I congratulate the Minister on bringing forward this important legislation. I have been fighting against things I do not necessarily agree with in it but, overall, what we are doing here is very important. We see people in our constituencies go into the ward of court system far too often. That is absolutely wrong and I am proud to be part of changing that. We have to work hard now to get the mental health Bill through, to make sure we look after people. We must look at the discriminations we have put into law, get …

The Minister of State is welcome. I wish him to ask the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to engage with local authorities to request clear actions, targets and reporting regarding implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. It is about time the Departments, local authorities and State agencies got real and serious about implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It should never be a box-ticking exercise or personali…

I reiterate what I have said to Ministers over the past number of years. Visions are not mandatory. There is no sign in this of mandatory funding to be earmarked for capacity building, for training to help communities and to help staff make sure they are not making mistakes. Staff are not making mistakes and making things inaccessible for people on purpose. They are doing it because they are not trained. They are doing it because they cannot see or they do not have that lived experience of someone in a wheelchair o…

I thank the Minister of State.

I support the Minister in what he has been doing. The legacy of hurt and pain will never be healed and those wounds will never clear up if we allow the British Government to pass this Bill. I support the Minister in all of his work in bringing it further to the UN and to the Council of Ministers. I thank the Minister for his work on this and we support him.

I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador and support the motion that calls on us to remember the Ukrainian atrocity of Holodomor. It is very important we do these things because we are quite possibly walking into a similar atrocity in Ukraine where people have no water, heat or light and they will literally freeze over the winter. It is very important we remember the past and stay strong in the present. Will the Deputy Leader organise a debate on the UK legacy Bill? It is important this House is strong and very determine…

I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for coming to the House. I requested this Commencement debate because it is a very important topic for 35,000 sheep farmers in the country and is particularly of huge interest for farmers in County Louth who have nearly 70,000 sheep between them. Today I am asking what actions have been taken by the Department since the wool feasibility study was published last July and for an update on the establishment of the Irish wool council to which the Department has committed €3…

I thank the Minister of State. It is good news that the meeting will start next month and I look forward to it. It is very important. Unfortunately, the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, and I reiterate there is a space for supporting sheep farmers in the new sheep improvement scheme. Being able to shear sheep is a sheep welfare issue. When the Minister of State said agents usually shear sheep, she made it sound as though there is a massive output, but it is usually a young farmer who shears a few other farmers' s…

I express my deepest condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Vicky Phelan. She fought hard to live and she fought for others to live. I hope she is at rest. My thoughts are with her family and loved ones. I thank her for her work on behalf of all the women of Ireland. It seems almost futile to go onto my next point after speaking about Vicky Phelan but I want to express concern about health and safety on the Dublin-Belfast train line. At off-peak times recently, there have not been enough rail carriage…

I welcome the Minister to the House.

I thank the Minister. Before we move on I would like to welcome the boys and girls of Scoil Phádraig Naofa, their teacher Mr. Richard O'Regan and the tour organiser, Ms Colette Dineen. They are very welcome to Seanad Éireann. The next speaker is Senator Martin, who will have eight minutes.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, to the House.

I welcome the Minister. It is great to have the senior Minister with us. As he knows, the sheep sector is important to me. My family are all in the sheep sector and it is how I was born and reared. It is also important to the country, so I am glad we are having this discussion. I hope that what I have asked in the Commencement matter will be answered without prejudice about other parts of the agricultural sector. I would like to know the rationale behind the difference in the direct payment for sheep compared with …

I thank the Minister. I spoke to him previously about a wool council. I reiterate the need to continue those indirect supports. As he well knows, part of sheep welfare is that they must be sheared and they must be protected. It is now costing a farmer more to shear their sheep and to look after them in that way than they are getting for their wool. If they are not getting it in a direct payment, it is really important these indirect payments are sufficient to make sure they get all the benefit and that they are sup…

I ask the Deputy Leader to arrange a debate on the future of the Irish sheep sector. As we all know, sheep are synonymous with our landscape, heritage and tourism. In 2020, only 7% of sheep farmers were under the age of 35. The average age of a sheep farmer is 56 years of age. We are not encouraging young people to get into a really important agricultural sector. I wish to highlight the huge prejudice against sheep farming in the new Common Agricultural Policy scheme as at present 15 cows equals 100 sheep as a live…

I, too, congratulate both the Leader on her work on this Bill and the Smith family. It means an awful lot to so many people. We cannot be anything but moved by Senator Seery Kearney's words, because so many of us have experienced that loss. We are here and we are listening because we know that that life matters. Even though they are not here, they matter every single day of the week and every single day of the year. I really welcome the Bill and congratulate the Leader. I thank the Leader and the Smith family for t…

Before calling the next speaker, I welcome our visitors from Skibbereen Community School to the Seanad. I congratulate them on their sustainability project and wish them the very best of luck in their work. They are joined by Deputies Michael Collins and Christopher O'Sullivan, who are also very welcome.

I want to make a brief comment. It would be remiss of me not to do so. I very much welcome this Bill. I spoke to the Minister of State previously about how we are wasting so much wind energy produced in this country by not utilising it. It is important to do so. I put it to the Minister of State and the officials who are present from the Department that one way of utilising the energy is through EnergyCloud, which involves a ready-to-go mechanism and is a cost-neutral way to provide energy to the most vulnerable in…

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.