It is only because, at the start, we were told we could speak about amendments that were ruled out of order because we received notice so late.

If Ireland ratifies CETA or the EU-Chile agreement, enforcement of awards made by investor courts will become a necessitated obligation of EU membership within the meaning of Article 29.4.6° of the Constitution. This was outlined in the judgment of Mr. Justice Charleton, who highlighted that any domestic legislation permitting the refusal of enforcement would conflict with the duty of sincere co-operation under Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union. If this is challenged in the Court of Justice of the Europe…

I raise a couple of concerns I have about this Bill, particularly the designation of energy projects, including onshore wind development, as critical infrastructure. While nobody disputes the importance of energy security, renewable generation and meeting our climate obligations, there is a serious question as to whether this legislation risks undermining established planning safeguards and the meaning of public consultation. The definition of infrastructure in section 1 is extremely broad and explicitly includes e…

I thank Senator Boyhan and his group for bringing this motion forward. One of the first conversations I ever had with him after I got elected to this House was around the year of the woman farmer, when he told me all about how this was coming in. Since then, he has been providing me with information that I might be interested in. He is an amazing advocate for women in farming, and I have to give him that today. This is an opportunity not simply to celebrate women in agriculture but to finally confront the structura…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, for being here. I know this is not his Department but I was advised that he was going to take this and he should have answers for me. I hope we will get something from this. I am from County Limerick and I travel in and out of the county. I take the train from Colbert Station to Dublin every week. When I heard there was a rail line going down from Foynes to Limerick, I thought it was a fantastic thing to get for County Limerick. However, it is a freight line that is…

I completely agree that having a freight line is very important. I go over and back to Foynes quite often. I would have a lot to do with Foynes and I understand how important it is to have that freight line for the moving of goods. My query is more around the fact that €5 million is being put in. It seems like it is opportunistic for the Ryder Cup. I am all for the business and tourism that will come from the Ryder Cup but I would like to see a guarantee that this will turn into a passenger line. Whether it is from…

It is going to be fantastic.

I will start on a good note by congratulating Senator Nicole Ryan on the birth of her baby girl this morning. Mum and baby are doing well. I wanted to give the House this update. She is absolutely over the moon. The youngest Senator was born this morning.

It is an Irish name - Réidín. I am sorry. There are a lot of e's and i's in it so I am not 100% sure. I will brush up on my Irish just to pronounce her daughter's name. In recent months, I have advocated against and given out about the EU's Mercosur deal. Sinn Féin as a whole has been against it for many years. Last night, it was announced that the Commission has an updated list of countries from which it will accept imports and Brazil is not on that list. It is going against the Mercosur deal that von der Leyen pu…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome the opportunity to speak on insurance. I probably come a close second to my colleague, Senator Nelson Murray. We are always bringing up some kind of insurance issue in this House. It is now six years since the Government first introduced an action plan on insurance reform. This was a move that probably would not have taken place if it was not for my colleague, Teachta Pearse Doherty, back in 2019, which kind of forced the hand of the Government to look at…

I welcome the Minister of State. I acknowledge the extraordinary service, dedication and sacrifice that gardaí make across this State. They put their lives on the line every day. Every single day, gardaí put themselves in harm to protect others, serve their communities and make people feel safe. I remember the 90 gardaí who lost their lives in the line of duty. No one in this House should underestimate the importance of An Garda Síochána to communities across Ireland. We are speaking to this motion on investment, r…

I welcome the Minister of State. He seems to be spending as much time here this week as I do.

We saw the Government come out finally yesterday and announce the fuel support scheme for all sectors – agriculture, transport and fishing. While the support is welcome, we have to be honest: the fishing industry still feels it is too little too late. There is a scheme of €15 million for the fishers which will be administered by BIM but fishers are still contacting me saying they do not know how much they will receive and how it will be calculated. There is a lot of uncertainty around it. I am not sure if it is jus…

I do know prices have decreased a bit in Kerry. I may have to move county to get cheaper diesel. The prices at the pumps are not decreasing like we would have hoped.

I want to raise the issue of car insurance. We have brought up lots of different insurance issues in this House and I know there was a briefing yesterday in the audiovisual room, which I missed, but I am well aware of the issues involving motor insurance. In many of our towns and villages in rural Ireland, having a car is not a luxury; it is essential. To take children to school, to get to appointments and to get to work, a person needs to have a car and has to drive. The fact that insurance costs are going up seem…

I welcome the Minister of State. Energy security goes to the heart of our economic stability, climate obligations and the basic fairness owed to our citizens. The recent warnings from EirGrid should set alarm bells ringing across this House. Its assessment was stark. Over the next decade, Ireland faces serious challenges in meeting overall electricity demand. A key driver of that risk is the unchecked expansion of data centres. This is not a new concern. Sinn Féin has consistently warned that the Government's appro…

I commend and thank the Cross-Party Group on bringing this motion forward. It is a very important one. The rehabilitation of our wildlife is very important. It hits the heart of rural Ireland and what it is. We are be able to drive down the road and see all these amazing animals. I leave my house and I see deer. Unfortunately, one of my daughters does not know much about animals and she told me one of them was a teenager. I do not know how she figured that one out, but they have decided to put labels on them. In Co…

I will start by saying I am a vaper, so I am slightly biased on this. I do not use disposables. I used to until I discovered that the same flavour as the disposable can be bought in the bottle of juice and it is actually cheaper to use a reusable. That is one thing that Members have wrong; it is not cheaper to use disposables. If you were to smoke it like a smoker would smoke it, one reusable cigarette or vape will only last for a day. I completely agree this is not for children. It is not for under-18s. I would li…

Today, I want to raise something that has been not only on my mind, but brought up to me a lot over the last couple of months. It is a Bill that will be going into the Dáil next week, on vaping and on the banning of flavours. I will give the Leader a rundown. My own story is a lot like many stories. I started smoking in 1992. The first time I ever tried to give them up was in 2012. I went into a vape shop and bought a vape. The first question I was asked was what kind of cigarettes I smoked. They matched you to you…

Go raibh maith agat. I have spoken to many farmers and contractors in recent weeks. When speaking about supports, they said their main objective was to see supports at the pumps, not a rebate scheme. I will not turn my nose up at €100,000 and I am sure nobody will, but they wanted it at the pumps as an instant relief on the cost they faced. I hope there will be enough staff put in to resource this. We have gone through ACRES a lot in committee and the Minister has assured us ACRES is up and running fine and the lat…