I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House again. As the Cathaoirleach has said, we are becoming friends in the context of debates on electoral reform. I am very happy to present this legislation to the House on Second Stage. To set it in context, one of the greatest achievements in society since the foundation of the State has been the significant and dramatic growth in the number of people who have gone on to further and higher education. We have moved…

I echo Senator Black's comments on the need for continued support for musicians, and those of Senator Bacik, who stated we should send our congratulations, we hope, to US President-elect Biden. I have no doubt the Cathaoirleach will happily welcome him to counties Mayo and Louth, should he decide to make a visit in the coming years.

I return to the questions on the clarity of the guidelines under level 5 and the position on the shooting of pheasants. As the House will be aware, recreational shooters play an important role in managing vermin, pests and predators in country areas. Due to level 5, however, recreational shooting has been stopped. I ask that we get clarity on that and in particular on the possibility of an extension to the pheasant shooting season. On the question of living with Covid, I raise the issue of how our young people are …

I move: That Seanad Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Data Protection Act 2018 (section 60(6)) (Central Bank of Ireland) Regulations 2020, a copy of which was laid in draft form before Seanad Éireann on 28th October, 2020.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and explaining, in an honest and clear way, the hallmark of the way in which he operates, that this is simply a technical issue to correct a printing error. I am aware from the notes, but I would be grateful if he would put it on the record of the House that no individual has been adversely affected as a result of this. That is particularly important. On the question of data breaches by financial institutions and the area to which this legislation relates, I con…

I compliment the Acting Chairman. As Senator Warfield said, it is good to see Senator O'Reilly in the Chair. It is long overdue that we have a female Chair for some of our sessions.

I echo the remarks of the Senator. Much as this is an issue in Clare, it is also an issue in counties Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow. This is not just an environmental concern. Dealing with this issue could revitalise our rural communities and villages. We have a planning issue whereby many people are being told they cannot have one-off housing, but we should at least allow them to live in their local villages. Doing so will also support the local shops, post offices and schools. Our problem at the moment is that man…

I thank the Minister of State. I know he is personally very committed to this issue. This needs to be aligned with the Government's remote working strategy because it has the potential to solve many of the challenges we face. I ask that, as soon as these reports are published, they be made available. A fuller debate in the House might be facilitated at that stage.

The Leader will be aware that I regularly raise the question about the social media giants, how they control ever more aspects of our lives and how they respond to consumer behaviour. I note that this morning WhatsApp introduced a feature that will make messages disappear after seven days. Given recent events, this is a clear indication that WhatsApp is responding to consumer behaviour. I endorse Senator Hoey's remarks concerning a call for a debate on foreign policy. In addition to raising the very legitimate conc…

Like my colleagues and others in the House, I strongly support this motion. The Government needs to be ambitious. The programme for Government sets out a certain level of ambition that does not fall only on the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, even though I am certain she is more than capable of leading the charge, but on the entire Government and all Departments. It falls on all of us and, as my colleague, Senator Dooley, said, on society at large. We must all play our part in ensuring that in the future we con…

I thank the Minister for attending to debate this urgent legislation. I share the views of colleagues that a number of Bills have been rushed through the House, some unnecessarily so. In this case, however, it is welcome. The Minister is deeply committed. I have known him a long time. He is willing to listen on all of these issues and I am sure he will listen to the concerns expressed on all sides. I support this legislation strongly. It gives certainty to tenants during this difficult period and any future period.…

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House. It is a pity, in many ways, this Bill must be introduced because the overwhelming majority of citizens in the State are trying to do the right thing. We need to acknowledge that fact in this debate. It is a pity we cannot legislate to address stupidity but some people are blatantly seeking to disregard the public health guidelines which are in all our interests. In the approach the Government is taking where a measure needs to be taken to sanction those flagr…

Hear, hear.

That is not happening in reality.

Now.

I am happy to state that I am in support of the amendment and proposal from Senator Ward. Senator McDowell is correct. We all know the import of this Bill and what it is trying to achieve, but there is no point in sending gardaí out with a ham-fisted piece of legislation. Senator Ward's proposal is a perfectly reasonable one that will give the necessary powers. As Senator Conway said, the Minister of State could consult his officials. I do not think there should be a problem in terms of the Dáil coming back to addr…

Is it possible to propose an adjournment for two minutes to allow the Minister of State to-----

I realise the difficulty the Minister of State is in and I have proposed adjourning for a couple of minutes to allow him to have appropriate discussions on this. I appreciate the pressure the Minister of State is under but there is no point in the House passing dog's dinner legislation, to use the phrase being used all day. I am in support of the proposals of Senator Ward.

I propose that we adjourn for three minutes.

As the Minister of State knows, Ireland has one of the poorest rates of modern European language take-up in Europe. While much of this might be explained by the fact that we use English, that, in itself, does not excuse the fact we have not been able to embed a knowledge of European languages. Employers regularly cite the lack of language skills as a major problem in the Irish workforce. In a post-Brexit scenario, having a greater knowledge of languages will be an opportunity for Ireland. In addition to that, it is…