In recent days, a member of An Garda Síochána, Garda Padraig Scott, who lives about 40 km from me at home, was brutally attacked in County Cavan where he was on duty. I will not say much about the case because we do not know a lot about it at the moment. However, I would like the House to wish Garda Scott well today and to utterly and totally condemn another attack on a member of An Garda Síochána. In the middle of the night, Garda Scott obviously noticed something that was not correct and he has paid a great price…

The invasion by Russia of Ukraine's sovereign territory and its attack on the Ukrainian people is an outrageous and immoral breach of the most fundamental and basic principles of international law. Our thoughts are with President Zelenskyy and the innocent people of Ukraine in their most difficult hour and hours to come. It is saddening to watch as the might of Russia closes in on another city. Russia is warning the people to get out. It is blowing up buildings in the middle of the city, killing people. It is just …

That is some good news for Senator Malcolm Byrne.

The Minister of State was taking notes.

Sorry, Senator. It is very unfortunate that we are having this with a Commencement matter. It never happens. It is a very important procedure that we have open to us. I ask the Senator and the Minister of State to proceed with the Commencement matter. In fairness, I was watching the Minister of State and he was taking notes.

I gave the Minister of State an extra two minutes because it was important to get the full response on the record of the House.

I thank all the Senators and Ministers of State who have been with us this morning. I also thank the staff. It is lovely to see young people here, during their mid-term break, to hear part of our debate this morning. They are very welcome. I believe I know who they are. I hope they enjoy the rest of their day.

As have many other Members, I want to express my horror and upset at what happened overnight. I got up early this morning to return from Roscommon and I switched on the news after 5 a.m. Having listened over recent days it was probably inevitable it would happen but I still had a belief that Putin would not push this way. The sad thing today is to hear about people being killed and injured. They are innocent people. I am really shocked by the arrogance of the attack. Most of us accepted that there might be some inc…

Senator Flynn is doing very well, just as well as any of us. It is no harm saying that. It is great to be a part of this debate. I have great faith in Deputy Butler as a Minister of State. I do not think we could have a more hard-working Minister with responsibility for mental health. Apart from her everyday duties as part of a Government, she travels up and down the country to engage with people: the people who run the services, people who use them and people who want to use them. I wish to remember all the people…

I invited the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to visit the centre. This is important. Every politician has the right to criticise and question, but we must all deal with the facts. There is no doubt there is a shortage of staff because the HSE cannot get the positions filled. That is the reality. There is a service, however, and children are being treated at the centre. There is also an outreach programme. I visited with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, but I also went of my own accord, unannounced, and I sa…

Next Tuesday at 2.30 p.m.

Senator Currie spoke about the remote working hubs, how important they are and the recent Government announcement regarding extra funding for those hubs, which is very welcome. They are going to be very important to all parts of the country, particularly rural Ireland. There are approximately 200 hubs in place, with a plan to increase that number to over 400 within the next two years. That is really good news. The other good news is the announcement today by the Government of €7 million in support for the pig indus…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. She deserves a good deoch uisce after that wonderful presentation to us. I deliberately left her an extra few minutes because I think all of us here in the Chamber and those of us listening in or watching realise how important this legislation is. It will be a very hard act for Senator Martin to follow his sister. The next eight minutes are his.

I thank Senator Martin. That was not a bad follow-up act after the Minister.

Senator Cassells will shortly take over for me in the Chair. I look forward to making my own presentation. I have been impressed by everything that has been said so far.

The Bill will, among other things, establish a new regulator and multi-person media commission, to which an online safety commissioner will be appointed. While there are significant regulatory and legal frameworks in place to address many online issues such as data protection and criminal justice responses to criminal activities online, there is a serious gap in Ireland and internationally when it comes to addressing harmful online content. This new law will close that legal gap and establish a robust regulatory fr…

Yesterday was a good day for my county. An Chistin, which is a food hub in the town of Castlerea, was granted almost €700,000 extra by the Government, through the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, to start food business incubation units. This is driven by the community and the people on the ground. It is a bottom-up approach, which is very welcome. That comes on top of an extraordinary allocation of almost €2.2 million in sports capital grants for 51 sporting interests in the county. I…

A Chathaoirligh, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to raise this matter. I know from listening to all the requests that have been made to you that it is hard to include everybody. We all understand that you have to make these decisions. I welcome the Minister of State. I am sorry I missed meeting him at the battle in Navan last Sunday when the Rossies, Roscommon, took down the Royals, Meath. I only realised when I was talking to the Minister of State earlier that he was there, but I am sure there will be f…

I thank the Minister of State. He has given a very honest assessment of the situation that exists. I should, of course, have mentioned the whole area of construction and retrofitting. When the one-stop shop gets up and running many people will see they will be able to carry out this work. I hope there will be low-cost loans. We will need extra workers in this regard. I accept we have a massive apprenticeship programme that will mean more trained people coming on line before too long. I accept the Minister of State …

I want to return to the issue of crime against our older people. I am sorry I have to raise this today. Let me at the outset say we are not here to frighten people but we have to deal with the facts. I am just quoting from a piece from today's edition of the Irish Independent about the most recent attack in Kildare: The incident in Kildare happened at around 9.30 p.m. on Tuesday night when the three-man gang broke into the homeowner’s shed. He was alerted to the break-in by the sound of his dog barking and was atta…