There are many people in this House who have much more experience in the area of banks, credits loans and loans. I turned 30 a couple of months ago. My friends are either engaged, having children or looking to get mortgages so that is the stage of life I am in. None of those things is happening with me yet but I am getting to that stage.

I did get my hair cut. I thank the Minister for noticing. That is very kind of him. I am in flying form today as a result of it. My point is that many of my friends are looking at trying to get a mortgage. It is the biggest issue for my generation. We are talking about people who are well educated, work really hard, have good salaries, pay more in rent than they would if they had a mortgage and are more than capable of paying back a mortgage but cannot get any sort of mortgage from a bank in the first place because…

It is a real privilege to be able to follow that very strong contribution from a fellow Border politician. When I looked around the room earlier, it was good to see so many politicians from the Border discussing this, Senator Martin was one before he excommunicated himself to Kildare. Joking aside, this is a really good debate. It is a very respectful and important debate and one which it is good to sit back and listen to. The reinforcement of the existing institutions and the provision of stable and productive gov…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to take this Commencement matter. I raise it because the idea and commitments on this issue in the programme for Government are excellent. If we can imagine it in layman's terms, it is the concept of people being able to put solar panels on their homes and businesses and farmers being able to diversify into this area by using some of their land for solar power. They would then be able to take the energy generated and sell it back to the national grid. A middle o…

That is an excellent, detailed response, which I was hoping the Minister of State would bring to the House. I thank him. It is good to see that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is going to review the existing planning exemptions for rooftop solar panels and that it will be brought before the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage in the next couple of months. That is exactly what I hoped to hear because that is what I am talking about. I want to know how can Joe Soap or th…

This was something I was mulling over in my head as I was coming down today. I was wondering what I would and would not say. I did not know what I would say before I came in so I sat here and listened to the debate. I thought I would make my remarks off that. Senator Buttimer's last comment was that we are back and open. Straight away that hit me. I agree absolutely and take the view that, as an island nation, this is exactly the message we need to be sending to the European Union and the world. The digital green c…

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

When is it proposed to sit again?

I was coming down here today to talk about a different issue, was looking at my Instagram and saw a post from Kasper Schmeichel, whose father was one of my idols growing up. His Instagram is in a social media blackout from 3 p.m. today until Monday night. I did not realise this was happening, perhaps because here in Ireland I am slightly removed from it. It is a social media blackout that every Premiership footballer, every Formula 1 driver, including Lewis Hamilton, every member of the English rugby team and the E…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today. Some 20,000 people in Ireland have type 1 diabetes. The latest data from across the globe show and the HSE advice states that people with diabetes face much worse outcomes if they contract Covid-19. The HSE has advised diabetes patients at all stages to try to avoid GP practices and avoid hospitals where they can. However, despite these warnings at times over the past 12 months there has been little joined-up thinking in order to put those patients first …

I thank the Minister of State. I have a couple of asks which I would like the Minister of State to come back to me on in his written response. The first ask is the development of a virtual consultation service. We have seen from the Covid-19 crisis that virtual and online services make sense. Prior to Covid-19 it was more difficult to make that happen, but it makes sense now and we should look at doing that. The second ask is that the flash glucose monitoring devices be added to the long-term illness scheme. It is …

I welcome the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. This is a Seanad Bill, which has been amended by the Dáil. In accordance with Standing Order 148, it is deemed to have passed its First, Second and Third Stages in the Seanad and is placed on the Order Paper for Report Stage. On the question "That the Bill be received for final consideration", the Minister may explain the purpose of the amendments made by the Dáil. This is looked upon as the report of the Dáil amendments to the Seanad. For Senators' convenience, I…

The speaking order will be Senators McGreehan, McDowell, Keogan, Bacik, Boylan and Seery Kearney. Senators are not limited in terms of their contributions but we need to conclude by 2.15 p.m.

When is it proposed to take the next Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I wish to raise the issue of substitute teachers. I spoke to a couple of teachers in my home area of County Louth over the past couple of weeks, which is a good idea. I find I can do my job much better when I talk to people who are on the front lines of certain sectors rather than when we are in the Seanad or reading stuff in briefing notes where one gets a theoretical view of the issues. Until recently, I did not realise there existed this concept of the five-day rule, which is that a person who is qualified as a …

I will follow on from Senator Craughwell's remarks about aerosol transmissions. A year ago, people were mad about washing and sanitising their hands, and we were afraid that touching a surface someone with Covid had touched might mean we might get Covid. That is not as serious as we thought and science is looking more at airborne transmission. The German Parliament uses an aerosol cooling system to increase the flow of air in the building. The national Parliament of Belgium is also doing it and the European Parliam…

At 10.30 a.m. on Monday, 19 April in the Dáil Chamber.

I wish to make a couple of points, the first of which relates to housing maintenance and housing transfers in my county of Louth. The county council's problem is that transfers are essentially non-existent. This is because it does not have proper funding to do up the houses. The cost of doing up a house is between €8,000 and €10,000 approximately. The council cannot effect transfers if it does not have the money to do up a house to a good standard for a new tenant. I plead with the Minister of State to consider thi…