Is that agreed? Agreed.

Ar dtús, bhí an tAire Stáit anseo inné agus cuirim fáilte roimhe arís inniu. I wish to thank him for all his work on another big problem we have in our part of the country. I am not going to delay this. Basically, I am passing on a request from the community of Ballymoe in County Galway. It is a village that nestles right beside the River Suck. The Minister of State has probably heard of the Suck Valley Way, in which the Government has invested quite a lot of money in conjunction with the local community. The old G…

The Minister of State has given a very comprehensive answer. As he stated, there has been engagement and the community has been given an opportunity. I would say to the community now that if they are interested in the property then they should contact me and the OPW to see if we can resolve the issue. I acknowledge that the OPW has tried to facilitate the local community, and I thank the Minister of State for his reply.

Well done to the Acting Chairperson on chairing this debate. I was listening to it in my office before I came into the Chamber and it has been wonderful to hear the contributions from everybody around the place. We have heard wonderful stories of people in societies and communities. I congratulate Senator Pauline O'Reilly and her colleagues on tabling this worthwhile motion. There was a very important conference recently in Roscommon town under the auspices of LEADER and the Suck Valley Group. We had two wonderful …

I am a bit disappointed that Senator Boyhan jumped the gun on the Lough Funshinagh issue considering that Senator Dolan and I have led on that. Thanks to the Leader we will have a very good debate on the matter coming up shortly. When it comes to the debate I hope the first two speakers will be Senator Dolan coming from Ballinasloe and me coming from Roscommon. I support the comments made by Senator Eileen Flynn on what has been happening to the Ministers, Deputies McEntee and O'Gorman, and to our former Taoiseach,…

Senator Chambers has asked me to share one minute of my time and I have agreed to that. It is always an honour to speak in this House but I do not know whether it is an honour today. As a person living in County Roscommon, I am deeply disturbed and hurt by this. I dedicate my few words today to all those families – the Martin, Beattie, Murray, Kearney, Staunton and Fallon families and others – who have been so badly disrupted by this. I have campaigned for many years on this issue. This is not just another flooding…

Brian Fallon is 80 years old.

We have some people in the Public Gallery from Limerick, agus Dún na nGall - is as Dún na nGall an tAire - agus Contae na Mí. Cuirim fáilte rompu go léir. We hope they enjoy their visit to Leinster House and, particularly, to Seanad Éireann. They look quite happy and are smiling so that looks good.

I will not say much before I hand over to the Aire, as I am in the Chair, other than to endorse the comments of many Senators. However, something that has been very important to date, which the Minister has shown previously, is the way he engages with people, not alone the farming organisations but sometimes individual farmers, who are probably in a distressed state or situation. That is very important. I welcome the fact he has been trying to tidy up areas of moneys from which people can be paid. The transport sch…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire, na Seanadóirí, na huiséirí agus na hoifigigh. Is é seo an deireadh leis an díospóireacht. On a more sombre note, as Senator Mullen and the Minister referred to, in my radio days I had many a conversation with the late Paddy Dunican at the racecourse in Kilbeggan and on the radio. I am really saddened by his departure from this life. As others have done, I extend my sympathies to his family at this really sad time for them.

I thank Senator McGahon for raising that important matter.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Seanadóir Malcolm Byrne. Is é an t-ábhar anois ná the need for the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, to make a statement on the total number of vacant or derelict properties nationwide in the ownership or possession of the Department of Health or the HSE and his strategy to address this issue. Tá ceithre nóiméad ag an Seanadóir.

We will return to Senator Conway. We proceeded because he was not present and we said we would go back to take his Commencement matter.

That is not bad news. I thank the Minister of State and thank the Senator.

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I wish Senator O'Hara the very best of luck. I look forward to working with him. I work well with his colleagues here and I am sure he will become part of that group. I also extend my good wishes to the Taoiseach. We hope the Government will continue to address the issues of importance to the people. One of those is a major one in my own County Roscommon and has now become a national issue, namely, flooding. I refer in particular to the plight of the people around Lough Funshin…

That is a point well made.

I thank the Senator for an argument well made.

The Senator raised a very important point. I am sure others will support her in respect of it. I thank the Minister of State for being here. I thank Senator O’Reilly and the other Senators, the staff of the House and the ushers. The House stands suspended until 11 a.m. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.

I pay tribute to the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar. I did not happen to be around yesterday when the debate took place. I wish him well. It was quite an emotional day for him and some of the Opposition comments could have been more generous on the day that was in it. We have to have respect for one another and, while the Taoiseach did not achieve everything he wanted, he did have some achievements. Any time he came to Roscommon, we always gave him a good céad míle fáilte. I want to dwell for a few moments on the huge …

That is okay. I thank the Cathaoirleach for saying that. I appeal to everybody - we had younger people in here a few moments ago - to drive sensibly on the roads. Gardaí are out there to do a job, and they have to do it. How many more people were not caught? This is becoming a shocking tragedy. I call for a debate on road safety with the relevant Minister. It might be a good thing to do. It might be more of a PR exercise, but it would be good to get it out there because what is happening to families and communities…