I move amendment No. 18: In page 13, line 19, after “the” where it secondly occurs to insert “living or”.

I move amendment No. 19: In page 14, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “Protection, conservation and restoration of the territorial seas 21. The Wildlife Act 1976 is amended in section 15(1)(c) by the substitution of “State and that territorial sea above it.” for “State.”. The Minister of State will be glad to hear this is an amendment that relates to this jurisdiction, does not cut across the convention and is, in fact, within our scope. This is an amendment specifically related to the territorial se…

It is land covered by water but does it include the water itself? This goes back to my point about life on water.

I move amendment No. 20: In page 16, lines 2 to 5, to delete all words from and including “2021;” in line 2 down to and including line 5 and substitute “2021.”. Amendment No. 19 could potentially have been accepted. It might be useful, as this Bill goes to the Dáil, to clarify that the waters are incorporated in that sense because that issue must be clarified. This is not an area that is outside the remit of the State. The Wildlife Act very much sits within the remit, as do the territorial seas. This is again part …

No, I will press it.

I join in welcoming the motion on annexation. It sends an important signal in recognising some of the reality of what is happening in the occupied territories of Palestine. There is more that we can do but the motion is an important step. I join in the calls for a debate on disarmament that Senator Martin mentioned because Ireland has played a key role in that regard. In a moment when we are seeing a shift away from some of the international principles of disarmament, this is a timely and appropriate debate. I join…

I join others in welcoming the Minister of State to the House and regretting we have not had pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill because it is very important. There is nothing technical about this. It consolidates a large amount of legislation. In the Minister of State's speech, we heard a lot about the 1980s legislation and various elements being brought together from it. We are in a different moment now and my concern is that some of the responsibilities we have for the marine are not properly reflected in the B…

I welcome the Minister. We are debating the resolution. I thank the Minister because this week he will accept limiting some of the powers because resolution is not the ideal way to extend legislation. I am conscious that this is for a limited period until July. With regard to mandatory hotel quarantine, the Minister outlined the important impact it has already had. We can see the number of cases that have been caught and prevented from having a multiplier effect and the capture of new variants. More than 1% or 2% o…

The Minister is again welcome to the House. I join others in commending all those people who have done really important and extraordinary work in rolling out vaccines. However, in hearing everybody's stories about how wonderful it has been to get a vaccine and what it meant for children and families, there is a heartbreaking component to the discussion. It is that there are people all over this planet with families, some of them going to work on the front line of health services, who are years away from vaccination…

I will be brief as my colleague, Senator Ruane, has already spoken on this amendment. This is a safety measure which I am sure the Minister has already assured my colleague on. The aim of the amendment is to make it very clear that nothing in this section should be to the detriment of obligations on housing authorities in respect of social housing. There is a concern here because we often hear narratives about "social and affordable" housing. They get pulled together as a package deal and affordable housing becomes…

Yes.

I move amendment No. 17: In page 8, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “(7) In performing functions under subsection (1) housing authorities shall have regard to the appropriateness of the location of dwellings in respect of facilitating access to public transport, education services, health services and public amenities.”.

I accepted the argument from the Minister of State that some of this relates to the planning area. I reserve the right to bring back a version of this amendment but I accept the Minister of State's argument in respect of it. I hope that by Report Stage, when we will reintroduce amendment No. 15 in the name of Senator Fitzpatrick, we will have provided the local authorities or housing authorities and their elected members with the empowerment to ensure that the factors I am trying to address with amendment No. 17 ar…

I move amendment No. 19: In page 9, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “(3) A housing authority or a planning authority may only enter into an agreement under subsection (2) where the dwellings specified in the agreement meet such criteria of affordability as may be set out in regulations developed by the Minister and laid before, and agreed by, both Houses of the Oireachtas and which may be reviewed by the Minister from time to time and which may be amended by the Minister from time to time subject …

This suite of amendments relates to the principle of affordability. It is an issue that was touched on earlier. There is a concern that there is no clear definition of affordability in respect of this Bill and no such definition ties itself to people and what they can afford. I remember similar debates about the minimum wage legislation when the Low Pay Commission legislation was going through. I was not a Senator at the time but a civil society advocate. I highlighted a gaping hole in the Low Pay Commission legisl…

I ask the Minister of State to respond explicitly on amendment No. 19 because none of what he has outlined is at odds with that amendment. It simply provides that the Minister would lay the rules before the Houses of the Oireachtas. I accept that amendment No. 20 sets out a criterion and one that I think is important but amendment No. 19 does not set out any specific criteria. It allows for exactly that nuance of different household types and different circumstances. Rather than tying us to specific amounts at a sp…

Yes.

I move amendment No. 20: In page 9, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “(3) A housing authority or a planning authority may only enter into an agreement under subsection (2) where the dwellings specified in the agreement meet such criteria of affordability, to include a criteria that any such dwellings should be affordable to individuals on or below the national median income, as may be set out in regulations developed by the Minister and agreed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.”.

I move amendment No. 21: In page 9, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following: “(3) Notwithstanding any national regulations which may be set out, a housing authority may specify such additional criteria in respect of the determination of affordability as it believes appropriate before entering into an agreement under subsection (2).”. I reserve the right to reintroduce amendment No. 21 on Report Stage. I am hoping the Minister of State might actually engage with some of the subject matter during the course …

I move amendment No. 23: In page 9, line 22, after “priority” to insert “and the eligible applicants will be owner occupiers”.