We need to back away from our Paddy neutrality and become serious about real neutrality. Our negligence in all matters of defence and security will in the heel of the hunt damage Ireland's attractiveness for FDI and, once lost, it will take years to retrieve. I regret having to point out that the Minister of State's portfolio includes defence yet we are told that she has no role in defence. That is simply unacceptable. I believe she is a strong Minister of State and that she would be wonderful in day-to-day operati…

I join the Cathaoirleach in offering my condolences to the D'Arcy family. Today we had the annual Defence Forces 1916 ceremony. The Cathaoirleach did us proud by reading a prayer as Gaeilge, which, as a former sáirsint from An Chéad Cathlán Coisithe, Gaillimh, was lovely to hear. I thank him for that. It is ironic that we were honouring the Defence Forces and the founding fathers of our State today while at the same time, representatives of the combined uniformed services of An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces an…

I, too, would like to be associated with the sympathies to Michael's family. I welcome the Polish ambassador. I could not trump the Cathaoirleach's words. He said everything we needed to say. The ambassador is always welcome in the House. Yesterday, I mentioned overseas development aid and the moneys flowing out of Ireland to other countries. We have to start asking a question. If we are, for example, funding education in somewhere like Mozambique or Zambia, are we allowing that government to put funding it would o…

We are in election mode, and will be for the next 12 months as far as I can see. Regarding overseas development aid, Ireland must be the most generous country in the world or home to the greatest shower of idiots who ever walked the earth. Let me talk about Ethiopia receiving €552 million from this State in overseas development aid. Its military budget is $1.58 billion. It has a defence force complement of 503,000 and 220 battle tanks, 345 personnel carriers and 97 military aircraft. It has no naval ships. Mozambiq…

The Minister of State is decent and hardworking, and I regret he is here. This is nothing personal and I hope he accepts what I say as a professional observation. We have a Minister for Defence and a Minister of State with responsibility for EU Affairs and Defence. While I accept that the Minister for Defence is out of the country, it is outrageous that the Minister of State is not available. I understand the Minister of State has been told she has defence in her portfolio in name only, and she should not engage in…

I thank the Minister of State for coming here this morning. It is not easy to come in and face somebody on questions in an area not designated as being within his area of responsibility. The concerns I have are not in any way alleviated by the document provided for the Minister of State by the Department. It is a matter that the defence committee will take up in the coming weeks. It is to be hoped we will get to where we should be. The response from the Department clearly states that this happened in conjunction wi…

I will start by welcoming the ambassador from Estonia and the Estonian-Irish friendship group. Estonia has been a great friend to Ireland, particularly in advising in areas of cybersecurity. The willingness of the Estonians to host delegations from Ireland is something for which I am personally extremely grateful, as are those I brought to Estonia. It is great to be able to visit a country that is so open and willing to share the learning it has had in the area of cyber. My colleague, Senator Ward, adverted to the …

I second my colleague Senator McDowell's amendment. The time has come to establish whether we live in a democracy and whether this House has the right to debate issues that are important to the citizens of this State. Bringing in legislation and just ramming it through is becoming rather tiresome. I would have expected the referendums had taught a lesson to the Government to engage in proper parliamentary debate, so I second Senator McDowell's motion. Today, the current cadet class will graduate in the Curragh and …

We had a junior Minister appointed to the Department of Defence in the recent reshuffle but given absolutely no responsibility in that Department. It is the second time this has happened. As a democracy, we are one of the outliers in the world with respect to the fact that we do not have a published national security strategy. There was a statement published some time ago but that is not a strategy. In addition, we have a national security analysis centre and I know of nothing that it has produced. If we are honest…

I, too, welcome Senator O'Hara to the Seanad. Today is not the day for a discussion on by-elections. I came to this House through a by-election but we will have that discussion and I encourage everyone to join in. I thank the Fine Gael Party and the now Taoiseach, Deputy Harris, for choosing my home town for his first Ard-Fheis. I was delighted to see them there. If the Taoiseach brings half the energy he brought to the Department for further and higher education to the Office of the Taoiseach, I expect great thing…

What about homework off?

This morning I rise to raise two issues. One is the issue of wind turbines. My colleague Senator McGreehan has been working on a particular scheme in Monasterboice in County Louth. The problem is that the regulations we are working under are outdated. The turbines being put in are way bigger than any turbine that had been put in under the old regulations. All erection of wind turbines should be paused until the regulations are brought up to date. They should then be built in accordance with the modern regulations r…

I, too, add my voice to those who have spoken on the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar's resignation today. I will leave the media to decide what kind of Taoiseach he was. For me, he was a sensitive and shy man who was nice to meet and have a word with. I wish him well wherever he goes from here. We are all aware of the drugs somebody tried to land off the south-west coast of this country last weekend. I understand drug barons are now using submarines to export drugs to Europe. The back door of Europe is Ireland and w…

I welcome Senator Fitzpatrick to her role as Acting Leader today. I take the opportunity to acknowledge Saoírse Ruane, the 12-year-old who appeared on "The Late Late Show". In her short life, she raised millions of euro for children. We should remember her today. I spent the past few days in Brussels and Bruges to discuss defence and security. I have spoken many times about my great concern regarding our defenceless Atlantic coastline. The Cathaoirleach, as a Cork man, will know we have only one ship patrolling the…

It is a worthwhile endeavour.

At the outset, I record my sympathy to the family of Councillor Pat Hynes in Galway, who sadly passed away this morning. Pat is the uncle of Geraldine Donohue, who works here with Senator Boyhan. I would also like to remember Corporal Tadhg Quinn, one of the Jadotville heroes denied a medal, who passed away today. Yesterday, there was an attack on me in the House about having my photograph taken with the Israeli ambassador. I was told by a colleague from Sinn Féin that I should be ashamed of myself for standing for…

I move amendment No. 1: After the last paragraph under "calls on the Government to:", to insert the following paragraphs: " - restore the pensions of members of An Garda Síochána to what it was pre-2008 and remove the requirement for post-1996 retirees to sign on for jobseekers benefit while awaiting access to full pension; - implement the recommendations listed in multiple reports concerning the working conditions of Gardaí to incentivise recruitment because the calls listed above cannot be achieved without suffic…

I compliment Senator Moynihan on bringing forward the Labour Party motion. As she spoke, I had visions of my youth where there was one garda in Salthill in Galway and that one garda was able to police the entire holiday resort. I remember a row breaking out one night in Salthill and the garda stood in the middle of the road and put the two opposing sides on either side the street and nobody dared move. Try doing that today. It is all very well for the Minister to talk about community gardaí and all that sort of thi…

Limerick is a city today in which we do not have huge crime. It is a pleasurable city to visit. It was done by co-operation across the board between communities, gardaí and elected representatives in Limerick who had a direct line into the Garda station. Where there was a problem, it was possible to fix it. The Minister must fix the terms and conditions of employment for gardaí, and engage with the GRA, the AGSI and the superintendents with respect to such things as rosters and supports. I too would welcome body ca…

I move amendment No. 2: After the last paragraph under “calls on the Government to:”, to insert the following paragraph: “- ensure that the important role played by local authority members in policing is protected by granting them equivalent duties and representation in the new Safety Partnerships and by appointing a designated Garda who can act as a contact for councillors.”.