test online and to have an adequate system so that people could do it online. It would make more sense going forward. I question the preparation the RSA has put into this. How did it not see this staring it in the face a year ago and why did it not work on this a bit harde…

I agree with my fellow Senators. The commitment Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party gave was one of the few things in the programme for Government to which a time limit applied. It will happen. I have no doubt about that. I look forward to that. I also appreciate the good work done by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, on this issue. It was not a simple matter. The full implementation of the Moorhead report would not have been good enough for the councillors.…

I am sure the Cathaoirleach is a happy man today following the formal ratification of the election of Joe Biden yesterday. As he said, it is a good day for democracy. I congratulate him and welcome that, as the Cathaoirleach has. The Cathaoirleach has been a great advocate for democracy in this House and long may that continue. I would like the Minister with responsibility for planning to address the House. There are a lot of development plans going through and the regulator has dealt with some of them. There are s…