I appreciate the points made by the Senator, particularly in regard to the case he outlined about his own family. Certainly, that additional 18 months must have been immense comfort to his family at the time. It certainly gives a family additional time to come to terms with the loss of a loved one. It is critically important that the Mazars work is concluded and the recommendations brought forward. A central component of the pharmaceutical expenditure is the HSE's pricing and reimbursement process for medicines. Fo…

I thank Deputies Murphy, O'Rourke and Ó Cathasaigh for raising this important issue. I hear loud and clear what they are saying about people not feeling supported. It is of great concern and I want to reflect this. I advise the Deputies that the HSE has developed an interim model of care for long Covid that aims to build on existing service provision in addition to establishing new services in GP, community and acute hospital settings. The HSE identified early in the pandemic the need for this service and set up a …

I thank the Deputies and I take the points made on public awareness, ventilation and clean air. There is a winter vaccination programme and I encourage people to avail of the vaccine over the coming weeks and months. The Government continues to support the roll-out of the national service for long Covid, with €2.2 million in funding for the implementation of the model of care approved for 2022, which trebled to €6.6 million for 2023. The interim model of care was developed by a group of clinicians across a range of…

In the first instance, the county council is responsible for investigating and dealing with complaints of poor air quality, including odours. I note the serious issues raised by the Deputy relating to Knock Road, Claremorris. All potential sources of the odour would need to be investigated to establish the cause and origins of the issues. The county council may be able to deal with the issue from within its own book of powers and functions. If the issue involves an Environmental Protection Agency-regulated site, th…

I reiterate that it is a matter for Uisce Éireann to investigate issues that pertain to its own sewer network. Certainly, we will pass on the message to Uisce Éireann with a view to resolving the issue, if it pertains to its network. My own experience with Uisce Éireann has been very good. I acknowledge that from time to time Deputies complain about the lack of accountability and its lack of engagement but it is quite good. It responds at a local level. The Deputy will find good levels of response with the area eng…

I will. I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I agree with a lot of the points made by Deputy Pringle, particularly with regard to local government. I want to focus specifically on budget 2024 as it relates to nature. Members may recall that a vote took place here a number of weeks ago that reverberated across Europe, in my view. That was the vote regarding a debate on the nature restoration law, which was overwhelmingly endorsed by this House. In my view, it made a significant contribution to what happened with the vote in…

This group of amendments is straightforward. It consists of amendments introduced to retitle the Bill as a result of the new provisions added under Part 13; to update the Long Title to the Bill; to provide for standard citation matters; and to ensure that the commencement provisions are updated accordingly.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the House for the valuable discussions that have taken place to date on this important legislation. As can be seen by the large number of items on the cream list, a wide range of amendments have been made since the Bill was initiated. Many of these are a direct result of the proposals made by Senators and of the corresponding debates. While I will not go into detail on everything that has been amended as part of the Bill's progression through the Oireachtas, I will try to hi…

On the proposed amendment to the Bill, as it stands, following Dáil amendment No. 15, including "historical" in the term "historic" is to remove any doubt that when the term "historic" is used, it relates to matters belonging to the past and not only to something that may have changed history or is considered famous in historical context. The addition of "traditional", as proposed, would be a cause for confusion as it is not related to the reason behind the definition. In addition, the term "cultural interest", as …

Dáil amendment No. 28 follows a commitment I made during the previous Report Stage in the Seanad. Section 3 outlines the principles that a person performing a function under the Bill must acknowledge and consider. This amendment acknowledges the significance of, and will further an adherence to, the Valletta Convention or any treaty aimed at promoting or securing the protection of archaeological, architectural or other historic heritage. During discussions in the Seanad I also made commitments to bring further clar…

Amendment No. 2 was ruled out of order.

This group of straightforward amendments consists of a range of technical amendments, the vast majority of which were introduced to update the names of Government Departments and public sector bodies. Some typographical errors were also corrected here.

The first set of these amendments relate to prescribed monuments and consist of some minor amendments relating to ordnance maps, reports of finds of prescribed monuments, and one major change that was introduced following discussion in this House. Dáil amendment No. 35 broadens the basis of prescribed monuments by moving from a position where the classes of prescribed monuments, as set out in the regulations made under section 12, would be comprised solely of classes of relevant things of archaeological interest to…

I will provide the background.

Yes. I refer to the rejection of Seanad amendment No. 2, to the Bill, as it stands following Dáil amendment No. 56. While I appreciate the intention behind this amendment and fully recognise the need to ensure that notices regarding register actions are disseminated as widely as possible, it would not be prudent to do so as proposed. Volatility in the media sector and the changes which are likely to take place in the coming years require the Minister of the day to have flexibility as to which newspapers are used to…

Amendments in this group are primarily concerned with the important matter of works that are proposed to be carried out at monuments. New provisions include consultation with authorities in other states that have responsibilities for historic heritage and measures regarding access for members of the public to a monument.

Following advice from senior advisory counsel in the Office of the Attorney General, a range of amendments have been introduced to clarify the alignment of the Bill with the Aarhus Convention and the EIA directive. Substantial amendments have been made to section 41 and I believe it is important to provide some detail on these amendments. Order 84 of the Rules of the Superior Courts provides for judicial reviews, JRs, of any administrative decision of a public authority. The timelines for the institution of a judic…

These amendments have been made to strengthen the Transboundary Convention and bring additional states into scope that are not EU member states, such as the United Kingdom. The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, which is informally known as the Transboundary Convention or Espoo Convention, sets out the obligations of states parties to assess the environmental impact of certain activities at an early stage of planning and also provides a general obligation on states to notify a…

The first part of these amendments relate mainly to the transfer by a public or local authority of a registered monument. In summary, they require a local authority to publish a notice in a national newspaper when it intends to transfer ownership of a registered monument. The newspaper notice must invite representations from members of the public and such representations are to be taken into account in the decision-making process. These notices may also be published in local or regional newspapers, in either hard c…

These amendments relate to archaeological objects. The primary amendment to section 99 provides that where the board of the National Museum intends to dispose of an archaeological object found during an activity licensable under the Bill, the board must first consult with the Minister before making its decision. Introducing such a consultation requirement is consistent with the Minister being the licensing authority for the archaeological excavation and related licensable activities. Additional amendments relating …