Last Friday morning, I was in Scramoge outside Strokestown at the opening of a new car park at the church. Scramoge Tidy Towns fundraised and applied for the car park and got support from the community support fund of the local Sliabh Bawn wind farm. Quite often, we miss out on those community support funds and the value of them. What the funding was able to deliver in Scramoge is testament to such funds and I acknowledge former councillor Joe Murphy and all this team there. After that, I went up to Arigna for the …

Scramoge.

I agree wholeheartedly. As someone who has been out with communities cleaning up our streets and parks, the volume of these single-use vapes that builds up all over the place is amazing. The Bill has an enforcement side. Every day, Senators come in to this Chamber to talk about one thing or another, and the lack of enforcement. The Minister and Ministers of State empower the HSE in this area and are giving them powers to impose significant fines on businesses found in contravention. Rather than including an amendme…

Now.

Now.

I move: “That Seanad Éireann: welcomes the: - measures from Government on energy affordability, including the: - lowering and retention of the lower VAT rate on electricity and gas bills; - Household Benefits Package for all households of persons 70 years of age or older; - reduction in excise duties on petrol, diesel and marked diesel; - increase in the rate and duration of the National Fuel Allowance Scheme; - expansion of the National Fuel Allowance Scheme to 50,000 more households; - progress of the Security of…

Yes.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, to the House this afternoon. It is unfortunate that none of the Opposition are in attendance today.

It is worth pointing out. I am pleased to bring forward the motion because it deals with something that affects every household, farm, business and community in Ireland. Electricity is no longer simply another utility. It is a service that allows people to heat their homes, refrigerate food, milk cows, operate businesses, work remotely, communicate with loved ones and, increasingly, charge vehicles and power heat pumps. When electricity fails today, life almost comes to a standstill. Before I go any further, I ackn…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. He has given us something to think about. He has given us direction as to how we might be able to proceed from here. I welcome that. I acknowledge all of the Senators who made a contribution today. Senators P.J. Murphy called for an adult conversation on the future of our energy generation in the country and welcomed the €18.9 billion investment in the infrastructure. I recognise and can relate to Senator O'Loughlin's stories about being in north-west Kildare and the …

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for taking this matter. I want to begin by recognising the significant progress that has been made with the housing adaptation grant scheme. The publication of the 2024 review led to real, meaningful reform, and I welcome the fact that many of the recommendations have been implemented from that review. The increase of more than 30% in the grant limits, the increase in the income thresholds, the reduction in the local authority contribution from 20% to 15% and the change…

I need assistive technology for the ringtone. I thank the Minister of State very much for his response. The review of the schemes took place in 2024. An awful lot of the recommendations have been enacted, which is wonderful. That is not something we are used to. It shows that the Minister has listened and adapted and changed the schemes. There is a scheme to provide solar panels to medically vulnerable individuals. I was trying to see if I could get a generator or a back-up battery to support the individual. It is …

I support Senator Ryan's call on dental care. I would go a step further. I have called in this House previously to expand the role of hygienist to potentially increase capacity in the system. I would appreciate it if we could have a further discussion on that in the House. Today, I acknowledge the report just published by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use. It put nine months of extensive work into the report and I look forward to reading the recommendations. From what I have read so far, the committee too…

The Minister is welcome to the Chamber. I commend Senator Fitzpatrick and her Fianna Fáil colleagues on tabling this motion. The first line reads, “a cornerstone of balanced regional development”. It was only last week we had a discussion and I called for more balanced regional development. I come from the north west, and we always feel that we do not get our fair share. We need a lot more investment to deliver the infrastructure we require. In the past three weeks, I had the Minister for tourism, Deputy Burke, in …

He pays it too, actually. Businesses in major cities and other urban spots that have tourism footfall are already paying substantial rates. They are paying for services that they should already be receiving. I am going to go back to the top line again, which is regional development and delivering the infrastructure that we need. I would love a further discussion on this to potentially look at a development fee being introduced in our major airports. I had this conversation with my colleagues, especially Senator Pár…

I, too, would like to be associated with the congratulations to Senator Ahearn. I congratulated him on Thursday in his absence. We met Liam, his father, last week. He was here a day early prior to the announcement. It is great to have Laura, Daniel and Jamie here. I must shake hands with Jamie and Daniel. From what I have heard, one if not both of them will be future soccer stars. We want to get the photographs in early. I would also like to congratulate Councillor Domnick Connolly, who was elected cathaoirleach of…

I, too, would like to be associated with the good wishes to Senators Ahearn and Cathal Byrne on their appointments. When the announcement was made, I was wondering did they get the right Gareth in the first place, but there were 17 good candidates in the race and a good decision has been made. We are in good hands for the remainder of the term. I also welcome the planning green light for Coillte's development in Lough Key Forest Park in Boyle. It was just announced this morning. There will be redevelopment and upgr…

-----before Senator Comyn gets in and tries to convince everyone to go to Louth again.

It is too late.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. I know this is not her brief, but I thank her for attending. I welcome the opportunity to raise this important issue. I call on the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to make a statement on the community support fund and similar issues. My message today is very simple. While capital funding for community projects is welcome and important, many community groups are struggling most with their day-to-day running costs, and they need support no…