Is that agreed? Agreed.

It was a bit of injury time.

I call Senator Seán Kyne who is sharing time with Senator Barry Ward.

Amendments Nos. 1 and 9 to 11, inclusive, are related. Amendments Nos. 10 and 11 are physical alternatives to No. 9. Amendments Nos. 1 and 9 to 11, inclusive, may be discussed together, by agreement.

The Senators are quite entitled to debate. It is Committee Stage, so the Senator is entitled to reply. In the absence of anyone else indicating, I will move on. The next speaker is Senator Higgins.

Apologies, Senator. I was referring to the two sparring parties.

Senator Clifford-Lee without interruption. Senator Bacik can come back in.

Does Senator Bacik wish to come back in?

I must ask that the Minister be allowed to continue, without interruption.

Amendments Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I ask the Senator to resume her seat.

As it is now 4.30 p.m., I am required to put the following question in accordance with the order of the Seanad of this day: "That amendment No. 2 is hereby negatived in Committee, that section 3 is hereby agreed to in Committee, in respect of each of the sections undisposed of, the section is hereby agreed to in Committee, the Preamble and the Title are hereby agreed to in Committee, the Bill is accordingly reported to the House without amendment, Fourth Stage is hereby completed, the Bill is hereby received for fi…

I wish to mark the fact that a small country a lot like Ireland this week celebrates its independence. A year before Dáil Éireann sat for the first time, Estonia declared independence on 24 February 1918. It is a small county that, like Ireland, struggled for so long for independence and, as such, we share a common bond. Of course, we also share membership of the European Union and the UN Security Council. We share a love of language. Estonian is an exam subject in schools here and there are statues to Oscar Wilde …

Leading off for Fine Gael today is that party's Whip. I call Senator Kyne.

As the Senators who are on the rota have contributed, the sitting will now be suspended for 15 minutes to allow for sanitation in accordance with the Order of the Seanad made on Friday, 19 February. Matters on the business of the Seanad will resume thereafter.

I am sorry to interrupt but we must start the next business at 1.30 p.m. and-----

We must also allow for the cleaning of the Chamber. I remind Members that we are due to start again at 1.30 p.m. I am sorry, Leader.

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to address the issue of climate change and the national climate and air roadmap for the agriculture sector.

Before I call the next speaker, I point out that there are 949 local authority members, which is 678 fewer than there were a decade ago. We have the lowest rate of public representation at a local level of any country in Europe. The next nearest country in respect of the rate of local representation is the United Kingdom, which has twice as many public representatives per head of population as we do. It takes more to get elected to a local authority in Ireland than in any other country in Europe. In France, there i…

I call Senator Cummins. Is he moving amendments to this motion?