Over Christmas I took a strong interest in vaccines, the history of vaccines and everything else. Let us consider smallpox, a disease that has ravaged mankind for millennia. We can go back as far as the death of Ramesses V, who died in 1,145 B.C. When his mummy was exhumed in the 1970s the experts could see evidence of smallpox lesions on the mummified corpse. They identified him as being one of the first historical figures to have suffered from smallpox. Let us fast forward many centuries to 1795 and Edward Jenner…

It is funny that we are talking about reflections and so forth. This day last year was my last day in Leinster House as a member of staff, after seven years. I finished to focus on the general election that I hoped would be called in the summer but it was called about two weeks later. If it had not been called, we would have gone straight into Covid-19 and many of us would not be sitting here. None of the new Senators would be here because the previous Government would still be in place. It is funny how things work…

The Senator should conclude.

We will move on to the group 4 amendments, which pertain to residential tenancies, the disapplication of Part 3, the subject matter of amendment No. 15 and the Seanad Report Stage amendments Nos. 9 to 17, inclusive.

Does the Minister want to come back in?

We now move to the amendments in group 5, which pertain to residential tenancies – notice of termination and prohibition on rent increases, the subject matter of amendments Nos. 16 and 17, and Seanad Report Stage amendments Nos. 18 to 24, inclusive.

Group 6, on public hearings on residential tenancies. It concerns the subject matter of amendment No. 19.

Yes.

We are finished with the groups. Does the Minister want to conclude?

As the discussion on all the groups has concluded, we will now move to the formal moving of each of the Senators' amendments. I remind Senators that, on Report Stage, each non-Government amendment must be seconded. The first amendment is amendment No. 1, in the names of Senators Warfield, Ó Donnghaile, Gavan and Boylan. It arises out of amendments made in the Dáil and has already been discussed with group 2.

I want to talk about the issue of housing maintenance, particularly in my own county of Louth. This follows on from issues on which I have been working and from the meeting that all Louth Oireachtas Members had yesterday with the council executive. There is, essentially, no housing maintenance budget in County Louth. The three engineers are each down to approximately their last €1,000. I spoke this morning to the director of services who was able to tell me that we are spending circa €344 per unit and we have 4,500…

Recommendations Nos. 9 and 10 are related and may be discussed together.

Is the recommendation being pressed?

It has become common courtesy that when a Minister comes into the House the first words uttered by Members are platitudes stating how great it is to have the Minister in but I genuinely enjoy it when this Minister comes into this House. Of all the Ministers who come into this House, it is clear he is very much on top of his brief, he is earnest in what he wants to do and his ambition is completely unparalleled for the job we need to do. It is a pleasure to see him come in here without a script or notes and be total…

I refer also to the wonderful funding for swimming which was announced this morning. I have been an avid sea swimmer for the past four or five years and I do it all year round. I absolutely love it and the benefits, for mental health and everything else, are fantastic. I cannot stress enough how brilliant a hobby it is. We saw an explosion in the popularity of sea swimming this year. The problem, however, is that a certain number of people who have taken up the hobby are not as proficient at swimming as they think …

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Last week in this House I spoke about the real problem of vaccine scepticism. Today, I want to discuss the need to build vaccine confidence. Building vaccine confidence is not just the reserve of Government and Members of this House; it is the reserve of everyone across Irish society who occupies a public platform, whether they are sports stars or influencers. It is more important than ever that this principle must apply to the national broadcaster and the media at large. I will not mention any names but we have se…

Amendments Nos. 7 to 9, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

As it is now 3.30 p.m., I am required to put the following question in accordance with the order of the Seanad of this day: "That amendment No. 7 is hereby negatived, Fourth Stage is hereby completed, and the Bill is hereby received for final consideration and passed."

I want to discuss something that the Leader will have a lot of experience of from her time as a Minister in her former Department. I refer to the Christmas bonus and, more importantly, the fact it is not paid to people who are on maternity leave. Next year I would love those who are on maternity leave at Christmas to be eligible for the Christmas bonus scheme. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, talked about the Christmas bonus last week, which is incredible. She encouraged people to spend that mo…