I am talking about the insertion of the-----

Sure. The native Irish pine is one tree, but the question is the context in which it sits, which is the Schedule. I would like to know what is the mechanism whereby the native Irish Pine, or other trees excluded such as the hawthorn, may be included in the Schedule in the future? If it is the case that trees are included in the Schedule - perhaps that is where the native Irish pine should be - then they should be reviewed in terms of the impact they are having. If we see that there is a lack of diversity in the con…

I had included them in an amendment on Committee Stage but, unfortunately, it was defeated.

I am just asking, for the purposes of information, what the procedure is.

In one way it would be lovely for the native Irish pine to get its own recognition and not just to be treated as a subsection of the Scots pine, but I am also pleased that it is covered. There is a valid point that we do not want to see all pines in any of the plantings, and that is the case with the restriction of 25% that is set out in section 9(a)(b). There would not be more than 25% pines, so it is good that it is covered by that as well as it being good that it can be included. I am glad about what the Ministe…

Just to follow a brilliant speech from Senator Hoey, I always say it is not about getting to the table, it is about shaping the agenda and changing what is being discussed at the table. However, I think Senator Hoey’s smash-up-the-table-altogether-and-repurpose-it is taking it perhaps the necessary step forward. I think the Minister is hearing that it is about power when we talk about it. It was from women who did not have power but who formed a union and insisted on taking power that International Women’s Day came…

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh Linda chuig Seanad Éireann inniu agus aitheantas a thabhairt don obair thábhachtach atá ar siúl aici le bunú Turas agus Naíscoil na Seolta. Tá sé léirithe agat gur meán í teanga inar féidir pobal a aontú. Sin mar is féidir dul chun cinn a dhéanamh agus léas a thabhairt isteach trí bheith ag foghlaim faoinár stair agus faoinár gcultúr comhroinnte. Tá stair fhairsing ag an Seanad maidir le guthanna mionlaigh agus tá cuntas ag an Teach seo ó thaobh tábhacht na teanga de. Mar shampla,…

The work you have done in recognising what language means, what it can do and how it can be a measure of connection in communities is so important. That is also important in this House because one of the themes of our centenary is minority voices. The Seanad has a record in minority voices, both in terms of voices from unionist traditions and minority voices championing the language. That is something we hold very dear. In the previous Seanad the Cathaoirleach initiated legislation, which then became law, that reco…

As most Members of the House will know, I am a big advocate of fairly massive change in order that we deal with the climate crisis. I believe we have a few years of very significant change ahead of us. We will see sectors that will end or change. How we do it really matters. That is where it is about finding the commonality that is coming through, the idea of just transition, and what we do to bring that into effect. Just transition is not simply about certain areas or regions. It is around certain principles of ho…

I thank the Minister for his constructive engagement. He is right, there are parts of this that it is not appropriate for us to be involved in but there are also parts where our involvement, as legislators, is appropriate. Given that our job in this House is to provide the Minister with legislation, including legislation that gives him the power to make regulations, it is important that we make sure it is as clear as possible with regard to what we include. It is useful that, even after Committee Stage, we still ha…

Is it possible to do this in the legislation?

As someone who has had the honour of being on the walls of the National Gallery of Ireland as part of a temporary exhibition and as somebody who cares a lot about procurement, I join Senator Warfield in pointing out that there are other options. There is space within procurement law. It is not the case that EU procurement law requires us to give contracts to all. We can, in fact, include human rights and other criteria and that should have been done in respect of the National Gallery of Ireland. I also join Senator…

The Civil Engagement Group usually brings forward legislation and not motions. We chose to bring a motion forward because we realised we were coming again and again to the issue of housing through many different pieces of legislation and policy debates. It has been a core concern for everyone in Ireland and for our group, particularly those who are most marginalised within the discussions on housing. Our very first Private Members' motion in 2016, in the previous Oireachtas, was on housing and disability. Again, it…

Others have outlined what the Amnesty report tells us, which is how systematic the measures are, what the dismantling of equality looks like, and what the crowding out of the space for a population within a territory means. We come into this House, again and again, when we see attacks on Gaza and the West Bank and when we see another round of bombings but what has happened in between is so important. While the world has continued to not act on Israel's breach of international human rights and humanitarian law, whil…

We can first apply the kinds of sanctions that have suddenly become possible. We know these are possible under the Rosneft ruling. In terms of the occupied territories, we should not be trading with settlements. That law is very clear. This should not even be a question of sanctions because occupied territories are not legally part of the supply chain. Ireland can take a lead on that and should also feed into and influence the due diligence process in the EU to ensure settlements never become part of a supply chain…

Mention was made of which side people are on. Ireland, very clearly and correctly, is on the side of international law, humanity and peace. That is our record, and where we come in and add value in situations such as this. It is entirely consistent with that position that we express, directly and clearly, our solidarity with Ukraine, as Ireland has rightly done and as we will with a motion in the House tomorrow when we express solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the struggle they are facing. We must…

I extend a warm welcome to all of the MEPs, including our former Civil Engagement group, CEG, colleague, Ms Grace O'Sullivan. There are a few areas of interest that are very important, some of which have been covered previously by Senator Gavan, such as the TRIPS waiver. The MEPs will be aware that this House unanimously called for Ireland to support the TRIPS waiver. It was deeply disappointing to see Ireland take one of the positions against that in the summit between the European Union and the African Union last…

I apologise for going over time. I have so many questions.

Citizens' assemblies are an incredibly powerful tool. They are less powerful than the tool of proportional representation, which is the greatest political innovation that Ireland can bring to the world. Confidence in citizens' assemblies depends on their being taken seriously. For example, it will be vital that we see in the next two years actual constitutional referendums coming out of the citizens' assembly on gender equality. These must be real constitutional referendum recommendations and votes, as suggested by…

On biodiversity, I understand some of the hesitation of Senator Kyne because four years ago, when he was a Minister of State, we were looking at legislation on biodiversity. Again, are we kicking this further down the road? Citizens' assemblies are powerful not as a tool of delay, evasion or moving a topic out of the realm of power it is in but when we use them to confront and engage in the difficult and important topics that do not get talked about and that people find hard to talk about, even though they may be e…