Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. As he will be aware, we are seeing a global explosion in content production, in film, television, animation and the new digital sector, and Ireland has been very much to the fore in ensuring we get a slice of that international pie. We have an excellent film, television and animation sector in Ireland, and one reason that has been the case relates to the section 481 tax relief, which helps in financing these productions. It was welcome in the budget that section 481 was extended t…

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate that he is only reading the figures given to him by the Department of Finance. It is clear that the Department is not committed to the development of a regional film and television industry on the basis of this response. That is quite disappointing. It is also clear that the Department does not understand the importance of section 481 and the regional uplift. The fact that everyone in the sector saw new productions coming into the regions that would not have happened if i…

I want to take up the last comment. I have enormous respect for Senator Keogan but we went through two difficult years with Covid and the vaccine scepticism of herself and Deputy Tóibín is not acceptable. The vaccines were what got us out of the difficulties we face and there was no effort on the part of the Government to prevent people from going for their necessary treatments. The Senator needs to stop spreading these anti-science and anti-vax messages. It is not acceptable. Our health service responded in the be…

I want to return to recent weather events. In Wexford we saw a number of events in the past week which were quite serious. In my hometown of Gorey we saw extensive flooding, including the motorway being closed. I saw the impact of what was a mini tornado in Foulksmills and Clongeen. Parts of buildings were demolished, roofs were taken off and damage was done to concrete in a number of houses. Unfortunately we will see more of these extreme weather events and it is important that the exceptional weather payments wou…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The Rosslare to Waterford line was closed in 2010, having operated since 1906. It connects with the Waterford to Limerick railway line, which continues to operate. Many in south Wexford knew it as the sugar beet track because for a long time the railway line was synonymous with the transportation of sugar beet. It served communities in south Wexford, including Campile, Ballycullane, Wellingtonbridge and Bridgetown. There is a very active local campaign group, South East on Track. …

The Minister of State's response is somewhat positive. I think we all look forward to reading the all-island strategic rail revieww. I think it will encourage a lot of debate about how we can more effectively use rail in this country. I think we could see the reopening of the railway line with a parallel greenway connecting to the very successful Waterford greenway operating over the course of this decade. I think we are now realising that the future is in rail. There is enormous potential there because there is a …

I echo Senator Boyhan's call for a debate on rail infrastructure. In the context of the all-island strategic rail review, which is due to be published imminently, a full debate in this House would be welcome. I will also talk about regional development but first, I will speak about the question of the regional uplift for film, television and animation production. This applies to any production that occurs outside Dublin and Wicklow. It has helped the development of content creation in the regions, allowed those who…

Cuirím fáilte roimhe an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State will be aware that after the budget, a €100 million health sector winter fund was announced to deal with various emergency costs. This would be particularly targeted at section 39 providers to meet some of their costs. The Ministers of State, Deputies Rabbitte, Butler and Feighan have identified some of the organisations that could benefit from this. We know about them all around the country, including, in my own area, St. Aidan's Services in Gorey. Some of …

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I welcome the announcement of this funding but unfortunately, I do not share the Minister of State's confidence that the HSE will be able to allocate it as quickly as possible, particularly as many working in the sector are still waiting for their €1,000 Covid-related bonus payment to which they are entitled. I would be grateful for further guarantees in this regard. I accept it is the Minister's intention that the payments be made quickly but I seek further guarantees t…

Cuirim fáilte arís roimh an Aire Stáit. I also welcome to the Gallery Mary and Sarah Halford, who are neighbours of mine from home. They are here for the next Bill, but I am delighted to see them. I support the next Bill and hope that it does not have as long a passage as the reforms in the Bill before us. The latter Bill goes back, as colleagues have said, to the seventh amendment to the Constitution, which was passed by referendum by the people in July 1979. I noticed that a number of taoisigh were mentioned duri…

I just heard, yes.

The point I would make is that now is the time to act on this. It is one of the tasks that should be put to the Electoral Commission. Under the legislation, it has a role in this. Senator Buttimer mentioned the Pontifical University at Maynooth but the Bill provides that it is up to the Minister to designate the institutions. The Minister can designate which higher education institutions qualify. The Bill also answers the questions around those who are awarded by overseas institutions and whether they should be des…

Next Tuesday, 25 October.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. We have talked about this issue previously in the Chamber and privately. I am quite happy that the Government enacted the circular economy legislation. The Minister of State will be aware of the Bill I brought forward to deal specifically with these issues. Within the circular economy legislation there are very welcome provisions that will allow for the deployment of CCTV and other technologies in order to be able to catch those who are engaging in illegal dumping. While in the pa…

I thank the Minister of State for his personal commitment in this area. The legislation is welcome, as he said, and it has the necessary safeguards, but the key is rolling out the codes of practice. While I welcome the commitments, we should try to see that the LGMA gets the codes to the Minister for approval and that, from 2023, local authorities will be in a position to adopt them. By the spring, no local authority should have an excuse that it has not got the necessary general data protection regulation complian…

I join in welcoming the group from Gorey who are here. I raise the issue of a report by HIQA into foster care services in Waterford and Wexford. As we know, HIQA will carry out independent investigations on health services around the country. This has been reported on by Brendan Keane and the People Group newspapers in Wexford this morning. While the report has found that there are excellent foster families in Waterford and Wexford, one third of those families do not have access to social workers. One third of the …

I echo Senator Conway's comments on the disappointment at the delay in the junior certificate results. It is quite unfair to those students, particularly for those who may be looking at an apprenticeship or at whatever subjects they might be choosing for senior cycle. We have to ensure that delay does not happen again. I also call for a debate around the planned national research strategy. While much of the focus will be around structures, there is a serious question regarding the level of support we are giving to …

Cuirim fáilte freisin roimh an Aire Stáit. As colleagues said, it is important to thank the Minister of State for her work in this area over the last few years. The major expansion of this programme is something that is positive. It is also important that we thank the teachers, SNAs and schools that take part in summer provision and that we acknowledge the contribution they make. I get Senator Carrigy's point about the difficulty of getting them but there are a lot of teachers who are willing and keen to do this an…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. We are discussing Ireland's membership of CERN, which is arguably the world's greatest scientific laboratory and certainly engages some of its greatest scientists, engineers and technicians. I am glad to welcome to the Public Gallery several researchers who have a specific interested in this issue. As the Minister of State is aware, CERN is focused on how our universe is made up. It has been responsible for some of the things we take for granted in many ways, including the World W…

I am a little disappointed because we do not seem to be making much progress. The recommendation was to at least explore associate membership. There is very little difference between the answer the Minister of State delivered and that which the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, delivered to me at the beginning of March. If we are to explore associate membership, we should set a timeframe. I would like the Minister of State to indicate a timeframe by which that could happen. In all other areas, when work like this …