Get somebody to act.

The Deputy was a member one time.

Senator Mullen raised a very interesting point. I am not going to name names on the floor of the House but the appointment of the chair by the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, is a good appointment. The person is eminently qualified. In fairness to Senator Mullen, there is a need for debate and transparency in all processes. I think what Senator Mullen may be trying to achieve is to have that transparency. I do not agree with him in the context of the appointment of the person, who I think is very qualified. If w…

I think what Senator Mullen is saying is that we need a debate on it in the House. That is the importance of what he is asking for. I ask the Leader to facilitate a debate on transport. The National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland has been published. All of us received a copy in our pigeon holes today or yesterday. It is the strategic framework for future investment decision making on transport. It underpins the work being done under the national development plan and national planning framework in ter…

I ask the Deputy Leader for a debate as a matter of urgency in light of the CAMHS report today on child and adolescent mental health services in counties Cork and Kerry, where 46 children have been diagnosed as suffering "significant harm" while attending the services. It is a damning report on the whole issue of the care of our young people who are in a state of significant vulnerability. The review of the care of more than 1,300 children found there was clear evidence that 46 of them suffered significant harm. Th…

I thank Senator McGahon for sharing time. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, to the House. This is a gargantuan project. This is, as Senator McGahon rightly referenced, akin to a modern-day electrification of the country. We saw what rural electrification did. This is linked centrally to the ongoing development and evolution of the social and economic development of our country. That is why this project is so important. I would ask Members of the House who raised legitimate concerns and criticisms of th…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach and I thank him for allowing me to join this debate. I welcome the Minister of State and I commend Senator Malcolm Byrne for this legislation. I also welcome the opportunity to support the Bill and to speak on it. It is an important piece of legislation but it is also an important conversation that we need to have in a wider context. Anyone watching this debate in anticipation of the Minister of State’s response should look at what we are trying to achieve through this l…

I will begin by welcoming the swearing in of the new American ambassador, Ms Claire Cronin. The house majority leader was sworn in yesterday in Boston in a very historic setting on the house floor. I congratulate Ambassador Cronin on her appointment and wish her every success as she takes up her role here in Dublin. I propose that we invite Ambassador Cronin to address the Seanad as soon as possible. She comes to the House and to her post as American ambassador with impeccable credentials, not least her Irish ances…

I welcome the Minister back to the House in the context of employment contributions. I wish to raise two issues on this section that are not strictly related to the Social Welfare Bill but have an implication on what we are talking about this morning. The first issue is regarding the gratuity payable to members of local authorities where there is an issue in terms of their pension and entitlements. Senator Craughwell raised this issue with the Minister previously and she was very correct in her comments around the …

Today, 38 years ago, two brave Irish men died in the line of duty serving and protecting us. We remember trainee Garda Gary Sheehan and Private Patrick Kelly and we thank them and their families for their service. It behoves all of us who aspire to and want to have a united Ireland that we stand up and represent all of our people. On this most sacred day for those families, it is incumbent on members of the Sinn Féin Party here today to condemn the video that Gerry Adams performed on in the past number of days. It …

I welcome the Minister. This is important legislation, in that it gives effect to an expenditure increase of €558 million, which is an extraordinary amount. I thank the Minister's officials and her departmental staff for their courtesy to us. Two thirds of the budget spend is on protecting core rates of social welfare. In light of what we are trying to achieve as a society and a Government, social welfare is about social cohesion, solidarity and the redistribution of income. If ever we had solidarity from a Governm…

I thank the Senator. I hope that the Government will explore with the Irish Hotels Federation a way of looking after these businesses. It is an important industry that provides thousands of jobs. I support the work being done by my colleague, Deputy Colm Burke, in the Lower House on the issue of carers, including home carers. As the Minister knows, the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, yesterday launched a review of how home care was commissioned and delivered. I have given the report a cursory glance…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is an important Bill. I welcome this debate, as many Members of the House have done. We should not have shoehorned it into the last day of term, although I know why it was done that way. I will raise three points, the first of which is a matter that Senator Kyne prompted me to raise. The Minister of State has been a member of a local authority, as many of us in the House, including the Acting Chairperson, Senator Horkan, have been. I do not think Senators Gavan and…

The Senator should wait until he hears what I will say next. Then he will definitely come back to me. I like Senator Gavan as a person and I have great time for him.

I heard him speaking about a lack of accountability and holding Government to account. I ask Senator Gavan, wearing both his trade union hat and his public representative hat, to hold his former president, Gerry Adams, to account. The Senator should ask Mr. Adams to apologise to the people he sullied with his video this week. I say that as a republican and as somebody who wants to have united Ireland that is respectful of all traditions. I ask Senator Gavan to do that. Senator McDowell's overarching point is one we…

I will.

I wish to speak about supports for the hospitality sector. The Acting Chairperson might guide me on where in this section I might do so.

I will be. I raised this matter under the Social Welfare Bill and will do so under that Bill again tomorrow. Given that the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, is in the Department of Finance, it is important in the appropriation of moneys that we consider the proposal from the Irish Hotels Federation regarding how the hospitality sector is not able to avail of the employment wage support scheme, EWSS, in order to safeguard jobs and protect the industry. There is an issue with the way in which trading in 2021 is being…

I support Senator Warfield as well. I have three requests today, the first of which relates to the vaccination programme. I ask the HSE to reopen the vaccination centres in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the Munster Technological University and Clonakilty in County Cork and to redeploy staff to those centres. It makes no sense that those centres are closed in light of the fact that we are ramping up the programme relating to vaccine booster doses. I ask that the redeployment happen as a matter of urgency. I also ask that we wor…

I welcome the Minister of State. She is here as a Minister in her own right and I have had the benefit of working with her in a committee. We had differing views but she is a competent and capable person with whom I have worked closely and grown to respect and admire in her brief in the disability sector, where she has done powerful work. It ill behoves any of us to make references to people in Ministries as being less than others. They are not. I do not mean to be partisan, patronising or adversarial to anybody bu…