No. Senator Fitzpatrick's amendment will be discussed separately.

Senator Warfield, is that acceptable to you?

Senator Warfield, is that acceptable to you? The Minister of State has indicated, in reply to Senator Higgins, that he will come back on this amendment on Report Stage. The Minister of State seems to be in favour of what you are saying.

I am sorry for interrupting. The House stands suspended for 15 minutes in accordance with the order of the Seanad of Tuesday, 25 May.

I strongly support my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick's, amendment. It is good to see widespread support for it in the House. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, are adamant, and we know it from what the Minister has said to us, that they will do everything that can be done to solve this housing crisis. I will repeat what I said recently in the House. None of us, regardless of what side we are on, deserves to be a Member of the Oireachtas if we cannot solve the housin…

Last weekend was a pretty good weekend for the people around Lough Funshinagh in Roscommon. I want to take this opportunity to thank a number of people. First, I thank the Deputy Leader who, in consultation with the Leader, made contact on the matter with the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW, Deputy O'Donovan. I also contacted the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue on it. I thank the Cathaoirleach for facilitating a Commencement matter debate w…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth.

It is your final submission.

I will allow the Minister of State to come back in a minute. Senator Ahearn has one minute to respond.

On the one hand, it was fantastic to see everywhere opening up. Going along the quays this morning, one certainly knew that it was a new day. I have not seen such traffic chaos for a long time. Nevertheless, we must stay patient because the most important thing is the joy being brought to many businesses, families and people and the hope that we are finally exiting what has been a terrible time. I would still sound a note of caution. We must still be very careful about how we proceed. I welcome the Minister of Stat…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. He has a genuine interest in making life a better place for our youth. We should all subscribe to that type of thinking. I thank Senator Seery Kearney for bringing forth this important motion. In terms of Covid, young people have lost out on school and college time, participation in sports, part-time jobs, their social lives and their relationships. The rug was plugged from under them, but we need to acknowledge some of the work they have done. For example, those who had gra…

I am delighted to have a few minutes to address this issue, which is really important for all of us. I welcome the Minister. Knowing him as I do, I know the commitment he has and the hours he is putting in to make this work. I have every confidence he will succeed. I also compliment our colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick, who does Trojan work with this. I assure Senators that it is the top issue at all our parliamentary party meetings. There is a lot of repetition here and stuff I could go into but I will not do that. …

She should withdraw it.

We are not talking down.

On this day of great hope, we certainly hope that we will have a summer and get back to some form of normality. The feeling of happiness on every local and national radio station I listened to this morning, and from speaking to people, is just unreal. Let us hope matters continue in this way, but we must always be wary and careful because that is the only way we will reopen and stay open. I agree with Senator Dolan about the jobs announcement for Roscommon and Galway. It is particularly good coming in the light of …

I am glad to see the Minister in the House. When I was in the Dáil and I chaired some sessions, we used to meet far more regularly but I have to say that his courtesy to me when I was in the Chair always stood out and I always appreciated that. The Minister concluded his contribution as follows: Looking to the future, the Government wants to ensure that the banking and financial system is one that will effectively contribute and support economic growth and employment. Ultimately, the banking industry should not be …

Listening to the many contributions, it has been very interesting to study them all. There is quite a consensus around the place with regard to what we are discussing. Northern Ireland is at a very delicate stage. We, as a nation, need to be careful and proceed with great caution. The Good Friday Agreement is the only show in town. We must not play around, for any political reason, with the future of our island. We have had many setbacks in recent times. The shared island unit is of huge significance. For the first…

On Tuesday, 11 May at 9 a.m. in the convention centre.

Before I move on to my main topic, I want to take this opportunity to commend the Minister for all her work in education. A lot of it is done early in the morning and late at night, and I often text the Minister with a problem and she always gets back to me. It is generally recognised that, through the most difficult period many of us have seen in our lives, she has acted in a fantastic manner and given great leadership. Having somebody doing the leaving certificate in our own home, I know that the moves she made t…

My thanks to the Minister for bringing that reply to the House. It is an acknowledgement that something is happening, and that is to be welcomed. I have to accept there are some working documents in place that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine cannot release, but I imagine we could consider releasing some of the material in some areas. I am talking about the records in the context of a fantastic tourism, history and heritage building in our area, the National Famine Museum in Strokestown. When thing…