I wish to raise an issue of grave concern in my part of the country, which is the quality of service, or lack thereof, by Eir to its customers. What is arising at the moment is that landlines, particularly to senior citizens, are breaking down and there is no chance of getting them fixed for weeks. We must always remember that with regard to those landlines, there is a security aspect whereby many of them are linked up to alarms. If there is bad mobile coverage, those security alarms do not work and, therefore, hou…

We move to the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016. A message has been received from Dáil Éireann concerning amendments made by the Seanad to the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016. The message has been set down on the Order Paper. The list of amendments made by the Seanad and considered by the Dáil has been circulated for the information of Members. The Dáil has not agreed to amendments Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, or to amendments Nos. 11, and 13 to 15, inclusive and desires that Seanad Éireann does not insist thereon. The Dái…

Seanad amendment No. 3, consequential Dáil amendment No. 3c, amendments Nos. 1 to 13, inclusive, to consequential Dáil amendment No. 3c, Seanad amendment No. 4 and Seanad amendment No. 11 are related and may be discussed together by agreement.

Before we move to the Members, with great pleasure I welcome Edward Thornton to the House. He is the dad of Samantha Long, whom we all know. She works with Senator McDowell and is very friendly with all of us. I also welcome her auntie, uncle George and Etta to the House. They are most welcome. We hope they enjoy their stay. I am sure they will be meeting up with Samantha today. Céad míle fáilte from all of us. I call Senator Clonan.

Seanad amendment No. 13, consequential Dáil amendment 13c and amendments 1 to 5, inclusive, to consequential Dáil amendment 13c are related and may be discussed together by agreement.

We move to Seanad amendment No. 14 on the list of amendments made by the Seanad dated 11 November 2019. Seanad amendment No. 14, consequential Dáil amendments Nos. 14c1 to 14c15, inclusive, and amendments Nos. 1 and 2 to consequential Dáil amendment No. 14c8 are related and may be discussed together, by agreement.

Cuirim fáilte roimh na daoine as Westmeath Comhairle na nÓg. It is fair to say the staff and Senators here always like to see the younger generation coming in to visit us. They are very welcome. I hope they are enjoying the proceedings in the Seanad and Dáil. May they have a nice day. A big céad míle fáilte from us all here.

Seanad amendment No. 15 and consequential Dáil amendments Nos. 15c1 and 15c2 are related and may be discussed together by agreement.

I say to everyone here, including Senators, the Minister of State, his staff and the staff of the House, that it is unbelievable, when I look at the documents relating to this Bill and see all that has to be done. It makes me think of the amount of work that goes into it. Everybody has been very co-operative and we are grateful for the amendments. If anybody, including the Minister of State, would like to make a quick comment, we will allow it.

A few Members wish to make a quick comment or two. Before that, I give a special welcome to the people from Cheeverstown House, Templeogue. They are guests of Senator Clonan, who is a busy man today. They are welcome and I send céad míle fáilte from all of us. I hope they enjoy their trip and they will probably meet some of us later. Senator Clonan will be finished shortly.

Gabhaim míle buíochas to gach éinnne, particularly to the Seanad officials on my right-hand side. The Clerk will send a message to the Clerk of the Dáil certifying the determination of the Seanad. We have done a great day's work. Many thanks to all Senators for their co-operation and I mean that sincerely.

I am delighted this matter is being taken, and I want to thank the Acting Chair and the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth for coming in. I want to thank the Minister of State for the work he is doing on the national broadband plan. It is a very ambitious plan, and I know he is very enthusiastic about it. I want to acknowledge that, while I have a difficult situation here, there are broadband connections going on in Roscommon at the moment to several thousand homes and businesses. Several thousand have been connected.…

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I acknowledge that good work is happening in County Roscommon. The provision of €76 million for broadband is a significant development and we are all delighted about the schools. However, the owner of this business and his family have been told by NBI that it will take up to three years for the roll-out to come to their area. It has been rolled out to the national school down the road which is 350m away. It is not feasible for the business to continue unles…

I will touch on a few matters today, the first of which might not be popular with the public. In view of all that is going on in RTÉ and the terrible way in which some of the staff have been treated, staff who do a brilliant job, work very well and do outstanding reporting, and in light of the fact there is a crisis there at the moment, I urge the public to pay their television licence, and I will say why. I do not want what is almost €200 million to dry up. It is very important money. If we do not pay the televisi…

First, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on the two events we had recently. Unfortunately, I was not here for Governor Healey's address yesterday, even though she has south Roscommon and east Galway connections. I had asked for a speaking slot, but something arose and I did not get here. It was nice to see the Governor address the Seanad. I support the Order of Business, as laid out by the Acting Leader. I want to reflect briefly on a national movement that has made us all sit up and see what can be done, namely, th…

I probably rushed the Minister.

When is it proposed to take the next Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

First, I congratulate our Special Olympians. I think 73 of them participated in the games. Along with their families and their coaches, they have done our country proud. When you see them performing and clutching the Irish flag, you can see that they are proud people. They have such great supporters as well. I am sure everybody will support my comments in congratulating them and wishing them well. Second, I welcome the fact in the month of May, more mortgages were approved than in any period since 2011. This is a c…

The Slovenian ambassador has left the Chamber but I wish him and his people well. I endorse everything the Cathaoirleach said in that regard. I acknowledge and admire the contribution of Senator Conway. It is nice to see Breege here with him today. I did not go for a dip at dawn like Senator Conway, but well done. As the Cathaoirleach said in the context of his disability, he is such an advocate. He is always appearing on radio stations and doing things to encourage people who have sight issues. He is always fighti…