I am asking why there is automatic protection for vessels in the Bill when there is not automatic protection for buildings over 100 years old.

I want to comment on the section just so I have leave to submit amendments on Report Stage. We are concerned about the language in: A person shall not question the validity of- (a) An act done by the Minister […]. That seems to prohibit opposition. We wanted to put that on the record and reserve the right to introduce amendments on Report Stage.

Today, I want to raise a couple of issues regarding dog welfare. First, I welcome the conviction yesterday of the owner of the old dog pound. The penalty could have been harsher but it is important that the serious nature of the crimes committed at the pound have now been upheld and a conviction has been achieved. In particular, I want to raise the issue that Dogs Trust has highlighted, which is that there has been an 80% increase in the number of dogs being surrendered due to the housing crisis because landlords w…

Cuirim fáilte mhór roimh an Aire Stáit. Much attention has rightly been placed on the role of fossil fuel companies in the climate crisis, but we cannot afford to take our eye off the other big polluters, namely, the big tech companies. Big tech is exacerbating the climate crisis by driving demand for consumer goods through advertising and for electricity to run those advertisements. We often refer to Facebook and Google as tech companies but it is more accurate to describe them as the world’s two largest advertisi…

I do not agree with the Minister of State's response that unilateral measures would risk Ireland's position at the OECD. We know that other countries have already introduced a tax on digital advertising, not the digital tax he is referring to. The Austrians charged a rate of 5% on gross receipts from advertising services rendered by providers in Austria if they are targeted at Austrian users on Austrian devices. The French scheme takes aim at targeted advertisements in particular. It is clearly workable and clearly…

I also welcome those who are here from the Iveagh Markets. I remember the markets very fondly as a kid when it used to sell second-hand clothes and I was able to get my velvet suit jackets and my Farah trousers there. I wholeheartedly support its preservation. Sinn Féin welcomes this Bill. As is very clear, the existing legislation which dates back to 1930 is not fit for purpose and needs modernising. I hope the Bill will address many of the issues facing our archaeological and historical heritage. Ireland markets …

I refer to an issue that has been raised in the House by numerous colleagues concerning the ongoing situation in hospitals, particularly in emergency departments. It is nothing short of a disaster at this stage. I stress that this is not through the fault of any of the staff working in those hospitals. Last week, Tallaght University Hospital was extremely busy due to the high number of patients who presented at its emergency department. The pressure was such that hospital management had to issue a statement asking …

I wish to raise an issue that has been in the news for the past number of weeks. In 2009, a Government memo was sent to Cabinet seeking the Government to approve the permanent rebalancing of network tariffs towards large energy users, and that rebalancing was to be paid by domestic household consumers. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, made a decision, correctly, last year to unwind that, but it stopped short of rebalancing the network costs in favour of households. We know that there was an error in…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I know he is not from the line Department. I find the contradictions in regard to this matter bizarre. When my colleague, Deputy Carthy, raised this matter with the Minister a couple of weeks ago, the latter agreed the subvention is unfair and that the Department had instructed the CRU to unwind it. We then had the situation whereby it emerged, via freedom of information requests, that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment had exceeded the scope of the CR…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte.

I thank the Minister of State for her honest response.

In terms of trying to get answers from Ministers, it would be great if all Commencement matters were addressed in such an honest way.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in and speaking in such a manner.

I know others have mentioned that today is St. Valentine's Day. I am also mindful that it is the anniversary of the Stardust fire that took place in the early hours of 14 February 1981, when 48 young people went out and did not come home and hundreds more were injured. I was with the families at the vigil last Saturday where a large memorial has been unveiled to them. They are all feeling that this is the year, after four decades of campaigning for truth, for answers and for justice that they might finally be able …

I will raise a story that appeared on the front page of The Independent about a ground-breaking decision taken by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, ASAI, with regard to greenwashing. It is very important, when we are all trying to do the right thing on climate change, that we are not being misled by companies that are trying to greenwash and are saying they are doing things they are not doing. The decision taken by the ASAI relates to companies claiming that they produce 100% renewable electricity. C…

Before I raise an issue on the Order of Business, I add my support to Senator Sherlock's comments about the importance of people being careful with their language at the moment. We are sitting on a tinder box and we must be mindful of what we are saying. I will raise an issue that I have raised on numerous occasions in this Chamber through Commencement matters and at committee level, namely, the Energy Charter Treaty. It seems in the past 24 hours, the European Commission is finally beginning to see the writing on …

Curim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. As others have said, the Bill aims to provide ComReg with more powers, which is a move that Sinn Féin welcomes. ComReg needs stronger regulatory and consumer protection powers if it is to be able to do its job. I recently had reason to contact ComReg regarding power outages that were impacting the ability of people to contact emergency services. I flagged that this may be an issue during a Commencement matter some time ago. ComReg was prompt in its response and its representatives …

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. This is a timely motion, and I commend Senator Boyhan on bringing such positive proposals forward. We need to ensure that communities and environmental ambition are at the heart of any proposal that emerges in this regard. The motion does not make any direct reference to the topical Coillte joint venture but it is important to take the opportunity to raise it once again. For us in Sinn Féin the best approach to afforestation is supporting farmers, public bodies and Coillte. It was highl…

I am convinced someone is trying to sabotage me because we keep changing the order every week. We are here this morning because it has been impossible not to notice the welcome news in the newspapers that €50 is going back into every household's electricity accounts as a result of an error made by ESB Networks. The bigger question is as to why domestic customers were subsidising large energy users for 12 years. In 2009, the Government gave an instruction to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to implem…

In its submission, the Department criticised the CRU for unwinding what it called a ministerial direction. That information was obtained, via a freedom-of-information request, from email correspondence. The CRU is independent, and yet it implemented this decision on the instruction of a Minister in 2009. It is being blamed upon unwinding a ministerial direction and told that this measure was supposed to be a permanent subsidy to large energy users. That was the language in the Cabinet memo that was sent to the CRU.…