My colleague will probably be called immediately thereafter. I concur with the latter remarks of Senator McDowell. It must be almost a respite for the Minister of State to get into this House for a while. I welcome him. Not only does he have family in my area who are particularly good friends of mine, but I also served on the Council of Europe, where he served with great distinction and made a big impact for a number of years. For that reason it is a particular personal pleasure to welcome him to the House and inde…

If the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach might just indulge me to correct the record, I referred earlier to Kilmainham Gaol by accident with reference to the car park and the contactless payments, whereas I meant the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

Next Tuesday.

I welcome the motion from Sinn Féin. This is an important debate. The motion makes a valuable contribution to a debate that we should be having on a rolling basis. I welcome the Minister of State. I also welcome his commitment. I also acknowledge, as others did, the work of Senator Rabbitte in the Department previously. All politics is local, according to the great Tip O'Neill, who was of Cork extraction. For that reason, I will begin by welcoming the new ASD units in Clifferna National School in Stradone, in Bally…

I will be sharing one minute of my time with Senator Brady. I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber in his new role. I congratulate him on his elevation to that role and commend him on the that fact that he is so proactive and enthusiastic. He will bring the same skill set to his role that he brought to so many other roles in the past. He brings great talent and energy to every role he adopts. The two are a great combination. I wish him well. The Minister of State referred to funding for roads. While Cavan w…

Yes.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, and thank him for his kind words. I am delighted he has been given this very serious brief. A few of the things I will say in a few moments will indicate how seriously I take this brief and the importance I attach to this Ministry. The Minister of State has immense experience, not only as an emigrant for a short while but also from his work at the Conference on the Future of Europe and his previous responsibilities. He brings great ability, communication skills and …

The time of year is looming when St. Patrick’s Day approaches and officeholders of this House, the other House and Ministers of the Government visit all over the world, showcase all that is good about Ireland and, importantly, meet the diaspora in those countries. We have a debt to our Irish diaspora in the sense that they are our own kinship and they had to off and leave in difficult times. Apart from that, they are a great resource for Ireland abroad, they are great ambassadors for Ireland, they are very good at …

I am delighted today to host, as a personal guest, Ivan Doherty, whom I acknowledge in the Gallery alongside our former colleague Hugh Byrne. Ivan Doherty was a distinguished general secretary of Fine Gael and made a big contribution to democracy in Ireland. He then became an executive with the National Democratic Institute in America where he continued that work. He is currently a senior executive with Apple. Ivan has had a great career of public service and I am delighted to have him with us today. One of the mos…

Is cúis áthais dom tacaíocht a thabhairt don mholadh go mbeidh Maria Byrne tofa mar Leas-Chathaoirleach. Is iarrthóir den chéad scoth í. Before I make another few remarks, I acknowledge the presence of Maria's colleague the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, in the Gallery. The Minister of State has stepped out of the Chamber for a moment. I also acknowledge councillor Rachel Kerley, and former colleague and Senator emeritus Catherine Noone, who are also in the Gallery. It is a great pleasure for me to join with …

The job of Government at any given time is to respond to the needs of and pressing issues in society. This Bill will assist in dealing with two major contemporary issues. One is the issue of older persons. Older people who are living longer and who have complex needs form an increasingly large cohort of the population. There is clearly a need for a particular type of cluster housing for older persons with facilities around them. There is a need to put home help or, rather, home support on a statutory basis in the h…

Is cúis áthais agus onóra dom a bheith atofa. Déanaim comhghairdeas le mo chomhghleacaithe uilig. Cuireann sé dualgas orainn ár ndícheall a dhéanamh gach lá ar son na ndaoine, na gcomhairleoirí agus mhuintir na gcoláistí. I salute the first speaker of the day, the person who took the Chair and who is the new father of the House. In so doing he recognised the former father of the House, Paddy Burke, who had very strong Cavan connections. We are very proud to say the current father of the House, Senator Wilson, is a …

At the outset, I express my gratitude to Martin, Bridget and all the staff for the great work they do and for their graciousness and courtesy at all times. I also thank the ushers of the House for how helpful they are to us as we do our work. I had the privilege of working closely with the staff of the House when I was Leas-Chathaoirleach and I can testify to their absolute professionalism and helpfulness. My colleague Senator Seery Kearney wanted to also express her gratitude to the staff of the House and just mis…

I welcome the Minister and acknowledge his very cogent presentation of the legislation and his commitment in this sphere earlier with the vaping legislation, etc. It is excellent. I accept the caveat the Minister highlighted that we cannot be too much of a nanny state but, at the same time, this is a different sphere and we are on different terrain here. It is about addiction, health and safety and saving lives. Smoking is pernicious. My heart goes out to addicts, namely, people who cannot give it up. Most smokers …

Yes, I know. I mean in the workplace, in public arenas, at functions, etc. It was a great progressive act and it set a trend for Europe and for the world. It was mould-breaking. I acknowledge that. It would be ludicrous and ridiculously partisan not to do so. However, I also say that this is a further progression of that. The balance of good, any considerations around interference in people's lives, the difficulty of administration at times - some of those practical matters pale into insignificance when we think of…

Now.

Now.

Now.

I welcome the Minister and wish to acknowledge from the outset that she has a real commitment to this area. She has been a very reforming Minister and will hopefully continue to be so in the future. She is very much avant-garde in trying to modernise legislation, be it domestic violence or family law or whatever, to make a real difference in people's lives and effect real change to ultimately ameliorate hardship and distress to the greatest possible degree. The Family Courts Bill and report the Minister has brought…

If the Chair could similarly indulge me for a moment, I too want to be associated with those remarks. I am very proud that I, jointly with Senators Cassells and Wall, very consistently and almost day by day over the last term pioneered and pressed for the gambling legislation and regulator. We made great progress in that area. By working with him then, I got to know how passionate the Senator is about good causes and I know that was not his only good cause. He can be very proud of his record here and what he has ac…