I thank the Minister for the clarification.

I ask the Deputy Leader to call the Minister of State with responsibility for local government, John Cummins, to the House. A topic I had discussed and have been working on for quite a while is the security allowance for councillors. I am delighted there has been movement on it. I praise the Minister of State and the senior line Minister, James Browne, on this. Much of it has been aired in the media so far. The various councillors are asking us questions about the circular and looking for the nitty-gritty details, …

I join colleagues in welcoming the Minister to the House. He has shown in his short time in the ministry that he is an extremely hard-working Minister and has taken decisive action in that time. I commend him on the hard decisions he has made. It is not easy to make such decisions and I am sure he will face lots of ire due to them. The recommendations from the EU seem to be quite reasonable. I do not think this is anything knee-jerk. It seems most of our compatriots in Europe agree and are of like minds. Many have …

I want to speak about our rail infrastructure, particularly the line from Dublin Connolly to Sligo. Mullingar is on the line. It is quite a large and growing town. It is well supplied with the infrastructure of a modern town, with a link road and a dual carriageway all the way to Dublin. There are slight complications with water but it is extremely well served and there are many options in this regard. The power is quite good and the national grid has been upgraded in the area recently. There has been some improvem…

I am delighted to have the Minister of State here today. I concur with the reference made by Senator Cathal Byrne to Kent's in Wexford. I could not let it pass without mentioning Derek Kent, with whom I served on the Leinster council and several committees in the GAA. There was lots of oversight, and no better man for that than Derek Kent. I will focus most on an issue that has been hit on by both contributors so far. We had a long discussion about the green public procurement strategy and the action plan in April …

I ask our Acting Leader, the very experienced Senator O'Reilly, if he would invite the Minister for Health to the House. I am raising the issue of genetic testing in Ireland. We have no clear plan and most genetic testing in Ireland is carried out abroad, which is a great scandal for this country. We had a proposed plan that this would be comprehensively considered and dealt with before March of this year. Needless to say, that has not come to fruition. A national service must be implemented. We have to have a stra…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is the first time he has been in the House since he assumed his portfolio and I sincerely and wholeheartedly congratulate him on his elevation. The Boxer, as he is called locally, as well as far and wide, which is no trade secret, and I soldiered together on Westmeath County Council for a number of years. I wish him hearty and well deserved congratulations. He is a hands-on type of person, as he proved the last time he held ministerial office and he certainly will no…

As I rise today, I thank the Cathaoirleach and commend him on the great work he has been doing with the Irish diaspora, strengthening our links through all our different established elected bodies and caucuses throughout America. Well done; it certainly does not go unnoticed. There are a couple of little issues I wish to raise. I agree with Senator Aubrey McCarthy with regard to bringing the Minister for housing to the House. It would be good to have a debate on housing and the general direction we are going in tha…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Grealish, and Fr. Des Walsh, who was very good to accommodate us with mass earlier this morning. I thank Fr. Walsh. I raise the topic of the proposed slashing of night-time flights into Dublin Airport. There is a proposal with An Bord Pleanála to slash night-time flights by 30%, which is contrary to what is in our programme for Government. Approximately €19 billion worth of imports and exports each year are coming and going this way. Some 12% of our total imports and abo…

Comhghairdeas, a Chathaoirligh, agus the Leader. I wish you well, along with all the fellow Senators who were elected and appointed. My door is open to anyone who is finding their feet, from all parties and none. I would be delighted to help in any way I can. I want to mention a fellow Senator, Martin Conway, who was not present yesterday. I feel he is owed a duty of care by these Houses after his incident on O'Connell Street. There has been a lot of commentary about the incident. In all of the commentary, I have n…

Well said, Senator Flynn. Congratulations to Senator Ahearn on his elevation today. I thank Martin, Bridget and all of the staff here, including clerical staff, the ushers who are so helpful every day, the gardaí and the security forces who keep the House safe, and Darren and all the catering and bar staff who look after our needs daily. I thank everyone who has been involved behind the scenes and run everything so smoothly over the past five-odd years. I wish Senators Malcolm Byrne, Kyne and Carrigy the very best …

I will not delay the Minister for long. This Bill, based on our budget, is key legislation to ensure all promises will come to fruition. It is very prudent and appropriate at this time to reflect on the good work that has been done by the Government over the past while and, in particular, the array of forms of assistance that have been provided to those who are not so lucky in life, from carers to the unemployed. What the Government has done over the past five years is very commendable. I welcome the budget and the…

I had not been born.

Hear, hear.

Now.

I will be very brief because I do not wish to delay the Minister. The Moorhead report is very close to my heart and to those of my colleagues. On councillors' pensions, there was to be a review after the local elections in May to put in place a plan for councillors in order that they would be remunerated in the proper way. I am curious to hear the Minister's thoughts about putting a plan in process to ensure that hardworking councillors are adequately taken care of.

We have proved the Minister wrong. We love proving him wrong.

I thank the Minister.

Now.

Now.