Táimid ag bogadh ar aghaidh anois go dtí an chéad cheist eile. Tá Ceist Uimh. 58 in ainm an Teachta Eoin Ó Broin.

I beg your pardon. I completely forgot; I will break all the rules just for the moment because the fault is mine. I meant to let Deputy Durkan in on the last question. I am breaking the rules but I am at fault. Deputy Malcolm Noonan: I assure the Deputies that thyere is no lack of political will. It is our utomst priority. I appreciate the support from the committee and across the House. It is not tos ay there is any conflict between offshore renewables and marine biodiversity. As I said, the ecological sensititivt…

I will not ask the Minister to respond.

It was my fault.

The Deputy will get a chance to come back in.

Deputy, please.

Please, Deputy. The time is running out and other Deputies want to come in.

Deputies should speak through the Chair. Time is running out.

Before the Minister responds, there are supplementary questions.

It is very hard to hear.

While it is within the remit of the Minister, I wish to raise school transport. It is a huge scheme every year, with 163,000 children availing of it. Properly functioning school transport is an absolute necessity for access to school, to allow people to go to work and for climate change. August and September are a nightmare every year all over the country. The emails I have received, as all TDs have received, describe the utter nightmare because there are not enough drivers or buses. It just simply cannot go on. At…

And look at the clock.

I appreciate the time to speak on this Bill. I wish I had more time. The Dáil is just back in session and this is very serious legislation, as is the next Bill we will consider, the Mental Health Bill 2024. The Defamation (Amendment) Bill involves a lot of reading. I have a lot of people to thank for their help. Once again, under pressure, the library and research service has produced a Bill digest. I thank the justice committee for its work. In particular, I thank Deputy Pringle for organising a presentation in th…

I welcome this Bill. It is a positive Bill and I welcome the progress. Its purpose of course is to replace the Mental Health Acts, 2001 to 2022, which Acts themselves replaced the Mental Health Act 1945. I might come back to that date later, in terms of admissions for that year, and the still high admissions. Of course, this whole Bill reflects a shift on international level, forcing us every step of the way towards a human rights approach and the urgent need for legislation to reflect that. I congratulate the Mini…

She might not remember it, but Planning for the Future was the document to change everything in 1984. That was followed by A Vision for Change covering 2006 to 2016. Again, it was brilliant. I had no problems with both documents, but I had a big problem with their implementation. Planning for the Future was to change everything from the mid-eighties onwards to stop institutionalisation, but not to cast people out into the community without care, and that is what really happened. I mentioned A Vision for Change, but…

Okay. They still have two wards of court. Five residents are in that acute unit. The word "acute" signifies something. It is not chronic; it is acute. It has had five residents for more than six months. Interestingly, they did not tell us whether that is years or months. I believe that one or two patients, or people, have been residents in that unit for years. That ties in with the housing crisis and there being no place to discharge people. Can the Ceann Comhairle imagine that we have somebody in an acute mental h…

As there are quite a number of speakers, they will each have a minute and a half.

The Deputy's minute and a half is up.

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta. We are way over time.

Seanad Éireann has passed the Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 without amendment.