Not in north Louth.

Shannon Callows.

Inishowen.

You should have told that to businesses.

You did not say that to the businesses-----

They are not the same.

It is lovely to be here in the Seanad. As other new Senators have said, it is a regret that we have not shared the experience of having Senator Norris in this Chamber for longer and as often as we wanted to hear from him. In April 1987, I was four years of age. He has been my normal. His representation, his flamboyance, his speaking skills and his pride in who he is have been my normal, growing up. To have that cannot be underestimated. I was one of those children who religiously tuned into "Oireachtas Report". It …

I welcome the Minister to the House. There is a lot of stuff going on that I would like to digest. I very much welcome the proposed change in the referendum. I welcome that the Government and the State are at a point of recognising that not all families are based on marriage, that there should not be a tier or a hierarchy of family, and that families like Senator Garvey's and mine should be acknowledged by our State and Constitution. Senator McDowell referenced the judgment passed today in a social welfare case. Th…

I very much welcome the fact that we are here today discussing what is a very fundamental change and an acknowledgement that this country is growing, that it is progressive, and that we are changing. One of the great things about our Constitution is the fact that we can change it. I very much urge people to come out and vote "Yes" and "Yes" on 8 March. It is no gimmick to update and modernise our Constitution.

The Minister is welcome to the House to discuss this Bill. I very much welcome it. It is important that we modernise our Constitution. The proposed new article is a continuation of the previous article and proposes to extend what the family means, lay down the importance of the family unit and acknowledge the differences in our new modern families. We will extend what care means and what activities are going on in homes and families around the country. It acknowledges ungendered care and what care by everybody in t…

Senator, we can thrash this out tomorrow.

Allow Senator Garvey to continue, without interruption.

We will move to the next speaker, who is Senator Seery Kearney, and we will hear the Senator without interruption.

I ask the Senator to speak to this Bill.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

We have failed to contact the Leader or Deputy Leader to extend the time for today's business. I ask that Senators Currie, Sherlock, Craughwell and Mullen confine their contributions to five minutes each. I apologise for constraining the debate but I hope they will be able to speak again in the coming days.

That was not agreed as part of the Order of Business, which has been set. I hope Senators will agree to give everyone an opportunity to speak. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I call on the Minister to reply. He has ten minutes.

I, too, want to wish Tom Hickey the best of luck in his retirement. I wish him and his family all the best in the years ahead. We thank, and are very grateful for, the staff we have in Leinster House, including the Cathaoirleach and his staff, those in the Leader's office and all the staff around the House. Next week we finish up for Christmas and we are very grateful for what we have. When we see what is happening in the Middle East, we hug our children a little bit tighter. We look around and see that we are very…

I welcome the Minister of State. I am sure he will read a statement from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and highlight the fact that the Department has recently changed the grants for septic tanks. These changes, which are very welcome, include increasing the maximum grant from €5,000 to €12,000 and removing the requirement to have previously registered a domestic wastewater treatment system with the local authority to be eligible for a grant. For the few who can apply and avail of this gra…