Glaoim anois ar an Seanadóir Clifford-Lee agus tá ocht nóiméad aici.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I am one of those people who do not have the language although I come from north Louth, which was the home of the Oriel dialect and was a Gaeltacht until it died out. Mrs. O'Hanlon, who was the last native Irish speaker on the Cooley Peninsula, died in the 1960s and her homestead is still there. We have a great heritage of Irish going back to Séamas Mac Cuarta and all our poets. The Cooley Peninsula was the home of culture in the north east but we seem to have lost that. I welcome…

Like Senator Carrigy, I wish to raise the violence and abuse on our football pitches and other sports fields. As a mother of young children who live for football and partaking in sport, I see a growing amount of violence on our football pitches. We saw last month in Wicklow a so-called melee on a football pitch. When does a melee turn into assault? When does this violence turn into something real? I do not want my sons growing up thinking it is acceptable to box or elbow someone on a football pitch and hurt them be…

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. It is always good to have her here to discuss the progression of the disability services programme and the assessment of needs. I welcome her robust and honest opening statement. Robustness and honesty from a Minister are always welcome. We in Fianna Fáil very much welcome this debate. We have always been advocates for people with disabilities, and we have worked to assist and worked towards a rights-based model. I am glad the Minister of State is at the helm. Whe…

I, too, welcome the Minister. I am delighted he could be here with us this morning. What prompted me to put forward this Commencement matter was anger and frustration in regard to the inconsistent access to public transport in this country, which I hear about and witness, but do not experience because I am able-bodied. When I want to travel by train or bus I can do so. However, for thousands of citizens in this country who wish to travel they have to jump through hoops. They have to pre-book, plan and make arrangem…

I am glad to hear that there will be an update in early December. This is a great country for producing policies and documents but work and investment are needed. We are talking about encouraging everybody onto public transport. I would love to have a safe and accessible transport for all of my community and friends because I want to know that they are going to be safe. I want to know that they are not going to be blocked getting on or off a bus or train and that people who are visually impaired know at all times w…

I call for a debate on the future of agriculture in this country. We hear an awful lot of talk about it, especially with COP26 going on. There is an awful lot about what could and should be done. Are we reaching a point where we will start paying, especially marginalised farmers on poor land, to be unproductive, pick blackberries once a year in September and stand at a gate for a tourist? It seems we have no plan on what we will do with agriculture. There are incredibly environmentally-friendly marginalised farmers…

The Senator cannot move it until after Senator Boyhan's amendment has been dealt with.

The Senator will get a chance to move her amendment but she will not have another opportunity to speak on it.

I call Senator Higgins. She may speak to her amendment but she may not move it at this time.

I call Senator John McGahon. I believe the Senator is sharing time.

Is the Senator sharing time?

Is that agreed? Agreed?

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. Much been said this evening. I was listening to the debate and it has been interesting. Everyone is in agreement that we need enormous investment in our public transport. I took a few notes that contain references to the safety, accessibility and availability of that transport. We must make it practical and link up our bus and rail services, our greenways and blueways. We must link them and make them usable for everybody. We welcome the considerable investment and…

I welcome the MEPs to the Seanad Chamber. The Mercosur deal has huge ramifications for Irish farmers, who produce high-quality food and engage in the best agricultural practices. We could potentially be importing a lot of food from outside Europe as a result of that deal. This is abhorrent to me and to Irish farmers and I would like to hear our MEPs' views on that.

I raise matters relating to the HSE. First, I welcome the full reopening of maternity services. I congratulate the Oireachtas women's caucus, Senator Fiona O'Loughlin and the Leader for all their work on this. It is really important and it is way beyond time. The situation was ridiculous. Second, this morning the Joint Committee on Disability Matters heard incredible testimony from advocates of the personal assistant services. It would do us all well to look back on their testimony, as it was incredibly powerful. T…

I formally second the introduction of the Bill to protect our native Irish honey bee. I am glad that we have the Minister of State from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with us today because this is a most important issue. We are at a crisis point in the context of protecting our native Irish honey bee. It is most important. The bee is a small creature, but this is not a small issue. It is about time that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine looked beyond beekeeping as a mere hobby. …

I call Senator Victor Boyhan. The Senator has four minutes.

I welcome the Minister of State. I am not going to repeat what has been said, but I am glad to see this debate happening. We went outside earlier and spoke to many of the businesses and people who are front and centre in this crisis. The Minister of State will be aware of all the issues. We have a crisis in this area and it must be sorted out. We can come in here and talk about where the fault lies, but it remains the case that we have a peat crisis. Horticultural businesses need some clarity. We cannot be importin…