I wish to be associated with Senator Nelson Murray’s comments welcoming Pope Leo XIV. He is a great Augustinian. We have a tremendous association in Drogheda with the Augustinians there. We hope to welcome him to Ireland soon. I will continue on the comments of my Meath colleague. As the sole Louth representative in the Seanad, it would be remiss of me, standing here in my county colours, not to congratulate the Louth senior men’s team on its tremendous win in the 2025 Leinster Senior Football Championship in Croke…

Before I begin, I send my deepest sympathies to Andrew and Mary Rogers, the parents of Marie Claire Rogers, a young nurse who died tragically and very suddenly in Australia. She was just 24 years of age and was from Togher in County Louth. My sympathies are with her family, friends and teammates in Naomh Fionnbarra. There is a GoFundMe page set up to repatriate her back from Australia and I urge people to support that. I just got off the phone to a young mum - Emma - in Bettystown County Meath, who was very distres…

I second the motion. I add my support for and admiration of Senator Fitzpatrick for this Bill. It is long overdue and something I am glad to support. We must protect our retail workers. They are on the front line. While they are, unfortunately, dwindling now because so much has gone online, we really have to look after the staff we have. From looking at some of the statistics yesterday, retail workers are some of the workers who come in under the minimum wage. In fact, a lot of them earn minimum wage. The onus is d…

I thank the Minister of State for attending the House today. I welcome the opportunity to talk about how we can best serve the young people of all our communities and try to steer them away from criminal activities to find a more positive and productive path. Far too many young men and women are tempted into following nefarious paths and keeping them in education and out of trouble is becoming much more of a struggle. That does not mean we give up. In fact, we need to double down on efforts to offer a viable altern…

I second the amendment to the Order of Business. I admit that I stand here as a woman torn. I have somewhat divided allegiance because I live in a place that straddles two counties, Louth and Meath. I speak, of course, of the senior championship game which took place over the weekend. Louth saw off Kildare, so commiserations to my colleague, Senator Fiona O'Loughlin, and Meath saw off Dublin. Now we will have a long-awaited showdown. It took 15 years for us to be able to see it again. I wish both teams great luck. …

I thank the Minister for attending the Seanad to hear this important message from the people of Drogheda and south Louth more widely. The Moneymore Townland Community Hub is set to become a vital space for families, children and young people, a safe, secure and purpose-built facility where the community can come together and access essential front-line services, which are currently being provided by the Connect Family Resource Centre and CABLE youth diversion project. However, to make this vision a reality, support…

I thank the Minister for attending and responding. We are at a very advanced stage and the plans are ready to be submitted. I would like to invite the Minister to come down at some stage to see those plans and to see just how vital this will be to the community. I thank the Minister for his further consideration on that.

I thank the Leader and support the Order of Business he has proposed. I will raise a couple of topics. We have a lovely bit of sunny weather but with that, unfortunately, came a rise in public order incidents in the Drogheda area over the weekend. I received a number of disturbing videos of serious public order incidents in daylight. We are talking about 2 p.m. This raises something I would like to debate with the Minister for Justice, namely, garda shortages in that particular area. Drogheda is the largest town in…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and an tAire. I will be sharing my time equally with an Seanadóir Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

I thank the Minister for taking the opportunity to hear our statements on childcare. When I was knocking on doors last year during the election campaign, we heard time and again from young families and workers about the struggle for good, affordable childcare. We also heard about the cost of fees, early years in childcare waiting lists and staff shortages. We all know there are several areas of the country where early years and school-age childcare places are at a premium and in huge demand. This is impacting on pa…

I thank the Minister for coming in today. He has an unenviable task, but he is meeting it with a head-on challenge and we appreciate that. I will keep it brief as there is quite a bit of repetition today. We all know the issues. We are in the thick of a housing crisis, the likes of which we have not faced before. With the population growing at a phenomenal rate, the demand is constantly outstripping supply. As has been said, Fianna Fáil in government is absolutely committed to building more homes and ensuring that …

Before I begin, I also welcome the announcement of the date of the commencement of the fair fares scheme in Drogheda, County Louth, on 28 April. It is a Monday. It will be a good day for people who commute as they will save up to 50%. I will speak about another date, though. History buffs will recognise the date Oliver Cromwell and the new model army laid siege to Drogheda in 1649. Almost 400 years later, the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, left his own indelible mark …

The next item is statements on road safety. I call the Minister of State.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Very quickly.

Senator Brady has been allocated one minute by Senator Joe O'Reilly.

I call Senator Collins.

Apologies; having three split into one time slot threw me. I call Senator Keogan.

Next is Senator Costello, who may share time with Senator Clifford-Lee. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Is that agreed? Agreed.