It is disappointing but I thank the Acting Chairperson.

I too raise the comments from IBEC. They are deeply disappointing. Once again, IBEC finds itself on the wrong side of history. It has objected to the minimum wage. It has objected to environmental measures. Now IBEC is looking for survivors of domestic violence to prove they are actually suffering from domestic violence, to avoid what IBEC says is potential abuse of this leave. This narrative that people would abuse the right to take leave is something that we have seen before when it comes to any of these progress…

Ar dtús báire, cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. Like those who have spoken before me, I wish to put on record how welcome it is that we are finally updating a legislative framework for the abstraction of water in this country. This legislation has been much delayed. Maybe the Minister of State can tackle the equally archaic and environmentally devastating Arterial Drainage Act next. To get back to the Bill, we know the absence of coherent and comprehensive regulations on water abstraction is in br…

I second the motion.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. My colleague, Senator Ó Donnghaile, has outlined clearly why a Passport Office branch in the North makes sense. In 2020 the number of Irish passports being issued in the North surpassed British passports for the first time. A total of 48,555 citizens applied for a British passport, which was 356 fewer than those who opted for an Irish passport in the same year. Since then, the gap has become even more pronounced, with the number of applications for Irish passports more than double…

I refer to a letter sent to the European Commissioner for energy last night signed by 15 EU member states, namely, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, all calling on the EU to introduce a price cap on gas imports coming into the bloc to help member states mitigate the inflationary pressure the price of energy is putting on member states. Ireland's signature is conspicuously missing from that letter and I would like an …

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I dtús báire ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire Stáit chuig an Teach. The Minister of State may be aware there is a European Citizens' Initiative at the moment to call on the European Commission to propose an EU legislative Act to ban sponsorships and advertisements by fossil fuel companies. We all know that fossil fuel companies are perpetuating the climate crisis and that advertising climate-damaging products leads to an uplift in their sales. If it did not, why would…

I thank the Minister of State for endorsing and supporting the European Citizens' Initiative. I encourage anybody who has not yet done so to sign up for it. The Minister of State might have a chat with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when he sees him next and suggest that he supports a ban at state level. France and the Netherlands have done this. Lanzarote has gone one step further and banned advertisements altogether across the island, which is my preferred model. We will take it in baby steps. …

I wanted to raise today what some of us might have been looking at in horror, that is, the election of what looks to be a fascist leader in Italy. While the Italian people have had their say and that is their democratic right, it is a sad and dangerous time, especially following on from the recent elections in Sweden. It seems Europe is becoming an increasingly less safe place for our LGBTQ community, and for women and their bodily autonomy. We know that through her election campaign, Meloni worked hard to hide her…

My place is down to being first on the speaking list regardless of my gender. Tá áthas orm go bhfuil an deis agam labhairt sa díospóireacht seo. I will use my time to focus on some environmental aspects of the budget. The big-ticket item is retrofitting. It was rightly pointed out that the Government has not allocated as much to retrofitting as Sinn Féin did in its alternative budget. We would invest €503 million in retrofits in 2023. That is €153 million more than the Government's 2022 allocation and far in excess…

The Minister of State's own party-----

I will speak today about the cost of living protest which will take place on Saturday. While today might be a miserable, wet day it looks like the weather gods are shining down for those of us who will take to the streets on Saturday because the weather forecast is good. Many of us will remember the water protests and how they shook the foundations of the Government at the time. It is hard to believe it has been eight years since those protests first took place. The protests grew on a monthly basis with increasing …

I second the amendment.

I thank Senator Craughwell for arranging this debate. He probably knows the subject much better than most of us but he is raising very serious concerns that warrant further scrutiny and explanations. I cannot help but note the fact that this is a discussion about the privatisation of an essential public service. It seems the Government parties will never get their heads around the fact that privatisation is a failed project. We are in the middle of an energy crisis. The carving up of the ESB into EirGrid, ESB Netwo…

I move amendment No. 1: After the last paragraph, to insert the following paragraphs: “recognises that: - each year the School Transport Scheme is over-subscribed, with the State turning thousands of children away from this public transport option annually; - the Minister for Education failed to increase capacity this year alongside the announcement of the elimination of fares, resulting in an unprecedented number of applications and thousands of children not getting a seat on their local school bus; notes: - the f…

It is bizarre that something that was seen as such a good news story for many parents has resulted in members of the Government parties having to introduce a Private Members' motion. The potential benefits of a free school transport scheme are plain to see. It is good for the climate, for air pollution, for schools and for families. It is good in the context of the safety of pickup and drop-off points outside schools and it is good for parents because they have a convenient way of getting their children to school. …

I will raise a topic I have raised previously, namely, that of members of the Traveller community receiving the electricity credit rebate. While we disagree with going down the road of giving credits again, if that is the route the Government is going to take to support families with their energy bills, then we have to make sure that we learn from the mistakes made in respect of the previous credit. This was where Travellers who live on halting sites, including that in the Owendoher Haven in Tallaght, did not recei…

I welcome the MEPs. We are all talking about climate change today, and I would like to raise the issue of the energy charter treaty. I would like to hear the views of the three MEPs as to where they stand that issue, and whether or not they support the call for Ireland to leave the energy charter treaty now that we know that the modernisation process has failed and that the investor-state dispute settlement, ISDS, mechanism will remain in the energy charter treaty. Some of the bad faith actors are using the excuse …

One, the negotiations are finished; two, the ISDS was not part of the EU's reform.

It is not part of the amendments.