I compliment my Green Party colleagues on bringing forward the motion. It is an important and timely discussion on water services. We have had yesterday's announcement on the waiving of connection charges for domestic wastewater and water connection charges to try to unlock and speed up the development of housing. The same logic applies here in the development of public water bottle refill stations. Thankfully, in my county of Waterford we have had the roll-out of some provision. Waterford has a fantastic greenway …

I thank the Minister of State for taking my Commencement matter, which is on a topic of utmost importance. Community groups across the length and breadth of this country have worked collaboratively with An Garda Síochána to establish community text alert schemes, which I know he is very supportive of. Data published last week indicate that there has been a 45% reduction in burglaries nationally and, thankfully, my own county of Waterford is in line with the national reduction figure. Great praise must go to An Gard…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply but unfortunately, the issue with the rebate scheme, as I see it, is that it operates the following year. There is no baseline support in place for these community text alert groups that provide an invaluable service for their communities. It is April and there has been no rebate scheme for 2022. If we take 2023, for example, texts have been going out for the last four months. There is no baseline support for those community groups for 2023 and it will be April of next ye…

Amendment No. 21 is an admission that amendment No. 20 is an exceptionally blunt suggestion being made in relation to a period of two years. It is a fact that many works, particularly in the archaeological and heritage space, require painstaking work undertaken by people with much experience. If the State or whomever is undertaking significant works, what will a review achieve? Say a contract was put in place and it was supposed to take two years but is now running to three years, the Minister is not going to revok…

The topic of rental tenancies has never been more in focus, and that is why I have submitted this Commencement matter. I seek to activate derelict and vacant properties for use for housing and to deliver a volume of cost rental tenancies for those above the threshold for social housing and who either cannot or do not wish to own a property. Let me start with the first suggestion, which is to expand what I believe is a very popular scheme, namely, the vacant property refurbishment grant scheme. When it was launched …

I thank the Minister of State for what is an exceptionally comprehensive reply. It is obviously fantastic news that the vacant property refurbishment grant will be extended, not only to owner occupiers, but those who wish to do up a property and lease it to the private rental market. It will have a tangible impact in providing additional rental properties within the market. I ask that the ten-year clause is kept in there, to ensure the property remains in the private rental market for at least that period. I welcom…

Last October, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, launched a call to identify opportunities in the higher education system to build capacity in the areas of dentistry, pharmacy, medicine, nursing and veterinary to respond swiftly to the national skills needs in those areas. The HEA elicited 39 responses from 15 institutions. A number of them were shortlisted to go to phase 2, which is currently being assessed by the HEA. South East Technological University, which is my own university in Waterford, had phase 2 prop…

I congratulate the organisers of the Tricolour celebrations in my county, Waterford, over the weekend. It was fantastic on Sunday to have seven ambassadors in Waterford city, along with the Taoiseach, to celebrate the first flying of the Tricolour at 33 The Mall in Waterford city in 1848 by Thomas Francis Meaghar. There was also an event in the SETU Arena, a fantastic occasion where the Leas-Chathaoirleach presented the Tricolour to schoolchildren from throughout the country. The meaning, the understanding and the …

Yesterday saw some positive figures on the number of commercial properties converted to residential use under the planning exemptions introduced in 2018 by the then Minister of State, Deputy English. There were 665 units in total. That includes 53 former pubs, the conversion of which has resulted in 169 housing units between quarter 2 and quarter 4 of last year when those exemptions were extended to include former pubs. This is something I brought to the attention of both the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and t…

At the start of the month, €11 million in active travel funding was allocated to Waterford, which might seem like a significant sum of money. Included in that was €4 million for greenway access into the city centre, which is nearing completion, thankfully. This is an excellent project which will benefit local communities as well as visitors to Waterford. Unfortunately, however, Waterford City and County Council requested an allocation of €18.5 million for active travel this year and as a result of the funding short…

I move: "That Second Stage be taken today."

I thank the Minister of State for commencing this legislation in the Seanad. It is always a positive step to initiate legislation in Seanad Éireann. This House affords the breathing space and room for the debate to thoroughly examine this legislation, as was the case with the Oireachtas joint committee, on which I sit. As the Minister of State outlined in his opening statement, the Bill is an important milestone. It seeks to modernise our historic and archaeological heritage legislation. It provides for a single, i…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. This is an important matter. It calls on the Minister for Education to introduce a voluntary national post-primary redeployment panel which would facilitate the transfer of teachers from one area of the country to another while retaining their permanent status under contracts of indefinite duration, CIDs. As someone who taught in an education and training board, ETB, school in Waterford city until my election to this House, I know this issue very well. I had co…

I appreciate the Minister of State is only relaying the information he has been given. He made comments in respect of the operation of the pilot voluntary redeployment scheme, which is fantastic for counties Longford, Westmeath, Laois and Offaly, but what about every other county in the country? There are teachers in those areas who want to get closer to home and if there is a matching teacher in another location, it does not make sense for a redeployment not to be facilitated. A teacher should be able to move from…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. I am seeking the rectification and regularisation of planning permissions that were granted for holiday villages and allow them to be used for full-time residential accommodation. This matter has come to my attention not only in my own county of Waterford, but also through being contacted by full-time residents in holiday villages in other parts of the country. They have tried to purchase the property they live in, and which the landlord is selling, only for the…

I thank the Minister of State. He has opened the door to the possibility of this but what I want to see now is follow-through on that. I accept all of what he said in his response about the requirement for sustainable planning. The two instances I referred to in Dunmore East and Faithlegg are certainly not remote locations. In one of those instances there were applications from residents to try to regularise it. I can understand if from a planning perspective the restrictions in the original conditions could not be…

On amendment No. 64 on parking for people with disabilities, I accept the Senator's concerns are valid but I think the matter is captured in what we are saying in relation to the wider availability of parking. In my experience, where schemes have been put in place in Waterford, while it may have necessitated the moving of disabled parking spaces, they have always been replaced as closely as possible to where they were originally. That can probably be achieved by regulation or by issue of a circular in that regard, …

I echo those comments in welcoming my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who is a former Member of this House. I look forward to working with him in my role as spokesman and also as a member of the joint Oireachtas committee. We will have a lot of legislation in the House in the months ahead, not least in the area of planning, and I know the Minister of State will be a regular visitor here as a result. I congratulate him and have no doubt he will do exceptional work in his new role. I want to bring…

I thank the Minister of State for confirming that it is based on the affordable purchase price as opposed to the market value of the house. I welcome his statement that the Department will issue a guidance note to all local authorities because to be honest, many of them, including my local authority, are not aware of the scheme's interaction with the local authority home loan. There is still an issue because if somebody is only entitled to a €40,000 discount on a property, bringing the affordable purchase price to …

I will start by acknowledging Senator Boyhan for putting himself forward for election. I work very well with him on the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. However, today is, of course, the Cathaoirleach's day. I am absolutely thrilled to be in a position to be here. Some people will know that I was sick most of the week, but I really wanted to be here today to see Senator Buttimer elevated to the esteemed position of Cathaoirleach. It is a great honour for him, his family, his friends, his s…