I thank the Minister for coming to the House. While he will not want it to be mentioned, it is important that Senators from all sides of the House show solidarity with him following the awful protest - I would not even call it a protest - that took place outside his home. There is no call for that. These are ignorant thugs-----

-----who have no respect for democracy. The Minister will find that there is solidarity with him and his family on all sides of this House. We need to take action. We are all in favour of peaceful protest but to do what was done outside the Minister's home and to his family is completely unacceptable. As I am sure the Minister is aware, the difficulty with this pandemic is that there is no handbook. If we were able to predict the trajectory, somebody would be able to make a fortune out of the guidebook he or she co…

Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this matter on the Irish Sign Language, ISL, which I know is of deep personal interest to him. I thank the Minister of State for coming into this House, as I know she is personally invested in this issue. My colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, has also regularly raised this issue. It is an important statement by these Houses on how we value those who are deaf or have hearing impairments as members of our society and how the legislation that is designed to suppor…

I thank the Minister of State. I know her passion for this area and exactly what she feels. That passion is something that we need across all elements of government because, with the greatest of respect, the Minister of State cannot do this on her own. In the education space in particular, this has to be about focusing on the individual young person and what it is we need to put in place to ensure that he or she can reach his or her full potential. I encourage the Minister of State to continue being ambitious, but …

I join with colleagues in the call for a TRIPS waiver. I have raised this issue in the House on a number of occasions. Senator Moynihan and others have rightly made the point that until everybody on this planet is safe, nobody is safe. Senator Conway was correct when he said it is great that we have a vaccination rate of 95% and the average within the European Union is now approximately 70%. However, only 7% of those in low-income countries have received one dose of a vaccine. Ireland and the European Union are fac…

There can be no greener sector of the economy than horticulture and mushroom growing. By its nature, as an indigenous industry, it is deeply committed to the greening of Ireland. It is impacted by climate change and those involved are very much aware of the effect of climate change. Most are strongly supportive of ending the use of peat as a fossil fuel because they see the impact of it. We have effectively thrown the baby out with the bathwater here. Let us consider the volume of peat used in a normal year. Peat f…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House and for his work on the development of this comprehensive plan. While I welcome his statement that this is all about delivery, it is also about ensuring value for money. One of the problems with many major public projects is that the public accept the need for them but ask who is watching their budgets. The national children's hospital obviously springs to mind in that regard. I welcome the Minister's assurances that he is putting in place appropriate mechanisms to ensur…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. He will be aware that in May of this year, we had a ransomware attack on our health services. It was the largest known attack on a health service anywhere in the world. For this to happen to any health service is frankly disgraceful, but it is particularly disgraceful as we battle a pandemic. Credit is due to the IT staff who tried as quickly as possible to restore the systems in place. There was undoubtedly a considerable cost. While it is easy to measure the d…

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate that he is able to measure the direct cost in the figure of €37.5 million this year. We are six months on and, as the Minister of State has said, it still has not been fully resolved. The indirect costs are much more difficult to measure but I have no doubt that we are talking about tens of millions of euro with regard to the loss of productivity and the impact it has had. It has also had an impact on patients' lives. My concern on the broader issue around cybersecurity r…

I want to raise the question of the future of higher education funding. It is well over five and a half years since the Cassells report was published. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Simon Harris, indicated that now is the time for the question to be addressed. This can has continually been kicked down the road. It is completely unfair on our higher education institutions. They have gone through a very difficult two-year period and we need to have certainty ar…

Hear, Hear.

Hear, hear.

I have a point of order. A Chathaoirligh, I ask you to provide clarity on your interpretation. When Senator Crowe raised the issue of a sentence, you said that members should not comment on a sentence that is handed down. I can fully understand if a court case is ongoing that we should not comment in this House. However, when a decision has been handed down, I think, as Members, we should be free, if we believe that a sentence is inappropriate, to comment on it. Members of the Judiciary will often comment on action…

I appreciate that. I do not believe it is appropriate that we should necessarily criticise the judges, but if we feel that a sentence was inappropriate, and I am sure Members can think of such instances, I believe that once it has been handed down we should be entitled to comment on that.

Hear, hear. Well said.

While the judge in the European Court of Justice may have been a former Member of this House, it is not necessarily bad that we do not know the names of judges in every instance. However, I agree with the thrust of what Senator McDowell said concerning the advice given by the advocate general. Obviously, it will be a matter for the full court to make a decision. I regard data privacy as hugely important and a key European value but every right must be balanced against competing rights. In this instance, where we ha…

I welcome the Taoiseach's commitment to Seanad reform. He has always been a dedicated parliamentarian. I note he mentioned my Bill and the implementation of the seventh amendment. There are broader questions around Seanad reform, but I would like us to finally address this issue during the Taoiseach's time in office and enact the Bill. Coming out of the pandemic, I would like to mention two sectors. The first is the arts and creative sector in Ireland. It is a sector that has helped us through this pandemic, but it…

I thank the Minister for coming to the Chamber to take this Commencement matter. We are very fortunate that she announced we would have approval for a third new second level school in Gorey. I know from engaging with her that she took an interest in this issue. Educate Together became the patron body for the school. We are now fortunate in Gorey to have three excellent second level schools, Creagh College, Gorey Community School and the new Educate Together school, under a great team led by principal, Conor Berry. …

I thank the Minister. I appreciate that there are commercial sensitivities involved and that this involves the expenditure of public money. We have to ensure we get value for money. However, I am concerned about what the Minister described as the protracted nature of some of the negotiations. If one side is not deemed to be suitable or a commercial agreement cannot be reached, other potential sites have been identified. As the Minister said, Wexford County Council and people locally are more than willing to work wi…