There are a thousand reasons we should be building them.

We should have very clear guidelines on rural housing, and they should be issued quickly. We will bring the point raised by the Senator to the relevant Ministers. It is a very important one. There are cases where there are three or four generations of a family in one location. They want to build there and the children want to build there. Often, it is difficult for applicants to establish a local need. The local need is that they want to live there and they are going to live there. They are not building a house as …

Or I will ignore his issue.

To move back, for a moment------

We have had an injection of new people in our rural communities. There has been a lot of investment, notably, by my colleague, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys. She is constantly investing in rural Ireland. The sports capital grant programme has been launched in rural Ireland. My experience is that we have very vibrant living communities across rural Ireland at the moment. However, that is not to dispute the Senator's very wise thesis that arises from a lot of experience in local a…

I move: That Seanad Éireann approves the terms of the Agreement Establishing the EU-LAC International Foundation, signed at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on 25th October, 2016, a copy of which was laid before Seanad Éireann on 30th March, 2023.”

I welcome our colleague, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. I salute his proactivity and his bringing about change and results, which is what it is all about. We salute that. It is a wonderful and exciting programme with an 11% increase on 2022, €1.027 billion in expenditure, which is a phenomenal level of expenditure, and €140 million devoted to ICT. In that context, the Minister does not need reminding that we need every system in place to avoid cyberattacks. I turn, as is natural, to another part of the good news st…

The intention would not be to stop progress.

The Order of Business is No. 1, report of the Committee of Selection, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order or Business, without debate; No. 2, Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Bill 2022 – Second Stage, to be taken at 11.45 a.m. and adjourn no later than 1.15 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated for the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes and all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and …

I thank the Senators for all their interventions on the Order of Business. I will go through them from the top down. Senator Seery Kearney moved an amendment to the Order of Business relating to the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023 – First Stage. I want to indicate that I am accepting that amendment. In proposing it, the Senator made a compelling case around the issue of spiking, the risk of sexual exploitation, the bizarre idea among some people that it could be fun and the nee…

And it was not accepted. I stand corrected there.

Yes. The Senator's point is well made and every time it gets aired in public, it is a help. She is right that the obvious thing to do is to try to lease the car park and it is an initiative we should be taking. I will certainly support her in any practical way we can. Senator Lombard displayed a level of parochialism, as indeed did the Cathaoirleach himself who intervened to support the Senator. However, we are all guilty of a level of parochialism and it is a healthy thing. Those who elect us expect it and it is o…

It is an absolutely beautiful place. It is shocking that the beach does not have this status and I do not see the logic that it is due to a lack of recycling facilities in the area. It escapes me why they could not have the blue flag up and the beach open. I strongly support Senator Lombard in that matter, and indeed the Cathaoirleach's own intervention. An Taisce cannot be so arbitrary. People have a right to their beaches. It is a beautiful tourist area and there is a strong case here. I think it is the Garretsto…

It is important to put that on the record. Senator Conway, who is a good champion of the mid-west and University Hospital Limerick, wants the 96-bed block to be built and sanctioned by the Minister. I fully support that. I think the Senator will not object to me saying that Senator Maria Byrne and indeed Senator Gavan have been strong advocates of this too. I support Senator Conway's view that we need to move on it. There is no logic in the delays. It is part of the new brief of the Minister for Public Expenditure,…

We have a mushroom industry there and it is very difficult to attract workers now. It is an issue. Certainly, people who are in hotels and various facilities around the country would love to get out into the workplace. I have spoken with these people. I met a woman waitressing recently in the Farnham Hotel in Cavan who said she was thrilled. She is from Ukraine but it has made her life better. She was a financial controller or something in Ukraine but she wants to be out doing something and wants to be active. It i…

Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Harris, launched a significant and important public awareness campaign through all national media etc. to make people aware that the threat to share body images of another individual, no matter what their relationship is, is criminal and wrong. It is a crime. It is a crime if somebody threatens to do it. We all know that under Coco’s Law, the actual sharing of intimate images is correctly a punishable crime. However, it may not be as commonly known that the threat to do so is also a …

I wish to share time with Senator Currie.

Yes.

Is cúis áthais dom mo bhuíochas agus buíochas mo chomhghleacaithe a ghabháil le Mr. Ahern as bheith anseo inniu. Bhí a ráiteas iontach spéisiúil agus an-stairiúil. Is ócáid speisialta é go bhfuilimid ag ceiliúradh an chonartha le Mr. Ahern agus ag éisteacht leis ar an lá speisialta seo. Táimid an-bhuíoch de. It is a great source of happiness and, indeed, an honour for me to thank Mr. Ahern for being here today. I know that he is generous with his time and willing to do so many of these events. On a parochial level,…

I welcome my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, to the House. I thank him for his presentation and I appreciate the enthusiasm with which he goes about all these things. I acknowledge the work done by members of the Civil Defence during the Covid pandemic. They did extraordinarily effective work on a number of fronts. They had to deal with older people, people living in more isolated conditions, etc. Across the board the Civil Defence members did huge work and that merits acknowledgement. Sadly, it is …