I second the amendment.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as teacht chuig an Teach ar maidin. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis. As this is my first formal engagement with the Minister of State, I congratulate him on his appointment and wish him all the best for his tenure. In the context of the challenges around meeting climate targets from every sector under our national climate action plan, the ongoing work around the development of a national nature restoration plan in line with the nature restoration regulation and the development of a co…

In his remarks the Minister of State said that the Department states that the MFF should reflect the needs of Irish citizens, yet there has not been sufficient engagement. A poll from European Movement Ireland that was released today should be of interest to all Members and it looks at falling trust in European institutions and in the EU generally. It is a slow feed but it is of concern. What better way to restore trust in European institutions than by having public engagement in one of the most significant things …

I welcome the interventions made yesterday by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste relating to the acts of terror being carried out by the Israeli state and Israel Defense Forces. Calling those acts a war crime is calling them what they are. We all absolutely deplore the holding back of food aid and destroying of the means of producing food - bakeries, fishing boats and greenhouses. This is the ultimate cruelty. More European countries, as well as the international community, need to step up, in particular the US, and interv…

I wish to be associated with the comments made about Martin Groves. I wish him all the best and hope there is an opportunity to pay tribute to him at some point. On behalf of the Green Party, I join in the expressions of sympathy for the late pontiff, Pope Francis. His encyclical letter, Laudato Si ': On Care For Our Common Home, was mentioned. It was a rallying call for nature restoration and a deconstruction of our economic growth model. His embrace of the LGBTIQ community and trans people will also be notable. I…

I also welcome Teresa to the Chamber. I welcome the Minister of State to this important debate. I never had the formal opportunity to wish him the best in his tenure as Minister of State. I know he will hit the ground running. Any time I have had the duty to call him on issues, he picked up the phone straight away and dealt with the issue. I do appreciate that. I know he has a busy portfolio. I am going to raise a couple of points and questions. A number of Members mentioned peat slides. One of the first tasks I ha…

I am not saying it is happening.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I will focus on some of the positives in terms of green initiatives in the NPF. I refer to the stronger focus on compact low-carbon growth, helping to reduce car dependency emissions, the formal integration of environmental assessments, including SEA and appropriate assessment, the national policy objectives aimed at supporting biodiversity protection, commitments on a new national nature restoration plan, which I know the Minister of State is leading on, policies of no net loss f…

It is great to have the senior Minister with us for Commencement matters.

It is much appreciated.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis. I wish the Minister of State all the very best in his tenure. He has a very exciting portfolio but, no doubt, an incredibly challenging one as well. As Senators said, these extreme weather events we are witnessing are now becoming the norm. It was shown in a lot of climate modelling over recent years that this would be the case, whether in the form of flooding, heat storm events or large rainfall dumps in urban areas, which are the cause of many of thes…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I congratulate him on his appointment. I wish him all the very best for his term ahead. I know he is a reforming Minister, as he has outlined, and this is one area where he can make a significant difference. I welcome the National Women's Council of Ireland and all the other representative organisations that have been campaigning for this for many years. The rental crisis is symptomatic of a broader housing crisis in Ireland. Nowhere is the rental crisis more evident than in the disgrac…

There are two issues I want to raise with the Leader. One relates to the potential shelving of the introduction of BER certificates for private rental properties, as reported by Caroline O'Doherty of the Irish Independent . This was a key commitment under Housing for All during the previous Government's term. Does the Government now intend to shelve plans to bring in BER certificates for private rental properties? That might have been acceptable in the 1980s when I was renting flats around Dublin with a poster of T…

I support the comments made by Senator Fitzpatrick. We await the announcement from the US Administration as it continues to play deal or no deal with the global economy. We in Ireland need collectively to adapt to a rapidly changing world order. That involves seeing this as an opportunity to wean ourselves off our overdependence on corporation tax receipts and to start localising, for example, our energy systems, farming and food systems, indigenous industry and SMEs, and to look towards other trading partners. The…

Cuirim fáilte leis an Aire agus í ar ais arís. This is a sector in which I have a great interest. My wife is a practitioner in a lovely Montessori called First Steps Montessori, with Mary Verling and her team in Kilkenny. Over the past 20 years, I have been a voluntary board member of a number of community childcare projects. These projects, which Senator Tully also mentioned, are really important, particularly for vulnerable and low-income families. The Minister's predecessor and my colleague, Deputy O'Gorman, mad…

I welcome the Minister and wish him all the best in what is no doubt the most difficult portfolio in government. Having served as a Minister of State in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I saw and was part of the immense effort by the previous Government to try to address this problem. It is an intergenerational problem, as other Senators have said. I will focus on two things: vacancy and dereliction; and Uisce Éireann. Senator P. J. Murphy raised this as well. According to census 2022, ther…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis. I thank the Civil Engagement Group. I will be supporting this Bill. Yesterday, Senator Cosgrove and I met with Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine. They have been outside Leinster House protesting for some time now, and have been campaigning and asking us in these Houses to highlight the plight of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical staff who are caught up in the conflict in Gaza. Last week, medical workers were found in a mass grave af…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht teacht isteach sa Teach. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis. I have not had the opportunity to formally congratulate him on his appointment. I received correspondence from the Department of agriculture yesterday indicating that neither the Minister for agriculture, nor the three Ministers of State, were available to take this Commencement matter, so I appreciate the Minister of State being here. An article by Caroline O'Doherty in the Irish Independent on 22 March this year repor…

In his comprehensive response, the Minister of State referred to the 2022 strategic vision. However, in that strategic vision, Coillte Nature has a very specific role, but that is now being deleted. That is the question I have. It is frustrating for us all that the committees are not up and running because we cannot ask these questions directly of Coillte. It is important that we get answers on this. I mentioned the Gresham House debacle. We would have expected Coillte to have improved on its communications with al…

Before the next speaker, I welcome the guests of Charles Hearne, our facilities manager, from the UK Parliament, including the leader of the delegation, John Owen, and The Lady Usher of the Black Rod, Sarah Clarke. You are very welcome to the Upper House. We hope you enjoy your visit to Dáil Éireann and to Ireland.