Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Newtown School, over two and a quarter centuries old, has served Waterford and the wider region for nearly 228 years, rooted in a strong Quaker tradition of inclusive, rounded and child-centred education. The school entered the free education scheme in 2014, and, at the request of the Department of Education at the time, agreed to expand to accommodate 600 students with the necessary accommodation and infrastructure to be delivered through the Department of Education's ADAPT 2018 …

I thank the Minister of State. As I mentioned, the school was opened in 1798, the year of the 1798 Rising. Over the two and a quarter centuries it has seen significant historical events in Waterford and Ireland, most noticeably the transition with Independence from a Quaker school to being a supplier of education to the south east, while also keeping very close to the Quaker tradition of industry, hard work and respect for human dignity and human rights. As well as that, it is an architectural gem in the south east…

I might be the only person in this House who suffers from a condition called parliamentary masochism. I dragged myself away from committee room 4 where we had harpists performing reels and came up here to be entertained by the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025. I came in at a very good time because I am addled by the biometric identification and biometric analysis and I am finding it curiously entertaining and informative. I ask the Minister if he could throw some light on an aspect of it. He…

I will make a brief intervention here. I have some sympathy with Senator Ruane as regards the collateral damage that can be done to people with the possible misuse of this section 43C(1). I have great sympathy with what the Minister said as well. Sometimes these things are done in error or done through no fault and there is no malice in what has been done. Over countless decades past I have looked at situations where members of the Garda Síochána have been brought through the courts. Their career is effectively des…

The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, my Déise colleague, is just gone out the door. Knowing him for many years, he has always been a very proactive public representative. I am not a bit surprised that he engineered and drove these changes. I welcome them. Well done to him and his team in the Custom House. This morning, as Senator Scahill mentioned, we were over with the INTO. It signalled to us a great demise of local schools. The numbers are quite frightening. Only this week one was flagged in Waterford, Knockma…

In the boarding school that I went to as a teenager, the favourite book for last study was an atlas. It was so favoured because underneath it you could hide your war comic. The people who read war comics as teenagers ended up in later life being aircraft geeks. As an aircraft geek living in Tramore, I can now recognise the distinctive drone of a C-130 as it goes across in the early hours of the morning, usually under cover of darkness. I immediately go to my phone and look at the Flightradar24 app, and I find that …

Senator Ruane said she was becoming confused at this stage. I think it may be down to the lateness of the night. I am fairly confused myself at this stage because I am not too sure whether we are talking about targeting and recording ethnicity or religion. Then the census was raised as a bit of a hare. That was really peculiar because I think relying on the census for information would put the Garda into a very invidious position, down to the fact of how things are recorded on the census. A nephew of mine caused an…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber again. At what we might call the dénouement of the Bill in the later stages of the evening, I will have a few more things to say. Right now, I will confine myself to a short comment on amendment No. 4 and the proposed new section 25A(3)(c), which refers to something that would "materially impair the capacity of the State to legislate or regulate in the public interest". That is a critical part of the amendment. Even though the EU investment court system, ICS, is design…

I am delighted to see this motion and fully support it. For my small part, I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, to the Chamber again. Those of us who are occasionally privileged to read a more moderate publication from Israel, the reasonably liberal daily paper Haaretz , are aware of the public opinion that exists in the State of Israel among what we might call the ordinary people. The ordinary people by and large are more consumed with security than they are about rights and long-term effects. Fifty year…

Last Friday, I was privileged to meet Councillor Lola O'Sullivan and Dr. Karina Daly, the chair and chief executive of Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board. This education and training board aims to be the leader of learning through the delivery of high-quality, inclusive and innovative education and training services in the south east. Its educational and training provision includes a community national school in Wexford; a community special school in Gorey; 12 second-level schools, four of which are…

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I have not been in his company since the opening of the New Ross greenway, when he and I were both blown away by the gush of lovely Gaeilge that came out of the mouth of the imam. It was marvellous to realise how multicultural and inclusive our country is when we had such lovely Gaeilge being uttered in our presence by the imam of, I presume, New Ross. I am looking at the, in many ways, very inspiring legislation before us. In the early days of this Seanad, we had a very good …

Molaim an Aire as a bheith chomh sciobtha agus a bhí sé. The Minister was very quickly back among us. It is lovely to see him here as well. I compliment Senator Boyhan on this thought-provoking motion. I was happy to co-sign it. I acknowledge all the work that he does on behalf of farming, horticulture and fisheries. The Senator is a great colleague and many people have attested to that. I ask the House to spare a thought for women who, through the cruel hand of fate, are designated to be farmers. It happens to mor…

Did he? How about that. There are all the warm testimonies. I was looking at the figures for the latest year available, which is 2019, and out of the 127 students there were in Kildalton in that year, 13 were female. The piece of information that I read was a great improvement on the position five years previously, when there were only two. Therefore, the trends are definitely in the right direction. Long may it continue that way. I thank Senator Boyhan for the great motion. I was proud to co-sign it. I am looking …

Tá drogall orm mo chabáiste a chur ar fhiuchadh faoi dhó ach aontaím go hiomlán leis an méid a bhí á rá ag an Seanadóir Boyhan faoi pháirc ghnó Tycor i bPort Láirge, an obair iontach atá déanta ag an gcomhairle thall ansin chun rudaí a chur ar ais ar fheabhas, agus an t-airgead a thug an Rialtas go fial. Aontaím leis an méid a bhí á rá ag an Seanadóir Ruane chomh maith. I send my congratulations to Glasgow Celtic and their manager. Most of their supporters would say that the manner in which the team won the league …

I just want to advert to a couple of things that Senator McCarthy mentioned. I refer to the fast-disappearing traditional crafts that we have around the country. For instance, thatching, wheelwrighting, boatbuilding and steam-bending, the Minister of State knows them far better than I do. The list is long. It is the case that the people who can do them are disappearing or that it is very difficult to find places where the skills are being continued. Can the Minister of indicate if we are looking to the historic env…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I will preface my contribution with a short anecdote. It may seem a little astray of the point in the beginning but I hope to tie things together at the end to illustrate a pertinent point about policing. Those who are old enough, and not many of us here are, might cast their minds back to a fine summer's morning in 1978 and picture the quayside at Rosslare Harbour. Parked there was an unmarked Garda car, a Hillman Avenger. Not many of those present will remember those cars either…

Stolen Focus is a book that was published in 2022. It was written by a journalist, Johann Hari. This book should be recommended reading for all teachers, parents and legislators in this State. It addresses an issue that is of critical importance to our young people. As the title would suggest, Stolen Focus revolves around the whole question of attention spans and ability to concentrate. Those are features that are being fragmented in the young people as a result of the huge investment of their time in smart phones …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Keogan as ucht a bheith fial flaithiúil agus an t-am a thabhairt dom chun cúpla focal a rá faoin gceist seo. Tá muid ag ceiliúradh ós rud é go bhfuil ár mballraíocht den Aontas Eorpach ag dul ar aghaidh anois le níos mó ná 50 bliain. Is fíor a rá go bhfuil muid go léir, beagnach, sa Seomra seo bródúil as sin. I do not really have all that much to add to what has been said already but I notice that Robert Schuman is getting a great airing today. It is probably no harm to mention so…

As the Minister of State said at the beginning of his peroration, it is difficult not to wake up in the mornings and be depressed when you look at the newspaper or for those of us who are budding insomniacs like myself to lay awake at night listening to the BBC World Service. We hear many things that would depress us, but the one thing we should all try to do in these trying times is not lose a sense of hope. If we lose that as a nation or as individuals, then we do not have an awful lot that can sustain us. The Mi…

Is it Cork city or Cork county?