I second the proposal.

I want to extend my good wishes to a good friend of many years, the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming. It is lovely to call him that after all these years. As I said earlier in the House, I am sure he would like the circumstances of his appointment to be different but it is great that he is in the job. He has always been a man of common sense and understanding. I have been following the debate from my office and there have been some very good contributions in the Chamber today. I go back to a point I made in the de…

Nobody else is offering to contribute, so I will call the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, to reply. I congratulate him again. Little did he think this time last week that he would be required at this debate as a Minister of State. There is a lot of goodwill and many good wishes towards him.

I agree with Senator Black regarding artists, particularly musicians. As Senators Black and Warfield and the Chair will be aware, I have a great association with those people through my time in local radio. At the moment, they are in distress financially and they need assistance. They feel they are being left out of the loop and we must address that. I want to return to the issue of private coach companies, which a number of Members have spoken about. There are 11,500 people employed in the sector and there are 1,6…

I will not take the full five minutes; I will give some of the time to other Members. I wish the Leas-Chathaoirleach well. He will do a fine job and will have my full co-operation. Rather than repeat everything said by my colleague, Senator Crowe, and by other Members, I will agree with many of the sentiments and add one or two remarks to them. It has been stated over and over again that we have in excess of 1.3 million people involved in small businesses up and down the country. As has correctly been said, they ar…

First, I want to respond to the comments of Senator Craughwell to assure him with regard to the Defence Forces. Like Senator O'Loughlin, I will use every opportunity, as part of the Government formation, to speak to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, on a number of issues relating to the Army. We have issues in my part of the country with regard to the western command and Athlone. Without question, it will be an important matter and I am sure it will be discussed a number of times here in the House. I will briefly refer…

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Ar an gcéad dul síos, déanaim comhghairdeas leis agus lena chlann. Is lá speisialta é. Déanaim comhghairdeas freisin le Seanadóir Doherty agus Seanadóir Chambers. I hope the comments of Senator Craughwell that he will work with the Cathaoirleach for the next 12 months do not mean he is expecting an election in 12 months' time.

I hope not. It is important today for people like me who served in the last Dáil - I am really privileged to have been elected to the Seanad - to thank the staff of the Seanad, the Clerk, Mr. Martin Groves, and his people for all their guidance over a very difficult time for us. I also thank the ushers, who have been so helpful to us today. We might know every nook and cranny in Leinster House but it is different here and I appreciate it. I also acknowledge the many references to the Government's leadership on Covi…