It is good to see the Minister of State back in the House. I want to follow up on a point made by Senator Currie. She said that she knows how much it means to families all over the country to have childminders. That comment brought be back to my own childhood. I am 33 now and my brother and I had a childminder in 1993. Our childminder was a woman called Rose English from Greengates in County Louth who had such a formative effect on our childhoods. She is still a huge part of our lives, even to this day. It struck m…

I wish to follow on from my colleague Senator Paddy Burke. This legislation is very much about bringing confidence to people who work in the charity sector but also to the members of the public who donate to it. That is the key aspect. The Minister of State said there are 11,500 charities in this country. I am amazed that the number is that high. When I was watching “The Tonight Show” two nights ago, the guests were talking about homelessness charities and it was said that there are approximately 24 operating in Du…

I will raise two or three issues before I get into the wider context. The first is the issue of palliative care, which I raised in the House a year ago. This is the result of a HSE decision. The CHO 8 area, as the Minister of State knows, covers counties Louth, Meath, Laois and Offaly. A decision was made by the HSE that in the Louth and Meath areas, only clinical nurse specialists would be able to administer palliative care. In every other health service area, public health nurses are able to administer palliative…

It is great to have the students from St. Oliver's in Drogheda here. They are very welcome to Leinster House and I hope they have a great day with Deputy O'Dowd. I have two issues to reference about the local elections. We must do something about spoiled ballots where the polling clerks are not stamping ballots correctly. I accept they are there from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. and that human error happens. However, it is wrong that somebody can go to the trouble of voting and filling in a ballot paper correctly only for …

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The Order of Business is No. 1, Private Members' business, Protection of Private Residencies (Against Targeted Picketing) Bill 2021 - Order for Committee Stage and Committee Stage, to be taken at 11.45 a.m.

I join with the Leas-Chathaoirleach in welcoming Mabyn and Pat all the way from the great state of Louisiana. They are both very welcome as guests of our Leas-Chathaoirleach, who is extremely well-known, not just on Capitol Hill but right across the United States of America. That is indicated by their presence here. We really appreciate that. Senator Ardagh raised the matter of the death of Derek Martin, who passed away on the M50 last week, which was extremely tragic and harrowing for him and his family. I am sure…

A couple of weeks ago, I met with Retailers Against Smuggling, a group that will have met many in this House already, to discuss some of the issues around illegal cigarette smuggling and retailers. When I say "retailers", I am talking about shop owners. Shop owners are really losing out. One of the reasons for that is the fact that Revenue has only three scanners around all our ports in Ireland, which are used to try to detect anything coming in. I would really like to have a debate in the coming weeks about what m…

It is great to have the parents from CBS Dundalk here. I really appreciate that they get to come here and see our national Parliament. I congratulate everyone involved with the Louth football team. What an incredible performance that was at the weekend. To come within the four points of arguably the greatest football team known was something to be really proud of for all those footballers from County Louth. The issue I want to raise has been raised a couple of times previously. It is the Leave our Leave campaign, w…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for accepting this Commencement matter and the Minister of State for coming to discuss this important issue. I will provide some context as to why I am raising this matter. I have met Katie Byrne from Dundalk, who has been working for the Irish Wheelchair Association since the age of 18. At the age of 18, she took an interest in wheelchair basketball and providing this as an outlet and sport for children and adults with disabilities to enable them to play and engage in sport. She has been …

I thank the Minister of State. Individual clubs do not apply for sports capital funding any more. That was changed. The national organisations now apply for funding, which they then put out to the clubs. I noticed something in the Minister of State's reply that I would really like to comment on because it is a good thing. I refer to the dormant accounts funding. That is a really good chunk of money that is used in a variety of Departments. Dormant accounts are a good source of income. Perhaps the Government could t…

I raise the proposed changes to the parental leave age limit in the Civil Service. This has come to me from a former colleague in Louth County Council, Maria Doyle. Her words are much better than mine. It is somewhat complex and I want to put this on the record because I do not think the memo and the proposed changes are particularly fair. Prior to the attached memo, parental leave was available unpaid for up to 26 weeks, which must be taken before the child is 12 years old, or 16 years old in the case of children …

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, in relation to the Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023, it be an instruction to the Committee of the whole Seanad, to which the Bill may be recommitted in respect of certain amendments, that it has the power to make amendments to the Bill which are not relevant to the subject matter of the Bill, for the purposes of: (i) transferring the Marine Planning Functions under the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to …

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One very significant goal of this Government relates to the concept of apprenticeships. Work on this was started by the Taoiseach, our former Minister for higher education. We have done really well in that sector. We have more than 65 new apprenticeships today that we did not have four years ago and more people are taking up apprenticeships today than were doing so four years ago. We are on the right trajectory with it. There is, however, one particular profession where there is no apprenticeship and about which I …

Everyone in the House will be aware of how important the scheme to essentially pay for development levies through a waiver, introduced by the Government last April, was in boosting supply and construction, and in making sure there was no prohibitive cost for people trying to build their first home. I am talking predominantly about people in rural one-off housing, but the scheme is for anyone who is trying to build, whether it is apartment complexes or buildings in our rural communities. In County Louth, for example…

That is an extremely positive message and I appreciate that the Minister of State has taken it to the House today. It is clear that the Minister is strongly considering extending the waiver. He is reviewing the waiver and has noticed and acknowledged that it has worked really well, reduced costs for people and means that people have decided not to sit on planning permissions for a year or two waiting for costs to come down. That is borne out in the data showing the number of commencements in the past 12 months. Thi…

I will address a couple of points that I raised in this House and that Sinn Féin mentioned both in this House and the Lower House, namely, that the people of my generation - I am 33 years of age - are leaving this country because of the housing crisis and moving to Australia because housing is so good there and Australia is a promised land.

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