I call for a debate on social welfare offices across this country. Before Christmas, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, outlined some of the extra supports she has put in place, such as the ability to move staff from other sectors of social protection into our social welfare offices to try to process applications as quickly as possible. The reason I am raising this matter today is because in my home town of Dundalk, people are now waiting seven, eight, nine or ten weeks for basic financial and emergency assistance. Th…

When it is proposed to take Committee Stage?

When is proposed to take Report Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

When is it proposed to take the Fifth Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I will talk about Private Seán Rooney. As can happen in sad situations like this, there has been a slight bit of misinformation in the national media which indicated he was a native of Donegal. Private Rooney was born and bred in Dundalk. He attended the Gaelscoil in Muirtheimhne Mór and St. Mary’s College in Dundalk. His mum relocated to Donegal when he was in fifth year and he moved to Donegal for two or three years before coming back to Dundalk to serve in the Defence Forces, in the 27th Battalion. This is a dre…

I raise the case of Dáithí McCann, a five-month-old baby from Dundalk, County Louth. Dáithí was born on 5 August 2022 but he lost a kidney soon after birth. His second kidney is also under threat. Fewer than 1% of babies are born with such a complex range of medical conditions and Dáithí has not been able to come home yet. A GoFundMe page with a target of €12,000 has raised €23,000 to help the family with accommodation costs in Dublin, medical costs and so on. The reason I bring this matter up today is that the mat…

I attended the last two COPs at Glasgow and Sharm el-Sheikh, one of the unintended benefits of being elected to the Oireachtas. I would never have attended the conferences had I not been a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Climate Action. Both conferences were really eye opening, and this was particularly true of events organised by the International Parliamentary Union, IPU. In Egypt, for example, I was in a room with 181 parliamentarians from around the world. One of the key messages that came…

I have to admit, after two years in the Oireachtas, this is certainly a speech I am quite nervous to make. There is certainly no pressure. I first met Terry Brennan when I was nine years of age when he was running alongside my dad in the 1999 local elections. Terry was the scourge of any Fine Gael Dundalk candidate because, even though he was from the rural part of the constituency in Carlingford, he always got 350 to 400 votes in Dundalk town, 25 km away. He was able to get that vote because he knew absolutely eve…

That is my fault and I apologise. I call on the Minister to respond.

Recommendations Nos. 3 to 5, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Before we move on, I welcome Senator Gallagher and his guests to the Gallery.

I am bringing this issue to the House today for a number of reasons, but the first key reason is that since this Government has come into office, as the Minister of State will know, there has been a very strong shift towards the use of public transport in so many guises and forms. The way we can encourage people onto more public transport is to provide the opportunities for them to use it in the first instance. How do we do that? Let us look at Dunleer train station in County Louth, for example. Dunleer is the seco…

I thank the Minister of State very much. I see where he is coming from. This is an issue that has been talked about for 40 years. I did not come to the House today expecting to be told that Government is going to look at it. This has been an ongoing issue. This type of stuff with the regulations made sense before Covid-19. There has been a total sea change in Irish attitudes towards modal shift, however, particularly under this Government over the last two and a half years. This is a good example of how what Govern…

Before I call on Senator Lombard, I welcome the friends and family of Ronan Scully to Seanad Éireann today. Ronan received the Human Dignity Award and he and his friends are here as guests of Senator Mullen. It is great to have them here today.

Dáil Éireann agreed on 30 November 2022 to the amendments made by Seanad Éireann to the Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020. Dáil Éireann passed the National Tourism Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 on 30 November 2022, which has been sent to Seanad Éireann for its recommendations. Dáil Éireann passed the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022 on 30 November 2022, considered by virtue of Article 20.2.2° of the Constitution as a Bill initiated in Dáil Éireann, to which the agreement of Seanad Éir…

I raise a serious incident that occurred in my home town of Dundalk a few days ago. It was spread widely on WhatsApp and is now on the front page of a local newspaper. An individual in a car was driving along the Castletown Road. Some 15 m or 20 m in front of him was a cyclist. The individual in the car, filming at the same time, said he was "heartless" and asked viewers to watch what he was about to do to the cyclist. He then pulled his steering wheel to the left and knocked the cyclist off the bike. It was a deli…

Without interruption. I have not said anything and will continue not to name any names. The individual was taken to the Lourdes hospital and, thankfully, he has been discharged. He is a lucky individual-----

There is no need to say that.