I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I congratulate Brigadier General Rossa Mulcahy, a Newbridge and County Kildare native, who is to be appointed Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces on 1 June when Lieutenant General Seán Clancy will be going to chair the European Union military committee. I know Rossa very well. He is a very fine person. There are huge challenges ahead of both gentlemen, and I wish them well. Yesterday was World Wildlife Day. I want to give a shout-out to Dan Donoher, who ha…

-----and was very impressed with what he saw. It is important that we do what we can to protect our biodiversity, which includes our wild animals, birds and plants. I wish our Special Olympics athletes well. They are flying out to Turin on Friday next for the Special Olympics World Winter Games. There are 14 athletes competing and there is a full team of 23, including managers and coaches. I understand that 80 family members are travelling with them, and 50 volunteers. Our 14 athletes are competing in floorball and…

The Order of Business is No. 1, Statute Law Revision Bill 2024 - Committee Stage, to be taken at 12.15 p.m.

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. As this is my first time taking the Order of Business, I thank everybody for their co-operation. We started off this morning with Senator Fitzpatrick who spoke about the three-year war of aggression against Ukraine. Many of us had the opportunity to meet the ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko, yesterday, and express personally to her our solidarity. Senator Fitzpatrick is right; we need to reaffirm that on every occasion we can. Senator Fitzpatrick also spoke about the importance of th…

I appreciate the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, to take this matter. It is an important issue for all of those impacted. Day centres provide a valuable service in the communities and towns in which they operate. We saw during Covid the negative impact the closure of day care centres had for older people. In this instance I am talking about the Allenwood day care centre, which is located in the Ballyteague GAA centre. It is a fabulous place in the middle of nature. It really provided a great sp…

I thank the Minister of State for his empathy and understanding. I appreciate he is new to his role. I also appreciate that he has taken the time to look into this. I find it incredible that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is holding this process up by conducting an internal review. The fact is that service users and their families are being let down. That decision should be superseded by the HSE and the Minister of State. I mentioned Karen Gorey, who is spearheading this campaign. She has written to the Ministe…

Yes. This is an important thing to do, so I appreciate that. I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. Two weeks ago, we had the announcement of an investment of €713 million in our regional and local roads, which is a record amount of money and is certainly very welcome. It includes some bridge rehabilitation works and some surveying around pavements. We need to look at bridges on their own because many of the areas we represent have a lot of old bridges. Between Waterways Ireland, Irish Rail, the…

I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad. This may be his first time here since the reinstatement of the Seanad. I wish him well in his role. It is a daunting one but I have no doubt he will bring much experience, expertise and passion to the area. May this side of the House, and certainly the Fianna Fáil group, be associated with the condolences to the family and friends of Kacper Dudek? His death was a tragic accident. We certainly share in the expressions of sympathy. It is of scant comfort to those impacte…

I will be sharing time with my colleague, Senator Clifford-Lee.

I move: That Seanad Éireann: recognises that: - the Programme for Government commits to developing a strategic public transport network; - with a dispersed population, connectivity is essential to foster continued economic growth for communities and industry; - by investing in public transport services, we will enhance connectivity across Ireland, giving people more choice and supporting sustainable growth; agrees that: - the public must have confidence in the quality and reliability of our public transport network…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Buttimer, back to this Chamber. We miss him but we absolutely wish him well in his new, really important role. I know, as I have been watching, that he has taken a lot of notes on the issues we have raised from right around the country. We look forward to having another interaction at a later time to see the progress made on them. I thank all of those who have contributed to this debate. I thank all within the ranks of Fianna Fáil Senators for supporting this motion. It is the first P…

Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader of the House. It seems unbelievable that it was three years yesterday that we woke up to the news that Russia had invaded Ukraine. Since then, we have had three years of a war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine. There have been many fatalities with people displaced and Europe has been in a state of chaos. We have to think of all the Ukrainians, both those in Ukraine and those who have left. We must also think of those who have come to Ireland. I want to…

I will be sharing my time with Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

I welcome the Minister to the House. He is absolutely the right person at the right time. There is no doubt there is a huge weight of responsibility on his shoulders. We need to get this right and I have no doubt he will. I appreciate the fact he mentioned Jennie's law in his introduction. I worked closely with Jason Poole, whom the Minister met several times himself, in establishing a domestic violence register Bill. We hope to see that come to fruition under the Minister's leadership during this mandate. This is …

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader of the House. I offer my congratulations to two sporting heroes. First, Sam Prendergast from Cut Bush in Kildare, who was nominated as the man of the match in the Six Nations match at Murrayfield last week. We are all incredibly proud of him. Second, another young man, Michael Noonan from Ellistown, again in Kildare, who is the 16-year-old Shamrock Rovers player who made history in Norway last week by becoming the youngest scorer in the history of European c…

We will have the LAMA awards on Saturday. I thank the good people in LAMA and AILG for all the work they do. When we look at the list of the different types of awards, and the nominees are from all around the country, it is fantastic to see really good practice in local government. We have awards in everything from tourism to sustainability to festivals. Indeed, Brigid 1500 is nominated for one of the awards. It would be great if we could organise a presentation on the good practice in all of the local authorities …

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader of the House. There has been a long interim since I was last in this seat and I thank all those who supported me along the way. It was a pleasure to engage with people who care passionately about their communities throughout the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland over recent months as I sought their support to represent them in the Seanad. Somebody said yesterday that it did not really matter where any of us come from because we have a national mandate, …

I propose to share time with Senators Casey and Rabbitte.

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I congratulate him on his reappointment to Cabinet. There are many challenges ahead. We wish him well on this side of the House concerning those challenges. As he rightly pointed out, we have a new team of Ministers who have unmatched vision and ambition regarding the challenges ahead for our country and what we need to do to reach to them. We have a good mix of experience, talent, knowledge and vision to meet those many challenges. We are conscious of the challenges with a po…