I thank the Minister of State for taking this debate this evening. I know this is an issue which is very close to Deputy Calleary's heart. He has argued the case for Mayo very well and very strongly at a number of forums. I was astounded to read an article in The Irish Times which stated that freight services through Dublin Port were to be discontinued. I had assumed that we would be going in the other direction in every sense. In fact, when the new Government was formed last year, I spoke to the Minister for Trans…

Like Deputy Calleary, I am struggling to follow the reply. It seems to tell us that the port is very busy and getting busier. We already know that. That is the whole point of this debate. Why can we not use this to put more freight onto the railways? Why are we discontinuing a vital service at the very time it is needed most and when the port is in expansionary mode? I have gone through the reply a couple of times to see if I missed something. The Minister of State is agreeing with us but not proposing any solution…

My question relates to a commitment in the recently published national resilience and recovery plan to provide a Government data centre. Will the Minister elaborate on plans for that? Is it to be a physical data centre, a system to provide a single view of the citizen or both? What exactly is it to consist of and how exactly will it work?

I thank the Minister. His response was very interesting. I am delighted to hear the centre is to be located in Backweston in my constituency of Kildare North. I am aware of the forensic science laboratory and other State facilities already located there. This will complement the facilities at that location. I know that centre is operating well and it is good to see it growing with this new establishment. I have a couple of questions on the centre itself. Data centres can be very useful and I welcome the fact that t…

I thank the Minister for responding to my comments. I am familiar with the campus at Backweston and have followed its development. Indeed, I was there for the launch of Forensic Science Ireland and the turning of the sod a couple of years ago. It is a great site and it is well located. There is a valuable skill set and talent pool in north Kildare. I thank the Minister for the continued investment in the centre. There are synergies there. As a member of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, I have had…

I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 198, the Online Advertising and Social Media (Transparency) Bill 2017, which lapsed on the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil, shall be restored to the Order Paper at Order for Committee Stage.

The Government supports this Bill, as the Minister of State told us earlier. I support it as a member of a Government party and personally. My then colleague, Billy Kelleher, now an MEP, introduced this Bill in the last Dáil and I spoke in support of it on that occasion. The Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, introduced and took the baton forward on the Bill in the last Dáil and I commend his work on it. There can be no doubt that the consequences for those who perpetrate fraudulent claims should be grave. Consequen…

I intend to ask a few questions of the Minister, if he has time to respond. If he cannot respond to them all, perhaps he can do so in writing. At the outset, I acknowledge this is certainly not a political issue. In fact, it is not even really a medical issue or a health issue as such. It is a supply chain management issue. It is a logistical issue. That is the challenge that we face in shipping this, gathering this and packing this around the country with the attendant storage requirements, etc. In that vein, ther…

I commend the Minister on her approach to date and congratulate her on what she has achieved. I single out the admirable and essential decision last week to try to prioritise two cohorts of students, which are those with special needs and leaving certificate students. It was the right call, for the right reasons, and it is regrettable that it did not prove possible. It does worry me that we have a situation where the system was unable to manage 5% of students returning to 100% of the space in a scenario where 100% …

I am sharing time with Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan. We had a similar debate to this in March last year. It seems incredible that the pandemic has been with us for almost a year. The previous debate took place during the initial lockdown when the Dáil was on a similarly reduced footing, with fewer Deputies in attendance, etc. On that occasion, there was a discussion on the impacts of the Covid crisis on education, full stop, because, at that time, there was no Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Inno…

I welcome the discussion on the Bill and the Minister of State's comments. I credit Deputy O'Reilly for bringing forward the legislation. I was surprised at the tone of a few of the contributions from the Sinn Féin benches on this. It is important that over the next couple of years, or however long the term runs, we in the Dáil avoid the "Government bad, Opposition good" narrative that is such an easy mantra to throw out. For my part, I will certainly engage with all parties and none in the Chamber and evaluate eve…

My question inquires about the progress of the remediation of the Kerdiffstown landfill and, in particular, what additional finances may be forthcoming in relation to same.

I thank the Minister for that positive answer and acknowledge that €23.5 million is quite a significant sum. I know that is not all for Kerdiffstown but is for general landfill remediation. The €3.4 million and extra €2 million that the Minister has committed to this year amounts to a total of €5.4 million, if I have that right. It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the issue of Kerdiffstown landfill. This has been a long battle. The Minister probably recalls me raising it on numerous occasions during the previ…

Do I not have a few minutes longer? How long do I have?

I will not come in again to ask a supplementary question. I will leave my contribution at this. The battle over the landfill was a long one. It is a good news story that we are out the far side of it. I will briefly mention the Kerdiffstown residents' group, the cleaner Naas group and other groups. I will also mention Kildare County Council and the people under the stewardship of Joe Boland who have brought matters to this point. On a historical note, things go full circle. My predecessor in this role and former De…

I understand that we covered some of this issue during Topical Issue matters last week. Can the Minister comment again on the predicament of rural east Kildare with regard to broadband provision?

I thank the Minister and for his engagement on the previous day also. He is very on the ball on this issue and his geography is spot-on today so there are no issues in that regard. Rather than repeat what was said in the debate last week I will focus on a different aspect today. The national broadband plan is under way, which is great, and we want it to happen as quickly and effectively as possible, but is there merit in also looking at measures to complement that and to make it easier for private or public provide…

I welcome the Minister's interest in considering other possible options. A parallel path could be mapped out. The NBP is providing broadband to as much of the country as it can, particularly in those rural areas, but there is nothing stopping us from facilitating others in that regard. I welcome the Minister's commitment to accommodate competition in that space because I believe that competition lifts all boats. It is important to have a technology mix also because the NBP is predicated upon a fibre infrastructure,…

I thank the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for taking the debate. As I have discussed these issues with him before, I ask him to be sympathetic and to focus on solutions to the matter I am about to raise. We are all aware of how critical high-speed quality broadband is to our daily lives. That has been exacerbated during the pandemic and the recent lockdowns, which have now run for the best part of the year. Following Government advice - it is absolutely the right thing to do - people are working from home en masse .…

I know the Minister is a person of integrity and he will get his head down on the matter, but his response is somewhat generic, albeit with some references to Kildare at the end. I do not expect him to know every townland in Kildare, but the inclusion of places such as Kilcock and Donaghcumper in the provision for east Kildare will be news to anyone in the county and a bit of a shock. It highlights the issue we face here. The NBI has tried to engage with the Department and the team. This is not a group of people tr…