This matter is before the Dáil Reform Committee. I would appreciate it if Deputies could speak to the amendment.

Is Deputy Connolly pressing the amendment tonight?

That is fine.

To clarify, there is no order of the House to adjourn. The voting block is intended for 9.30 p.m.

Yes. If we agree to adjourn.

There is a provision to guillotine this, which was agreed at the Business Committee. If the Minister of State wishes to adjourn now so that we can proceed to postponed divisions, we can do so.

Is that agreed to? Agreed.

During July and August, we can get from one side to the other of any town or city in Ireland without any great traffic congestion. This is the case in counties Cork and Clare and any place we can think of. This is largely due to schools being closed and the 200 or 300 cars doing the school drop-off not being on the road each morning. We have had an overhaul of school transportation but there are still many archaic rules, largely relating to distance from the nearest school, which prohibit and deny many people the o…

I welcome the Minister and congratulate her on the birth of a little girl, I believe.

Okay. It was one or the other. I congratulate her again and it is great to see her back. Well done on taking maternity leave. That was an important thing to do and showed how this House should function. Fianna Fáil fully supports the Land and Conveyancing Land Reform Bill 2021. It is very important because there is currently a huge backlog of applications to PRA for prescriptive right-of-way registration. The authority simply will not get to all of them, so it makes sense that we prolong this process and allow it t…

Just before I begin, are we adjourning consideration of this Bill during my speaking slot?

I will therefore deliver my speech quickly. In the main, I am very supportive of this and have been so at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. We have heard of worst-case scenarios and there are many of them. When one goes online, one will see videos of people going crazy on e-scooters. That is the worst-case scenario but I have also seen youngsters using e-scooters to go to hurling training and visiting friend’s houses and they are giving the mum and dad taxi a break. In the main, this c…

I just had a text to tell me that Deputy Durkan is not going to make it into the Chamber. He said that I can use a little of his time, but I will not be using the full 11 minutes. The Rescue 116 accident tragically claimed the lives of crew members, Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, Captain Mark Duffy, winchman Ciarán Smith and winch operator Paul Ormsby in March 2017. These individuals were highly skilled and trained and also highly committed to their jobs. They were dedicated to saving the lives of others, and there is a…

I wish to ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide an overview of NSO 6 of the new National Development Plan, NDP, 2021-2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I thank the Minister for his response. All Members of the House are aware that aviation and tourism have been the two sectors most decimated by the Covid pandemic. Experts in the sector estimate that the pathway to recovery will take four to five years. That, in itself, is devastating for all those who depend on it. In the mid-west, we very much see Shannon Airport as being a catalyst for virtually all economic activity. We live and die on that. Its recovery will be crucial to our regional recovery. I read with int…

I thank the Minister. I am delighted to hear that Shannon Airport and Cork Airport can continue to avail of supports under the regional airports programme. For too long they were excluded or found it difficult to come under it given the annual passenger thresholds. There will need to be multi-annual investment. The Minister mentioned public service obligation routes. We have to think in a different realm so far as they are involved. It cannot be all about small aircraft going out to the Aran Islands or aircraft goi…

How will the revised national development plan strengthen rural communities and rural economies? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter to the House?

I thank the Minister. One of the small silver linings of Covid - and, let us be frank, there have very have been very few of them - has been people returning to rural Ireland and the vibrancy we are once again seeing in our villages. To take as an example Kilkee in County Clare, my party colleague, Councillor Cillian Murphy, has often bemoaned the fact that only one in three people in Kilkee are permanent residents. People go during heatwaves in the nine or ten days we typically get in an Irish summer and they are …

I thank the Minister for his positive remarks. I want to reference a project about which I have spoken privately to the Minister many times. It is the Limerick northern distributor road. He referenced it in his contribution. Phase 1 is well under construction and, hopefully, in a matter of months vehicles will be travelling on it alleviating traffic congestion in the north suburbs of Limerick city and making it possible for Clare people to get to and from work. Phase 2 stands somewhat in a state of flux. There is a…

I thank the Minister of State for agreeing to take this Topical Issue matter tonight. Two weeks ago, I spoke at an aviation conference held in County Clare. On the Wednesday evening we had what is called a fireside chat. An expert panel on the future of aviation, aviation recovery, etc., was assembled. A very interesting discussion evolved with Patrick Blaney, John McMahon and Joe Gill on that panel. Anybody who follows aviation will know that they have been three of the kingpins of Irish aviation over many years i…