In my four years in this House, and I stand to be corrected, I do not think I have ever interrupted anybody while they were giving a speech. Whether I agree or disagree with others, they have a right to be heard. If I can continue my comments for the next few minutes without interruption, I would greatly appreciate it. Comments were made about Australia, however, and they were reiterated in the Dáil. I will read into the record what I saw a few weeks ago when I glanced at some Australian headlines from the past six…

Before I discuss an issue, with the permission of the Leas-Chathaoirleach, I would like to propose an amendment to the Order of Business today. I propose that No. 14 be taken before No. 1. Yesterday, I met Mandy Kelly in my home town of Dundalk. I am conscious that I must make sure I temper my remarks with due process. I preface my remarks my noting I am keenly aware that this is a very complex issue. Mandy is someone we are all aware of through the media because her two children, Zayn and Kareem, who are Irish cit…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to require the National Transport Authority (NTA) to produce a report, to be delivered to the Minister of the Government with responsibility for a Department of State covering rail transport on the way in which the State may improve and strengthen rail passenger rights above and beyond the minimum requirements set down in EU secondary law, including Regulation 2021/782, with particular regard to delayed and cancelled railway services, including the m…

Next Tuesday.

It is great to have the Minister of State in the House. One of his first appearances here as a Minister of State was for a Commencement debate on work permits and their importance that I requested this time last year. I want to touch on this in this debate. We should make no mistake about the fact that we have a rip-roaring and very successful economy, particularly by European standards. In the part of the world I come from, along the corridor between Dublin and Belfast, the economy serves as the engine of Ireland.…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Seanad for this debate. I want to provide some context in anticipation of his response, which I have not seen yet, but I want to lay the groundwork for it. The reason this issue was brought up in the Oireachtas and on "Liveline" over the past two days was the result of a letter that I received from Alison McCabe from Breastcare By Alison. She is from Dundalk in County Louth. She has been doing this job for between ten and 15 years, if not more. Alison was able to show…

I really thank the Minister of State for that. I could not ask for a more unequivocal response from a Minister and from this Government of which I am hugely supportive. I have always been supportive of it. The Minister of State alluded to the issue I raise. This occurred in 2017 and a Minister for Health had to come out and stop it. An HSE bureaucrat was trying to reform the system and a Minister had to come out and publicly make a statement. This has happened again in 2024 whereby an HSE official or bureaucrat has…

My apologies for being late. I thank the Leader for allowing me in. There was a wonderful announcement during the week relating to the shared island scheme, which is going to look at hourly travel between Belfast and Dublin. I believe that to be the economic engine of the island. There is an issue, however, which I have raised a couple of times. I received text messages yesterday morning and this morning from people who get the Enterprise train service from Drogheda and pay full whack for a ticket. There were 60 or…

I am still breathless.

I too would like to raise the issue of mastectomies, which was raised in the Dáil by Deputy Colm Burke and in this House yesterday. I am bringing this to the attention of the House because of Alison McCabe from Dundalk in County Louth. Alison runs Breastcare by Alison and it is her job to fit people for bras following mastectomies. Until today, various parts of this country had different funding levels, depending on whether people lived in Donegal, Louth, Cork or Dublin. That was not fair. The Government is now try…

I call Senator Black to move the motion.

The Minister of State will contribute at the end. Senator Black is sharing time with Senator Higgins. Is that agreed? Agreed.

According to the running order Fine Gael is next, then Senators Boylan, Flynn and Gavan. They can share time or contribute separately. Senator Doherty is next and will have six minutes.

I warmly welcome the guests of Senator Horkan, namely the Estonian ambassador, her husband and their guest, Etienne Rapacki. They are very welcome to Seanad Éireann today. This is a timely debate about Palestine put forward by the Civil Engagement Group. It is receiving cross-party support, so naturally it is important. I thank our guests for coming here. I hope they enjoy the rest of their visit with Senator Horkan.

Next Tuesday.

I will not delay the Minister. I was keen to contribute to this debate. I congratulate the Minister and the Department for getting this important legislation through. It is something that should have been done a considerable time ago. It is important that the work the Minister is doing in his Department is getting this through. I wish to take this opportunity to state on the record of the House that I appreciate the work the Minister and his officials have done in the Department of Health. This is a good day for th…

It is timely that we have the Minister for Health in the House today because Adam Marmion from County Louth is a very courageous young man. I had the pleasure of meeting him about a year ago with his parents. It is because of Adam that the school has a tour in Leinster House today. All of the students have a day off school to come for a tour of Leinster House and it is all down to Adam, who organised the whole trip. It is great to have Adam and Darver National School here today. They are watching an important debat…

Today, I want to ask for a debate with the Minister for Education with regard to solar energy, in particular for schools. That is being rolled out through a really good programme that the Government has initiated, which is the solar programme for schools. It is really exciting. The first trial started in November. It is opened up to 11 counties. That is going to benefit 1,600 schools. Equally, it takes roughly 6 KW per school, which is the equivalent to 16 solar panels, and which will save each school between €1,20…

As my colleague, Senator Dooley, has said, this is a very technical Bill so I will be very brief. Naturally, it is a good Bill and is something we really need to welcome. Some of the proposed legislative amendments are quite important, particularly the establishment of a transfer date for the integration of Ervia into GNI. This, along with the dissolution of Ervia is pretty important, as is the allocation of the ministerial shareholding in GNI. I strongly support the preparation of the final accounts and the final …

I wish to address the issue of apprenticeships. I call for a debate about them to acknowledge the really important work the Minister, Deputy Harris, is doing on them and to have a discussion about how we can make them better. I am raising this because over the weekend, I was out knocking on doors in my home town of Dundalk. I met an individual who is a tiler and that person outlined to me how there are currently no apprenticeships in tiling. We have apprenticeships for virtually every career going and we want to ha…