I thank the Minister. Of all the Ministries, Deputy Calleary has a wonderful Ministry. It is a great Department because the Minister can do so much good with it. When I looked at all the different sources of community centre funding that increased in the budget, I was delighted to see that nearly all of them went up by €1 million, €2 million or €3 million. I welcome that. It is fantastic news. I recognise the money that has come into County Meath. I worked with the Clady Hall project in Dunderry, County Meath, whic…

I would like to bring up the horrible issue of graffiti. More and more, when I travel through towns in County Meath, graffiti is becoming a major issue, especially in Navan, the town I come from. Graffiti is criminal damage and it is against the law. The people doing it may not think they are causing much harm but this can come with a huge economic cost to the building owners. There are clean-up costs, it is unsightly and there is an increased fear of crime in the area. It encourages other crime, people do not want…

Like my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick, I also want to speak on this amendment. Senator Fitzpatrick mentioned RGDATA. We have been inundated with correspondence on this. It seems to me that everyone wants to see something happen with regard to defamation to support businesses and shop owners. Retail Excellence Ireland has been in touch, as has ISME, RGDATA, and the Alliance for Insurance Reform. I have been inundated with emails about this and we have spent a lot of time discussing it because it is so important. On…

I also appreciate that the Minister is going to look at and take into good consideration what myself and Senator Fitzpatrick have said. We both really do have the interests of small shopkeepers and small businesses at heart. We both work a lot for them in this Chamber. I appreciate that. To go back on what the Minister mentioned about our cases falling, I had a quick look. In 2024, there were 289 cases in Ireland but there was only 209 in the UK where there is ten times the population. Something has worked over the…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to discuss the budget. This is my first budget since being elected and it is great to be here. I would like to discuss a couple of parts of the budget that I welcome. I do not need to repeat much of what has already been spoken about. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have added more than 440,000 jobs to the economy. That is just since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have record levels of women at work, as well as many people coming to Ireland to work…

I welcome Mr. Martin Hughes to his new role. Today I would like to speak about the importance of some vaccines that are now available. I will also speak about the HPV vaccine. Tremendous work is being done by the Department of Health under the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and the HSE in rolling out the RSV vaccine. The RSV immunisation programme will run throughout winter 2025-26. The immunisation will be offered in maternity hospitals to all babies born between 1 September 2025 and 28 Feb…

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in today to debate my Commencement matter. As a former Member of the Seanad on the cultural and educational panel, I am sure he will be interested in what I am talking about here. As an employer and having spoken to parents, I have noticed the unfair nature in which holiday earnings are calculated for the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant. At present, if you are a student registered on a full-time course and you are working, SUSI can deduct a portion of your inc…

Okay, so it is going to cost €35 million to do it, but there is a tax gain to the Government, there is a gain for businesses, there is a gain for students, and there is a gain for parents. We should not even have to think about this. The minimum wage is €12.15 for a 19-year-old. If they earn that, or the current full minimum wage of €13.50, and work the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays, they are covered for their holiday earnings. I do not know whether the Minister of State worked during college or not, but st…

I echo Senator Ní Chuilinn’s thoughts and wishes for the support we have received from everyone in the Seanad since we began. We are total newbies. Lots of us are brand new politicians and greatly appreciate the support. I echo what Senator Ní Chuilinn said about the workers in the background because we all use our social media clips and little videos so I support the workers in all of their endeavours. I have spoken on this previously, but I wanted to finish off the year by speaking about it again because it is so…

I will raise two important issues. The first is housing adaption for disabled people. We all know about the housing adaption grant, and how valuable it is to older people and people with disabilities. More than €3 million is the budget used by my local authority, Meath County Council, which does an excellent job. However, a couple, say, earning only the minimum wage and working full time, are only entitled to €20,000 towards any building works in their home. I have been speaking with Tracy Carroll, who is a strong …

I very much welcome our distinguished guests to the Gallery. They will enjoy sunshine at the weekend. The weather is looking good so they are very lucky. I feel the need to speak today because the rejection yesterday of the personal injuries guidelines was momentous for every hard-working small business and for every community group, festival about to be organised, sports club, GAA club and motorist. It was the right decision. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, for that decision. I thank the subcommittee on …

I am speaking on behalf of small businesses. It is my thing. From speaking to retailers and in particular to Retail Excellence, which is the body that nominated me for election to the Seanad, defamation is of huge concern. The Minister was gracious to me a few weeks ago when he gave me a few minutes of his time to talk to him about that. I thank him for that. I appreciate it. Retailers need to be able to ask questions if they suspect someone of stealing. I also appreciate that shoppers need to be protected, but as …

First of all, a massive hug to Senator Ryan. You were very brave when you spoke, so well done. It took a lot for you to do that. I really admire you. David Platt said, "There is a unique pain that comes from preparing a place in your heart for a child that never comes." I thank Senator Ryan for bringing this Bill to us. It has been a pleasure to discuss this with her over the past couple of weeks. As someone who has suffered miscarriages, including my eldest daughter's twin, I know what that ache is like for thousa…

In light of tomorrow's sub-Cabinet meeting, I am making my final call to the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, to not increase the personal injury guidelines. We cannot let the progressive, reforming work of countless Ministers in recent years be thrown away at perhaps the stroke of a pen which would decimate countless family businesses throughout the country, particularly in my home county of Meath. If this measure goes ahead, all our premiums will increase, especially business premiums, and businesses are the bac…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I am here to ask about the SME test being applied to the legislation on the personal injury guidelines, as there is a recommendation that they be increased. The SME test was introduced by the Government as a part of measures in May 2024. This is a no-brainer because any major new measure from the Government will be assessed for its impact on small business through an enhanced SME test. In all cases, a completed SME test must be included or an explanation provided as to w…

I thank the Minister of State. I really appreciate it and the acknowledgement of my work and his own on everything to do with insurance. It is the reason I got into politics seven years ago when I nearly lost my business over it all. That is why I am passionate about it. It can be hard when you know something is wrong and you feel it is going to happen. I just know it will be wrong if these rates increase because it will have a catastrophic impact. One lady told me yesterday that if her insurance goes up by anythin…

Two weeks ago, I stood up here and said it was not fair the Meath versus Kerry match was not available to stream or on TV. I told of how Meath are back in form and how we want to see these matches. I am thrilled to say last weekend's match between Meath and Galway was broadcast and brought joy to many people who went to the match or watched it at home, in the pub or in a nursing home. I was fortunate enough to go and watch the royal county win with an epic performance. When I returned to Navan, it was a sea of gree…

On this beautiful morning, I would also like to speak about the issue raised by Senator Fitzpatrick. I believe others might speak about it as well. An article in today's edition of The Irish Times let us know that the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration is planning to bring the personal injuries guidelines increase to Cabinet in a week and a half. This is probably the 15th time I have stood up here to talk about this because it is too serious a matter not to talk about. Coincidentally, I received a pre…

To any man who assaults a woman: shame on you. To any man who monitors a woman, controls her moves, where she is, what she is doing, her finances: shame on you. To any man who grabs his partner's phone to look at who she is speaking to: shame on you. To any man who makes a woman feel isolated, hopeless, suicidal, with nowhere to turn, then shame on you. To any man who allows his children to see any of this behaviour, what impact are you having on their lives? Shame on you. Today, like my colleague, we read in the a…