I did not interrupt Senator Warfield.

I make a point of not-----

I make a point of not interrupting other Members when I speak in this House. I would appreciate if Senator Warfield gave the same courtesy to me. I will return to my point from before I was interrupted. This would be a good idea and we should look at it. It benefits ordinary workers. Let us cap it for higher earners too. We should do this. If we are going to do it anyway, let us do it with a single rebate. It is used regularly in most European countries and other states around the world. I would appreciate a debate…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I know she has a very busy portfolio and that this is not in her brief. I appreciate her taking the time to answer this Commencement matter. Before I start into the merits of it, I will give the Minister of State the context of it. I am a big advocate of electric vehicles and of the charging infrastructure, and I was amazed a couple of weeks ago when I came across what I found to be a strange anomaly, that is, in Ireland one can only avail of an electric vehicle home ch…

I thank the Minister of State for the very comprehensive reply. The primary focus of the scheme is to provide support for the installation of infrastructure. We need to provide an increased public charging network for those who do not have access to a private driveway. The Minister of State mentioned that the Department is working closely with the SEAI and expects a scheme for apartments to open in the near future. That goes a long way towards trying to resolve the very issue that I have raised. I am glad to hear t…

This morning, I had a Commencement debate about the provision of electric vehicle charging points to people who do not have access to a private dwelling. Let nobody doubt the importance of the Seanad because a few minutes after I finished speaking, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, announced the very thing I was asking for. That shows clearly that Ministers pay attention to what is said in this august Chamber. Do not let anybody tell you otherwise. I will not use the words "coincidence" or "fluke" when…

This is it. This is how you deliver stuff. I would be keen to hear the Acting Leader's response on this matter.

It is already out.

I rise to raise an issue that is probably suitable for the Cathaoirleach as well as the Leader. It is about the expressions of sympathy for former Members. In the next couple of months we will be hitting the two-year mark of this Seanad term and for the last 18 months we have not been able to have expressions of sympathy. Such expressions are a very important day for the families of former Members who come in and spend the day here. We have not been able to have guests visit. When we consider where we are now with …

I did not get an opportunity to contribute a couple of weeks ago when the debate on the pay of secretarial assistants was going on. I was not going to contribute to today's debate but I saw my colleague, Senator Buttimer, and others discussing it and I wanted to put my experience on the record. I believe I can speak with authority on this because I was a secretarial assistant 18 months ago. I finished up as a secretarial assistant for the former Leas-Chathaoirleach, Paul Coghlan, who was a wonderful boss. I am sure…

I would like to try to get some clarity in the new year from the Minister for climate action about the concept of one-stop climate shops. There is a clear commitment for this in the programme for Government. It has been discussed in the climate action plan. It is due to be rolled out in the new year. I would like context in regard to how are they actually going to work, how they will be funded by the Government and where they will be provided. For example, will staff in local authorities provide them? The concept i…

Let the Minister speak.

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

My whole thing in this debate over the past year is about perspective. I keep using the word time and again. On occasions, perspective is lost in the whole debate. The perspective is that we are performing at the most optimistic levels of where NPHET said we would be a number of weeks ago. The perspective is that this time last year, we did not have the use of vaccines, antigen tests or boosters. I refer to the communication strategy of the Government in recent days. It is perfectly acceptable, and it is the intell…

The irony is certainly not lost on me in relation to that issue.

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I know he is extremely busy. It shows his commitment to Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT, and the Dundalk region. It has been very disheartening to see all of these technical universities, TUs, starting up yet Dundalk is not there. The reason is very well known. I am not here today to cast blame on individuals as to why we are not at that standard. I am here to try to find a way forward with the Minister for the future of DkIT and higher education in the north east…

I thank the Minister for that. That is exactly the kind of clear sense and thinking I was hoping to get from this debate. I very much appreciate it. It is important that the Minister has outlined the concept of a stand-alone university. It is not legally possible, nor is it even part of the strategic vision of the people involved in DkIT. It is clear, in black and white, that they want to be part of a technological university. The Minister mentioned Dr. Ruaidhrí Neavyn, the expert adviser. It is important that we a…

I was not going to talk about this publicly, but I recently had Covid. I would not advise anyone to catch it. It is not particularly enjoyable. However, I discovered from my experience the real benefits of antigen tests. In recent weeks I have talked to other people who have also had Covid, and this is only anecdotal evidence, but they spoke about the benefit of antigen tests to them. Having been through this, I think a real disservice to the country was done by the comments a year ago that antigen tests were "snak…

Today, I want to raise the issue of electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure around them. I did not realise until last week that without access to a private driveway, you cannot get an electric vehicle charging point. I raised this issue in committee yesterday. Thousands of people live in apartments and in terraced housing in respect of which parking is on-street and so it would not be possible for any of those people to have electric charging points installed. We have no solution as of now as to how to fi…