It is no secret that I am on the other side of the triple lock debate. The triple lock is like having your children come to you to ask if you mind if they go on summer camp, and you say that you are sorry but they will have to go up the road and ask the neighbours, and if the neighbours say it is okay, then they can go. We are a sovereign state. We were a proud sovereign state until 2001, when the triple lock was introduced. The triple lock needs to go. I do not disagree with what Senator Clonan said with respect t…

As a fellow Galwegian, I am proud to welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am very happy with his elevation to the post. They could not have picked a better man. Having said those nice things, I will now launch into what I came to say. I served as a member of the transport and communications committee. This paperwork I have in front of me comprises the submissions that were made to the committee. The committee completed several hours work. In the final analysis, when it should have been carrying out pre-leg…

Some of them.

Yesterday, I spoke on neutrality and the triple lock, and I want to return briefly to that issue. The Tánaiste, Simon Harris, is about to bring forward legislation on the triple lock and there is a lot of discussion and debate among wider society about this terrible thing that is going to be brought about by the Government. There are many misconceptions that the triple lock was always there, but it was not; the triple lock is a fairly recent part of Irish history. The public need to ask themselves whether we really…

The Minister is welcome to the House. I congratulate him on his elevation. I believe there is now a requirement for a statutorily based overarching emergency management structure in Ireland. Storm Éowyn had a devastating impact throughout Ireland. It had a destructive impact on our critical national infrastructure, especially our electricity grid and water resources. Three weeks from deploying national and international repair crews, full recovery of the infrastructural resources had not been achieved. Citizens wer…

There has been a newfound interest in defence in this country. This weekend, there was not one publication that did not have an opinion piece of some sort expressing a view on where defence should be at. They were written by various people. It is a matter of serious concern to me that people in this House and the Lower House find themselves speaking on such things as the triple lock and neutrality without the basic information they need to do so. My colleague Senator Clonan, who is here right now, speaks with infor…

Over the past four years, I have spent considerable time expressing my concerns about the search and rescue, SAR, contract that was being negotiated at that time. The Leader will be aware as a Galwegian that the former GP from the Aran Islands has expressed her deep concern that Shannon is now not able to provide 24-hour, 365 day, SAR services. It is only open from 8 o'clock in the morning until 8 o'clock at night. Sligo was supposed to become operational last Friday and it will not now become operational until pos…

I would ask Members when they speak, to speak into the microphones. I am deaf and we put in a loop hearing system here, which is very good, but if a Member holds notes in front of the microphone, I cannot hear the Member. I ask colleagues to bear in mind that there may be more people deaf in here, not just me.

I too will take the same position as my colleagues and will not participate in today's election. I find it deeply regrettable that we find ourselves in this situation. We have two excellent candidates. I was not aware of Senator Flynn's emergence into the competition until this morning. I had committed to Senator Byrne, a very fine Senator and a wonderful parliamentarian; both of them excellent qualities. However, we have been thrown into this abyss because of what has happened. I want to put something on the recor…

Hear, hear.

There has been some discussion here of the storm and the response to it. I published a document some time ago that I also circulated to Members of the House. I will circulate it to Members again. It is about the requirement to have a statutory-based, overarching emergency management system in the State. We are one of the few states in Europe that does not have a statutory emergency management system. The other issue I wish to bring up is search and rescue. We have been banging this issue to death for the past four …

The Minister State is welcome to the House. I am aware of the fact that, on one side, we have a parallel process going on where we have a number of judicial cases on this issue and, on the other side, we have a transparent process being entered into by the Government. On the basis that it is transparent and open, I welcome that. As to my colleagues who have cases down in the High Court, I wish them well. The State has deep pockets and will probably keep them there for years as they have been keeping me on a secret …

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Congratulations to you. You served well as Cathaoirleach in your last term and I expect you will serve equally as well in this term. I understand you had stiff competition. That is always healthy. I am delighted that you made it across the board. The father of the House who introduced you today is a wonderful parliamentarian and a great friend. I thank him for what he has done. I congratulate my fellow Galwegian, Senator Seán Kyne, who has been appointed Leader of the House. He…

I, too, join all my colleagues in thanking Martin Groves and his staff for their professionalism and their support at times when we need it. I think we all echo that. We are entering into an electoral cycle. I wish all my colleagues well as they go forward for election. Many of our colleagues have been hounded out of office by disinformation and misinformation and by the venom that is expressed on social media in this country. I ask candidates who are being hounded out of office or as they run for election to call …

I welcome the Minister to the House. We are in an electoral cycle now. One of the things I regard as very poor form from this House is the information provided to candidates on the implications that may affect them on election to the Parliament, whether it is to the Dáil or the Seanad. In my case, when I got elected to this House, I took a salary hit of €10,000 annually. Despite membership of this House being based on people bringing their professional expertise to it based on the panel they are elected to, legisla…

On the issue of weapons passing through our sky, until such a time as we have an airforce that can intercept and interdict we can do sweet damn all about it. Talking about it is of little value, action is what is needed. The Leader will know that I have spent quite a lot of the period of this Seanad working in the area of cybersecurity. I brought a number of delegations to Tallinn in Estonia where we were shown the best of the best by NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, CCDCOE, and CR14, which is…

I welcome the Minister. This is the first time I have addressed him since he became Minister for Finance and I offer my congratulations. I am not here to give the Bill a hammering but there are a couple of points I would like to make. First and foremost, I want to raise the issue of the USC, on which Senator Boyhan made a speech this morning. It came in as a short-term tax to help with a specific issue but it has hung around and it really needs to go. Perhaps it could not have gone in one fell swoop, but it would h…

I will leave it at that and thank the Minister for his time.

The Leas-Chathaoirleach and Deputy Leader will be aware that I have spoken frequently on the issue of search and rescue, the search and rescue contract and the negotiation of that contract, which has taken place over the past number of years. Last night, I was contacted with respect to the new contract, which includes a fixed-wing element that eliminated the Irish Air Corps from having any role in search and rescue. I was told that the aircraft to be used is a 21-year-old redundant aircraft that once belonged to th…

Yesterday, I had the honour of addressing the space industry in Ireland. I was shocked to learn there are 109 companies operating in that industry, some of which have products in space as part of various scientific projects. That is wonderful. Every now and then, I get an opportunity to congratulate the Government on something. It is great that we have Skillnet, which provides training in respect of future technology in space. There is a whole programme of events and courses in this regard that people can undertake…