I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 27A and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputies Michael McNamara and Joe Carey - to discuss the reinstatement of Doolin Coast Guard; (2) Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor - to discuss plans to provide Carlow town with a design 2 ambulance base; (3) Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh - to discuss the next steps in the process following the establishment of the technical university in the south east; (4) …

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta. Anois, ar ais go dtí an Rialtas, a Theachta Bernard Durkan.

We have neither.

The Business Committee is the Deputy's next stop.

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 27A and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Holly Cairns - to discuss Ireland’s commitments to climate action at COP26; (2) Deputy Neasa Hourigan - to discuss ongoing infrastructure improvements within the neonatal intensive care unit services at the Rotunda Maternity Hospital, Dublin; (3) Deputy Jennifer Whitmore - to discuss lack of access to appointments to register births and to apply f…

Let the Minister of State continue, please.

Gabhaim mo bhuíochas don Cheann Comhairle as ucht an ábhair seo a roghnú. Ní thugann sé aon sásamh dom an t-ábhar seo a ardú sa Dáil sa bhealach seo. Rugadh agus tógadh mé i nGaillimh agus tá mé thar a bheith bródúil as, ach ní féidir leanúint ar aghaidh ag tabhairt cluas bhodhar don drochiompar atá ag tarlú ar shráideanna na Gaillimhe le blianta anois. Tá sé éirithe níos measa le déanaí, ach níor tharla sé inniu ná inné. Tá sé ag tarlú de réir a chéile agus ag éirí níos measa le cúpla bliain. Chomh maith leis sin,…

I thank the Minister of State for being here but in a ten-paragraph reply there was zilch mention of community policing on the streets of Galway and what is needed. He tells me he cannot comment on a live Garda investigation. I did not ask him to. I did not ask anyone in the Department of Justice to comment. I am bringing attention to the danger on the streets of Galway. I do not want to do that but I am obliged to do so. This is not about fireworks, although a serious assault occurred and others did relate to fire…

I thank Deputy Harkin for the work she has put into this Bill, which I support. As the Minister of State outlined, I accept there will be issues to be teased out regarding the role of the Minister. We would all be very sceptical of that and the common bond. The essence of the Bill is to increase the services a credit union is allowed to provide. It refers to a policy committee, which is advisory, and other miscellaneous changes that are important. We are back at the stage again where we have what I call the nine-mo…

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate. I am looking at the conclusions of the European Council meeting and there are eight pages, six titles and 29 paragraphs. They are just the conclusions so forgive me if I just focus on one or two of them in my five minutes. The titles include Covid-19, digital, energy prices, migration, trade and external relations, and that final one will be interesting when I refer to Israel later. The first title is Covid-19. When we talk about uniting to tackle disinformatio…

It has not happened in the Chamber. We have introduced legislation and read the regulations as elected Deputies after the event. We have never had a proactive discussion on it. I challenge any of the Ministers to return to have a proactive and rational debate on how best to ensure we are all in this together and we can all get out of it together. I can then jump to the back of the document and I see external relations. It is interesting that Israel is not mentioned. When the Taoiseach was being interviewed in Glasg…

Yes, it is very important. That section is added under three stars, inexplicably, with no context provided as to what the Israeli Government, as distinct from its people, had done just two days before that. On 6 October, it designated six prominent Palestinian human rights organisations as terrorists. I will explain this to the Minister of State if he will listen, although I know it is difficult. It was not raised in the Council, but two days before the meeting, six prominent Palestinian human rights and civil soci…

The Minister of State said the matter was not on the agenda simply because it was not but, as Israel made this decision before the Council met, surely it would have come up at some point, even as a postscript. I was not, in any way, going against the Malmö declaration. I am very familiar with it. I put the matter in context, saying it is outside the area of trade relations. This decision was made on 19 October. While I have the time, I will tell the Minister of State what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights s…

Seanad Éireann has passed the Defence Amendment Bill 2020 without amendment.

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle agus gabhaim buíochas freisin leis an Aire as a bheith anseo le linn na díospóireachta uilig agus is maith an rud é sin. I think I have an extra few minutes by default and I will try to be as focused as I can and make the most of them. I thank the Minister for his speech. Once again, the Minister refers to the world burning, tá an domhan trí thine. This is a very strong statement. I said on budget day that the world is burning and that we must take action. I agree with…

What did I say? Can the clock be stopped in my time or is my time being added to?

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. At this point I am not even sure what I said but I will attempt to be focused in this manner. I rarely personalise things and if I have I am sorry. It is not in my interest to personalise anything as the issues are far too serious. Let us look at the budget now in the language that is coming out and I listened to Deputies Bruton and Lahart and so on. Deputy Lahart talked about some aspiration in the future to gender-proof the budget. We have been talking about gender-proofing, poverty-p…

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 29A and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Brendan Griffin - to discuss the decision to grant permission for the iconic south Kerry greenway and the need for construction funding; (2) Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh - le plé a dhéanamh ar an ngéarghá di tuilleadh Gaelcholáistí chun freastal ar an éileamh i mBaile Átha Cliath; (3) Deputy Thomas Pringle - to discuss the next steps relating to the B…

Let the Deputy-----

Minister, please, you will have to let the Deputy speak.