I met recently with Macra na Feirme. It is very keen that we look, within the budget, at addressing the issues of succession planning within agriculture. We still have the challenge that more a third of farmers in Ireland are over the age of 65, more than half are aged over 55, and only 7% are under the age of 35. I would like a debate, which I have called for previously, on the question of succession in agriculture.

I commend Senator Clonan not just on bringing forward this legislation but on all his work on disability issues. I am delighted the Minister of State is here, because she is someone who has a passion for this brief. She really understands the sector and wants to deliver on the sector. As a country we have an opportunity to make a transformation for those with disabilities. That we have moved responsibility from the Department of Health to the Department with responsibility for integration is significant. We are goi…

It is not appropriate at this time. We need to debate these issues.

Senator Clonan is a reasonable person. He will be perfectly happy if the Minister comes in here and looks at debating a lot of the issues within the legislation. I am certain the Minister of State will be quite happy to go through this on Committee Stage to look at how we can improve and develop the legislation. The Leader is very happy that we table lots of debates. Everybody in this House knows about the importance of particular cases. I therefore ask the Minister of State that we come back and work together on t…

My apologies for running late. There was the minor matter of sitting on the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, where there may be one or two situations going on that clashed with this debate. I also held a briefing on CERN at lunchtime. As someone observed, speaking about black holes and explosive revelations does not just apply to CERN in Leinster House today. I see Mr. Tomás Heneghan in the Public Gallery. I recognise his work in this area as well as the work of so many others who have ca…

Yes, but we could land people in a great deal of difficulty by doing that. The system needs to be administered easily. As part of this process, I suggest that there be consultation with the graduates and student unions of the institutions, the Irish Universities Association, the Union of Students in Ireland and so on so that we can arrive at a model. I hope that we see this legislation being implemented in time for the next Seanad elections. The referendum took place on 5 July 1979. Today is the 44th anniversary of…

The Minister and I were, although I am sure we cannot quite remember what was going on in our lives at that time. There have been many graduates since then. I ask the Minister to please expedite this legislation and ensure that, when the next Seanad elections happen, graduates from other institutions will finally have a vote.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I thank the Minister and sympathise with her. She has a broad brief and various responsibilities. She and her officials have been dealing quite a lot with questions around RTÉ over recent weeks, as our Oireachtas media committee has. My colleagues, Senators Carrigy and Warfield, are regular attendees at the committee and we do not tend to get as much attention on some of the other bigger picture issues around broadcasting as we have been getting, to which I will refer in a moment. We ne…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. We have had the two Malcolms mixed up and referred to as each other in the past. I will raise a question regarding what, in the past, might have been regarded as a once-in-100-year climate or weather event but which, unfortunately, as the Minister of State and I know, is happening far more frequently. Last weekend, we saw freak rain and hail showers in Enniscorthy - people saw the images of what happened - that resulted in the flooding of a number of businesses, in particular. Unf…

I thank the Minister of State. I want to praise the local authorities for their response in every case, often under very difficult circumstances. We need to have a much greater awareness on the ground of the kind of supports that exist, almost a one-stop-shop, to be able to move in as quickly as possible. As part of a whole-of-government approach I have become increasingly concerned, for instance about the number of cases that have happened in County Wexford. The Minister of State will be aware of the number of cas…

It is wonderful to have the governor here. I know she is very proud of her Ballinasloe, Cork and Kerry connections. As I mentioned before, I am from Wexford, the home of that little known Massachusetts political family, the Kennedys. Sixty years ago, John F. Kennedy came here and inspired people. I thank the governor for coming on this trip to inspire people. What she has done to inspire women and people of my community, which is the LGBTQ+ community, to get involved in politics is incredibly important. The Boston …

I will start by agreeing with the remarks of Senator Flynn. I also agree with Senator Clonan. It is really important, more than ever, that we as a country continue to show a welcome to those who are seeking refuge, in some cases from horrific conditions. Part of what is important is that we also talk about the horrific conditions from which these people are fleeing. There are many who still do not understand why people are seeking refuge on our shores. The more we can do to stimulate public debate, the better. The …

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber and congratulate her. I want to support the Bill. I think it is necessary to address the challenges of hate crime and incitement to hatred in Ireland. There are some concerns, however, and they have been reflected by colleagues already. Senator Clonan spoke about some of them. Second Stage is the opportunity during the legislative process to talk about the general principles of the legislation and its objectives, what we think is important in the general principles, and where w…

My point is valid. You have to be consistent in your point of view. My challenge on this issue is because you are dealing with two competing rights, both of which are exceptionally important rights. We do need to introduce an aggravated offence when it comes to hatred because the purpose of law is ultimately to favour the victim. It is very clear that we have hate crime and hate speech in this country. That said, what is essential is for us to have certainty when it comes to enforcement. I am talking again about ar…

Last weekend, the Association of Irish Musical Societies held its annual awards ceremony. We know the positive impact active musical societies make in all our communities. I pay particular tribute to the winners of the overall show, namely, Gorey Musical Society.

Gorey Musical Society is my hometown musical society. It has had a number of successes over the years and has won a number of awards. We should recognise musical societies all over the country for the contribution they make. It was also appropriate that the winner of the best musical director award was Fintan Cleary of the Wexford Light Opera Society. Mr. Cleary has sadly passed away since being nominated. It was an appropriate recognition of his contribution to music and theatre life in County Wexford. He was a gr…

There were some throwaway references to admirals. I do not see any admirals speaking on the programme.

It is important that we respect the office of the President. If, however, the President oversteps with his remarks, he deserves to be criticised.

I welcome the announcement by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, that he is going to proceed with legislation that will prohibit the sale of vapes and vaping products to anybody under the age of 18. While I understand that there is a bit of a pause waiting for agreement at European level on some of the issues around plain packaging and so on, Ireland should become a lead in this space. We should be banning disposable and flavoured vapes. We do not know fully yet the damage they are causing but we kno…

I want to start by referring to two sets of figures that were released today, the first of which are the detailed census figures, which have been released by the CSO. There are a number of interesting figures in that. There is the fact that in the final figures, the population of the country is 25,000 more than was estimated. According to Adrian Kavanagh, the provisional census - and colleagues in this House may be interested in this - means that the minimum number of Deputies will have to be 172, rather than 171, …