As we are seeing an increase in the number of Covid-19-positive patients in hospital and intensive care units, we must consider the best approach to lifting the remaining restrictions before Friday of next week. I know that many people wish to continue going into bars and restaurants over the winter months, but the prospect of sitting beside unvaccinated groups in the absence of public health restrictions makes many people feel very uncomfortable and could limit business within the hospitality sector. Among constit…

I welcome back the members of the Opposition. They were missing last night, for large periods of time, and I was covering the Opposition benches for quite a long time. It is great to see them back. They obviously had nothing to contribute on the budget yesterday. Three Bank of Ireland branches have closed in the past number of days in County Tipperary in Cahir, Cashel and Templemore. It is a huge devastating impact for those towns, businesses and people who live in those areas. Another bank, AIB in Fethard, is clos…

It was essentially a conversation between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil about the budget. That was what we were doing.

I was on my own over here.

I would like to speak on an announcement in the budget as well and I welcome the significant €898 million funding towards the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in particular. There is a €91 million increase in capital funding in that Department, which represents a 21% increase. I want to focus on decisions that were made on the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, the extension of that until April and the significance of that to businesses across the country. We expect that almost all public restricti…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad. The Chamber is full of representatives of the Government but there are no Opposition Senators present. If there is anything telling about today's announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, it is that no Opposition Senator has been here since before I arrived to make a contribution. Budget day is the most significant day of the year, yet I have a choice of all of the seats on the …

In that case, I have a number of initiatives to welcome but Senators from the Opposition are free to come in and interject. From my own perspective, as someone coming from a rural constituency I welcome that as a Government, we have decided to again increase funding for all rural projects across the country. Since its establishment in 2017, the Department of Rural and Community Development has been very beneficial. The rural regeneration and development fund, LEADER, the town and village renewal scheme and CLÁR wil…

I, too, welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I appreciate his presence. I welcome the announcement yesterday by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, of €308,000 to fund digital training for carers to assist them in gaining employment, the appointment of a new well-being manager and investment under the Dormant Accounts Fund to mark European carers day. In fairness, this investment by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is very welcome. Over the last number of weeks, I have had a number of meet…

I thank the Minister of State for what he stated regarding the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan. In fairness, Deputy Feighan was in County Tipperary only a couple of weeks ago and he met a dementia group regarding the work it does and the support it needs. He is well aware of it. Most of the requests I am talking about are essentially in the programme for Government and all I ask is that we implement the programme for Government over the next number of years. That is a genuine request from Family Carers Ireland an…

Senator Ward named four or five people from Dublin in the context of National Women's Enterprise Day. I would like to mention my sister-in-law, Jennifer, who runs a business at home in County Tipperary. She runs a whiskey business at Tipperary Distillery. She just had a baby a couple of weeks ago.

Like a lot of women who are self-employed and who run a business, she is back at work already, bottling whiskey. I ask the Leader to organise a debate in regard to the roll-out of broadband. Broadband is being rolled out at the moment and, obviously, it was the previous Government which put this through, essentially. The speed of it needs to increase. There are people in Tipperary at Borrisoleigh and Templederry who have been told they can expect to get roll-out of broadband by 2026 or 2027. It is just too far away…

When one talks about common sense, I ask Members to wait until they hear this one. Funeral directors in Cashel, County Tipperary, received a letter from Tipperary County Council last week, stating that the payment for funerals must be made before the burial takes place. I do not know if everyone in this House has experienced going to a funeral director and the interaction involved. There are decisions that must be made, including picking a coffin and everything that goes with that. The last thing one wants is to ha…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: - "the Bill be read a second time this day 9 months to allow for comprehensive consideration of the implications of the Bill." I note the comments of Senator Boyhan. In fairness, this amendment is not about opposing the Bill. Rather, it is about ensuring it is given full consideration, as is expected of us. As Senator O'Loughlin said, it is important to acknowledge the work that has been done here previously by others. I was not …

I welcome the announcement this morning by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, that the community employment scheme and Tús participants who were due to leave their schemes in November will now have their contracts funded until 4 February 2022. There are approximately 13,500 people working on those schemes across the country, including many good people working in Tipperary who support Tidy Towns groups and day care centres. I know that the Leader played a significant role in increasing the number of people who could go…

The review of the national development plan, NDP, is expected to be announced in Cork next week after agreement by the Cabinet. The NDP contains a lot of road projects of which the N20 from Cork to Limerick is one. In my view and that of a lot of people, the most important road project is the N24 that links Limerick to Waterford. Once that road is completed every single city in this country will be connected by a motorway. It is a real priority that the N24 project remains on the NDP. There are a range of issues wi…

I ask the Leader to request an urgent debate with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on energy costs and the capacity of the national grid. While I accept and appreciate that we had the opportunity to speak on these issues yesterday, it was the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, who came in and gave a reply. It is important that the Minister comes to this House and outlines what will happen over the winter months in terms of securing capacity and not having blackou…

I am delighted to be able to speak on and welcome the Housing for All policy. I have to pick up on one point from the start of the debate. There was a mention of a lost decade in housing. I do not want to go over a history lesson on the decade previous to that, for two reasons, in that it is a long time ago and we are in government together now, but if the Minister responds, can he acknowledge the work the former Ministers, Eoghan Murphy and Deputy Coveney, did in reaching the targets they set themselves at a very …

This week the national fuel allowance scheme starts. It is a means-assessed payment. It will be paid for 28 weeks to an estimated 370,000 households across the country. Last winter a total of 16,284 households across Tipperary received fuel allowance through the scheme and they will automatically receive payments again this year, beginning yesterday. The scheme plays a vital role in ensuring families across my county of Tipperary have the security of knowing they will be able to pay their heating bills over the win…

I thank the Minister, Deputy Smyth, for his response. From the negotiations and conversations the Government has had with the CRU, is the CRU confident in the briefings it has given Government that the power outages will not happen during the winter months? Is the Government absolutely sure? The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has spoken a number of times on this and has been very cautious in what he said and very hopeful that there will not be power outages, but have we confidence that there will not be power outages? It i…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber and thank her, her officials and all in the Department for the work they have put in over the past year or more. It has been a very difficult time for people who work in the aviation industry, but the Government has been very supportive and has worked with them to try to get them through the most difficult period they have ever experienced. It is a challenge to come out of that, there is no two ways about that, but the Government is very supportive of the aviation indu…