I thank the Senator for raising this matter, which I am happy to take on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Calleary, who apologises for being unable to be here this morning to take it. The living alone increase is a supplementary payment of €22 per week to those who are aged over 66, living alone and in receipt of a contributory or non-contributory State pension or a contributory bereaved partner's pension. It is also available to those aged over 66 who live alone and are in receipt of a bereaved…

I thank Senator Byrne. I will pass on her logic and argument for the living alone allowance for those in receipt of a teacher's pension. In my response from the Minister I laid out the background. The level of cover one receives in respect of social insurance contributions is very much tied to the contributions made over the years. In the case of those teachers employed prior to 1995, the level of contribution they made was much lower than those employed after 1995 and that is why those employed after 1995 can qual…

I thank Senator O'Reilly. I have to take this on behalf of the Minister for Transport. I believe he was taking business matters in the Seanad during the week. I assure the Senator that the Government is strongly committed to protecting our existing road network. This is demonstrated through the Department of Transport's provision of regular grant funding to eligible local authorities. Most recently, it was demonstrated through the provision of an exceptional funding response to the damage caused by Storm Chandra in…

The response that I am giving on behalf of the Department of Transport outlines that the Department opened up for detailed applications from local authorities with severe weather road damage following the storm, and no significant damage from Storm Chandra was identified and notified to the Department by Cavan County Council. That is the response and the detail that I have. Funding of €40 million was announced to support projects across the country where remediation proved beyond the ability of some local authoriti…

I will inform the Department that the Senator is asking for more clarity on the nature of the application that was made and the criteria used to assess the funding allocations. I will ask the Department to revert to her on that.

I thank the Senator for raising this Commencement matter on an important initiative for the State and the Government, that is, the basic income for artists scheme. It is a once-in-a-generation policy intervention that has the potential to transform the lives of artists, as confirmed by the research published during the pilot. Last year, the Department conducted a public consultation on the basic income for the arts. This consultation received over 17,000 submissions, with 97% of respondents in favour of making the …

I thank the Senator for her advocacy for the arts and this scheme. I agree that we need to see more art, not less. We need within our society to ensure that there is space and support for artists to follow their creative abilities, develop them and have that potential realised for themselves and for society generally. The basic income for the arts is a significant step forward and departure in that regard. We are paving new ground internationally. I have attended European Council meetings where there has been signi…

I thank Senator Mullen for his work in bringing this legislation forward. I thank the Senators for the very thoughtful and well-considered contributions and responses to the legislation. I think we all agree that online services are constantly developing and changing. It is vital that we, as legislators, stay vigilant to any emerging trends that undermine the safety of our children and young people when they access those services. Online safety is a whole-of-government priority, particularly when it comes to the pr…

There should be. There are copies outside.

This Bill is clearly aligned with that objective, as it seeks to ensure that children do not access pornographic, adult-only material by requiring online services to first verify that a person is over the age of 18. For this reason, the Government does not oppose the Bill. However, there are practical, legal and technical issues with the Bill's provisions. It also does not take account of commitments in the national digital and AI strategy published by the Government in February of this year. Regulations are alread…

No.

I thank the Senator for raising and the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. Senator Gallagher and I have discussed it on many occasions. I am thankfully a Donegal man. The Senator has had two bites of the cherry in recent years representing Monaghan so well. We have discussed the place of Clones in Ulster and Monaghan football, as the sporting heart of Monaghan and of Ulster and the need for what has been a great facility over the years to continue to evolve and be redeveloped. This is a good oppo…

I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Senator on our shared objective of seeing St. Tiernach's Park continue to evolve and be renewed. There has been significant funding towards the GAA from the two rounds so far of the large scale infrastructure fund. The 2020 round saw funding for 14 projects to a value of €30 million. Those included projects backed by the GAA or which incorporated GAA elements of significant projects, including those at Walsh Park, Páirc Tailteann and St. Conleth's Park. In the 2…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to bring the Bill before the House. It is a short amendment to the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983. Its purpose is to enable the payment of the agreed funding from the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport's Vote to An Post so that An Post may, in turn, be able to disperse this funding to postmasters across the network. The Government is committed to a sustainable An Post and post office network as a key component of the econo…

Apologies, it is not at present.

At the outset, I thank everyone across the House for their various contributions to this amendment legislation today, and for the broad support there is through the Houses of the Oireachtas for it to be passed. I thank the Dáil and the Seanad, where it will be later on this week, for their engagement in planning this. It is important that we pass this legislation before the Dáil and the Seanad go into recess so that we are in a position, from a Government point of view, to make the payments to An Post for it to be …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. Tá mé sásta go léifear an Bille don Dara hUair anois. Dlí tábhachtach is é an Bille um Rialáil na Meán agus tá áthas orm é a chur faoi bhráid an Tí. The main aim of the Bill is to implement the European Media Freedom Act, EMFA, into Irish law. The EMFA is an EU regulation which seeks to protect media freedom and pluralism across all member states. A free, independent media is a key pillar of democracy and is essential for healthy public debate. In Ireland, freedom of the pre…

I welcome the school as guests of the Oireachtas, as well as our friend from Tasmania. I thank the Members for the cross-party support for the Bill and for the various contributions. It is an important addition to our national media landscape and the regulatory system. It is important that it is being done at European level as well, given that we operate within a much wider international sphere, political system and political discourse. I look forward to further engagement with the Members in relation to the remain…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 62, 66 and 67 together. At the outset, I believe the Minister has been in touch to indicate he is unavoidably unable to be here this morning. I am taking all the questions this morning for that reason. I thank the Deputy for her question. As she indicated, this is an issue that has received very strong consideration and debate in the House, particularly over the course of this past week. As I outlined in those debates, from the point of view of the Government, it has been providing …

I totally refute that. Internationally we, as a country, have led out. We have called out the genocidal activity that Israel has prosecuted in Palestine. We have led internationally in pushing for stronger sanctions to reflect the unacceptable behaviour of Israel and we will continue to do so.