I welcome the opportunity. We have had a number of opportunities to speak about skills and further and higher education recently in the context of the European Year of Skills. It is really welcome and shows a renewed focus on this area. It actually vindicates the idea of having a stand-alone Ministry to deal with further and higher education. It has certainly brought an increased focus on it. I was taken by the Minister's story that he insisted on having that "F" at the start of his Department's title to put that f…

The announcement from the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, earlier today regarding Higher Education Authority plans to expand college courses in a range of areas was very welcome. It is very good news for the South East Technological University, which has been deemed to have viable proposals for establishing a veterinary course of some 40 places along with a pharmacy course and an expansion of its nursing course offering. These proposals will now go on to t…

There are potentially 12 Deputies offering on this topic. I ask Members to keep as tight as possible in their questionings.

I wanted to return to this idea of cultural and language expression as a measurement within our well-being framework. I wanted to compare and contrast what we measure here in Ireland versus what is measured in Wales, with its well-being framework. The Welsh model measures the percentage of people attending or participating in arts, culture or heritage at least three times a year, the percentage of people who speak Welsh daily, the number of people who can speak Welsh, the percentage of people who can speak more tha…

Last week the Government published its latest report on the well-being framework, entitled: Understanding Life in Ireland. It has 11 dimensions measuring over 35 indicators. It is timely in the budgeting process and I like how it falls before the summer economic statement, which feeds into the national economic dialogue, and within the report there is some good and some bad. I dwell on the environmental measures as being some of the less positive but overall it is important and positive work. One deficiency I have …

The Deputy's point has been made. He is eating into Deputy Clarke's speaking time.

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 37 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Brian Stanley - to discuss the need for secondary legislation to be introduced to enable local authorities to implement CCTV for surveillance regarding illegal dumping. Deputy Gino Kenny - to discuss the medical cannabis access programme Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn - to discuss the allocation of funding to schools with a large intake of students from …

Five speakers from the Rural Independent Group are sharing time, starting with Deputy Michael Healy-Rae.

Deputy, this is not a question and answer session.

The Deputy had her opportunity to speak. We will hear the Minister of State without interruption.

The Minister of State is here to respond to the debate that has already occurred and should not be subjected to running commentary. We will hear the Minister of State without interruption.

A division has been called. In accordance with Standing Order 80(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 14 June 2023.

This is a timely enough question considering we will be discussing Our Rural Future tomorrow. It arises from one of the commitments in appendix 1 of that document, namely, to conduct a review of the public participation networks, PPNs. I want to get a sense from the Minister of State of where that work is at in the Department at the minute and where we plan to go from here to strengthen a structure that could be extremely valuable in facing up to the crisis in society.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The pivotal piece is one of the first things he said, namely, giving local groups a say in local government decisions that affect their communities. I am not convinced that is what we actually see with our PPNs. I am aware the Minister of State is absolutely steeped in this sector. I imagine most of us in the House this evening have had some sort of route to market with PPNs. They can feel like a talking shop. I smile wryly looking at the language. We are having a rev…

I thank the Minister of State. If I sounded cynical in my first contribution, I am not. Community action is where it is at. National politics can feel very distant from people and individual action feels like you are getting lost. In their community, people can make a difference and they can feel that difference. It seems to me, looking at the challenges we face with climate, biodiversity, housing and civic engagement, which is one of the OECD better living indices we score least well on, that community mobilisatio…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. Is ceist í seo a mbeadh suim aige inti freisin. This issue is timely this week with the census figures being announced. Both good and bad stories are to be found in respect of the use of the Irish language in the State. What forward planning is the Minister's Department undertaking to help to fulfil the provisions set out in Acht na Teangacha Oifigiúla (Leasú), 2021, in particular the challenging objective that 20% of staff recruited to the public service by 2030 will be pro…

I thank the Minister. Anyone who is involved in the sector will know that there is a big difference between advertising a job and finding someone with the skill set to fill it. We have to consider the second part of the equation. There are two possibilities. The first is to train people from scratch, which I will address first, and the second is to go back to the people we have and help them to upskill in a particular area. I draw the Minister's attention to comments made by the outgoing Coimisinéir Teanga before t…

On that specific point, I will turn back to a local issue. We often forget that the South East Technological University, SETU, is a Gaeltacht university. We have a Gaeltacht in Port Láirge and SETU stands ready to provide those courses for public services and the Irish language. I will also turn to the other part of the equation, which is a great untapped resource. According to the census, 1.874 million people report that they can speak Irish with 10% stating they can do so very well and a further 32% reporting the…

Before I turn to the topic at hand, I could not speak on matters relating to the natural world today without marking the sad loss of Michael Viney, who was one of the finest nature writers we have had the fortune to have in this country. The "Another Life" column was founded the same year I was born, 1977. That column on a Saturday has been part of the rhythm of my weekend my entire adult life. In a sense, he was our David Attenborough, but instead of seeking the wild world in far-flung places, he burrowed down int…

When will the Department's review of the environmental impact assessment, EIA, agriculture regulations commence? Once it commences, will the Minister require screening of all hedgerow removal, land drainage and conversion of land to agricultural use, regardless of the scale of such operations, while such a review is ongoing?