I want to raise an issue with serious health and safety implications for towns and villages throughout Ireland. I will use an example in my home county of Mayo. This week the father of a child with a disability took action himself to repaint a disability bay in Westport which had depleted and faded. During my time as a councillor, we regularly called for councils and local authorities to have line painting services carried out in-house. No local authorities in Ireland own line painting services and we rely on contr…

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. The matter I am raising is one I have raised regularly in the House and which has been raised very regularly with me by members of community youth groups like the No Name Club and Foróige and I have also observed it myself. It is the proliferation of vaping, especially vape shops, across every town and village in Ireland. It happened very quickly, so obviously regulation has not caught up with it. My point this morning is that tobacco regulations should be expande…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, for a very positive reply. I welcome all of the proposals. The minimum age for the nicotine inhaling products has been very welcomed, but to limit the retail sale of it in areas such as shops, butchers and phone repair shops, where it is clearly being cynically targeted at young people, is where we need to tackle it most. I am pleased with the reply. My main question is when this may take effect. The reply is 100% satisfactory, very welcomed and I am very pleased by it…

Before I call the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, I welcome to the Gallery the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Deputy Niall Collins, and his guests, who are from Lough Gur National School, County Limerick. As tradition goes, the pupils will have no homework for the week. I also welcome the guests from Gaelscoil Éadan Doire, who are guests of Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh. As tradition goes, they too will have no homework for the week.

Before we move on to the next Commencement matter, I welcome the pupils from Kiltale National School, County Meath, who are guests of Deputy Aisling Dempsey. As tradition goes in the Seanad, there will be no homework for the rest of the week. I also welcome to the House Senator Pat Casey's guests: Pat Vance and Barry Ryan. Everyone else in the Gallery is also very welcome to the House today.

I raise an important issue with the potential to affect many communities across Ireland. It relates to forestry. In Ballycastle in my county of Mayo, Coillte intends and proposes to plant a 30-acre site but the community does not want it and has expressed clearly that it does not want it in this location. The proposed site is right next to the Ballycastle GAA pitch. There are at least 12 or 13 houses in the immediate vicinity of this proposal. Coillte intends to go ahead with it as it stands but I am asking it to s…

I welcome the Minister. He will be familiar with a lot of the issues I raise. As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and my party's spokesperson on transport, a lot of the areas I will highlight relate particularly to transport. Last week, the Minister, like me and many others here, attended the Northern and Western Assembly briefing. One of the most stark findings of that morning's briefing was that the north-west region is one of the weakest regions with regard to transport. Comparable regions…

I want to discuss serious issues with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and small but important projects which are not being delivered in communities across the country. I served in the local council before serving in the Seanad. I found that basic interventions we raised as councillors and that had the unanimous support of all elected representatives, engineers and planners, along with local transport plans, were ignored in the context of funding. This happens whether a project involves a pedestrian crossing,…

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the opportunity to speak on such an important matter that affects towns and villages right across the country. I compliment the work of Senator Nelson Murray, a strong advocate in the House of insurance reform, reflecting her own lived experience and the challenges that face businesses like hers. In County Mayo, businesses have closed down. The role of businesses such as soft play centres, which are the heartbeat for young families in an area whe…

I offer my condolences to the Minister of State on his sad loss. It is a testament to him that he is back here so soon after such a difficult loss. My sympathies are with him. I raise an issue relating to the tenant in situ scheme, which is a very good scheme that helps people in the challenging circumstance of facing eviction. Currently, when people are in receipt of HAP or RAS, local authorities are enabled to purchase the property when the eviction notice is given to the tenant. Unfortunately, any rent supplemen…

I thank the Minister of State for outlining the detailed feedback. The person affected in this example is in receipt of the rent supplement payment. She meets the criteria for HAP and RAS but she is not in receipt of them now. Will she be negatively impacted by, say, the minimum of two years that is required for her to avail of the tenant in situ scheme, or does the Minister of State think the cost-rental ability he outlined will give enough flexibility, considering that this is a difficult situation where the tena…

I attended the official opening of Western Care's new facility in Ballina on Monday. It is brilliant to see a building in the town that was vacant for so long brought back into use for a wide range of care service users and staff. It is so welcome and I congratulate everyone involved in it. The rural social scheme supported the renovation of the building. The support of the redevelopment of the asset for use by Western Care is a great example of the use of this scheme. The scheme needs further support for its work.…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, to the Chamber. Vacancy and dereliction have been a scourge in every town and village in the country. While I welcome this Bill in many of its parts, we need action on the measures that are in place at the moment. From my perspective there are a number of different issues. One is local authorities sitting on land banks without initiative, imagination or creativity about reactivating it. Good work is being done in different areas but there are also brownfield sites th…

I compliment the Cathaoirleach on his work in this area. In the previous Seanad, we had an opportunity to contribute to the work on the task force, for which I thank him. I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his continued efforts on local government. I wish him well and look forward to supporting his efforts in the term ahead. I was in the privileged position to work on behalf of my community in the very difficult job of councillor in Mayo County Council. There are many highs and lows to being a counci…

I wish to raise an issue that is popping up in towns and villages all across the country, that is, vaping shops. I raised it previously with the Minister for Justice when he was in the Seanad. We need to amend the existing legislation - the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023 - to have more stringent and stronger repellents and barriers for the sale of vaping products, in particular the targeting of young people. In one example in my home county of Mayo, we have a shop that sell…

The Minister of State is welcome to the House. As Fine Gael spokesperson in the Seanad for transport and a member of the Joint Committee on Transport, I welcome the opportunity to debate this pressing issue that is affecting individuals throughout the country. With 83,486 people waiting for tests, it is simply not good enough and needs to be addressed urgently. In places like Navan, Tallaght and Galway, waiting times are in excess of 40 weeks and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible. In County Mayo, where…

I join in the Cathaoirleach's welcome to James Cafferkey. He is a TUI student in St. Muredach's College and has been a great help to me. Yesterday evening, James attended a launch of the new strategy for the No Name Clubs, which is a youth organisation aimed at youth empowerment across Ireland. It has launched its new strategy that runs until 2029 and it has a great focus on working on building on the work of the No Name Clubs, to improve it, to empower young people and to improve the connectivity and inclusion of …

The Minister of State is very welcome back to the Seanad. The housing crisis we face is not news to him or to any of us here in the Chamber. I compliment him on the work and efforts he has commenced since taking over his brief. His knowledge is impeccable. He has experience of being his party spokesperson for housing in the previous Seanad and he also worked on the issue while in local government. I wish him the best. I look forward to supporting his efforts in his role in this Ministry. The housing crisis is very …

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am heartened by it in terms of the consideration and the flexibility that could be given to local authorities. In a partnership process, any semi-State or any body that tries to develop critical infrastructure that is in the common good and the public good must be supported. I encourage Uisce Éireann and other such bodies to work with local authorities to make sure they avail of these partnership processes because it can help remove the Bord Pleanála difficulties and h…

I share in the sympathies expressed on the death of Garda Kevin Flatley, which was a tragedy to befall the force and, most particularly, his family. I offer my sympathies, those of my Fine Gael colleagues and, I am sure, those of the House on the passing of former councillor Senator, TD and Minister, Paddy O'Toole, who passed away over the weekend. Paddy O'Toole was a native of Erris and went to Ballina to teach in Knockanillo National School, where his commitment to education and local development laid the foundat…