I would like to acknowledge the officials who sit here for hours and hours on end, providing briefs to Ministers, listening to what has been said and bringing that back to their Department. That is how amendments get made and brought here. I would like to acknowledge their presence here and thank them for the work they do. It would be remiss of me not to thank the Irish Air Line Pilots' Association, IALPA, for its engagement with all of us and its genuine concern for its members. I particularly mention Captain Cull…

On 12 July, in the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, I asked the Minister, Deputy Coveney, if the constitutionality of overflights by the RAF had ever been considered by the Cabinet. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, replied that “We do not have overflight arrangements with the RAF, to be clear.” Yesterday afternoon in the House of Commons, following a question from Mr. Ian Paisley Jr., the DUP MP for North Antrim, on the issue of overflights by the RAF in Irish airspace, the relevant Minister …

With all due respect, it is fairly clear.

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach who has been awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. I am not sure if it means that he is wise. The award was made by the Ukrainian President and is quite prestigious. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. We read in The Journal today that the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Defence are at loggerheads over the continued service of a number of sergeants who joined the Defence Forces in 1994. These valuable, highly skilled, highly trained people will be lost at the…

Well done.

On 22 October, Daniel McConnell, the political editor of the Irish Examiner , wrote an excellent piece about how general data protection regulation, GDPR, commercial sensitivity and various other excuses are being used to deny members of the press and Members of the Oireachtas access to information. This is something that has concerned me for some time. For example, I put in a freedom of information request recently and I sought information regarding the tender for consultancy for the Department of Transport in the…

Credit where credit is due, the Minister, Deputy Harris, as the Minister in charge of further and higher education, has done more for those sectors than any Minister I can recall in my time.

Let us not get too touchy about it now.

The bottom line is that it is a new Department but other Ministers had responsibility in that area and we never saw the movement we are seeing now. Credit where credit is due. I am just back from Tallinn, where I was involved in the Tallinn Digital Summit. One of the issues I am concerned about is the overemphasis on academic qualifications in the area of cybersecurity. We need to develop skills-based programmes at a lower level. That is something I am hoping to see the further education sector develop over the com…

May we heckle?

On 31 August, I wrote to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, following a request from a member of the public about tender documents that had been released by the Department of Transport for the procurement of consultancy services for search and rescue services. My letter questioned why there were two very similar tenders in the marketplace. The first detailed tender issued in June and closed on 31 August. The second tender, which seemed to be for the same job, requir…

It was intimidating for me.

It was intimidating for me. When a Member of this House is told that an email that was sent to Ministers is being referred to the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and the Office of the Attorney General, that is intimidating. I would like the Minister for Transport to come to the House to reassure all Members that he does not support or subscribe to any form of intimidation. I ask the Secretary General to comply with Article 83 of EU Directive 2014/24/EU and appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transpo…

It is strange that every time I come into the Seanad for the Order of Business, something derails my line of thought. Senator Doherty has certainly derailed mine today. I have a sister who lost two children at full term. I cannot begin to tell the House the pain that she has felt in her life at the loss of those children. I fully support what Senator Doherty is trying to do. I offer my deepest sympathies to Caroline and Martin Smith, who are in the Gallery. I congratulate the Acting Leader on his elevation. I spent…

I am aware that my colleagues want to talk about my trip to Qatar. I am quite prepared to give a detailed report next week on that. It is a cheap shot but leaving that aside-----

The bottom line is this. What an embarrassment that this State, in which we constantly talk about our sovereignty and neutrality and hear all the other nonsense about the defence of the State, is unable to protect the very lifeblood of data that come through this country or the economic zone for which we are responsible? People speak about the "cloud" as if it was up there. It is not. It is beneath sea and is coming in off our west coast. We have no idea what is going on there. We must remember one thing, however. …

I am well aware that he was here last week. There are times when other Ministers are here and Senator Buttimer is not. I was away on business and the Senator can like it or lump it. The Minister needs to come to the House to explain. The story only broke in the last few days.

No chance.

Votáil.

Bringing this legislation through the House has been a painful experience.