Amendments Nos. 53 and 57 are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Is Senator Ruane pressing the amendment?

Amendments Nos. 61 to 64, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together by agreement.

Amendment No. 71 is out of order because there is a potential charge on the Revenue.

It is good to see the Deputy Leader in the chair today. I will bring up a number of worrying cases I have been involved in or am currently dealing with that have regard to utility companies whose customers have contacted me. In one case, I spent a number of days over the Christmas holidays helping a family whose power had been cut off despite a moratorium on this happening. Those days with that family were spent going from one power provider to another as each blamed the other and insisted it was the other company'…

When is it proposed to sit again?

I welcome the Minister of State to the House for the debate on this important motion. I welcome this announcement, given its importance to our democratic process, as referred to by colleagues. The Labour Party will support the motion. It is five months since the Electoral Reform Act 2022 was passed but its four independent members are only being appointed today. Will the Minister of State inform the House if there is a reason for the delay in the nomination process and what happened in that interim period? We now h…

I call Senator Boylan. Is she sharing time?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for taking the time to be with us. The Minister for Education will be very aware of this issue as I have raised it with her on a number of occasions. Indeed, it is almost one year to the day since she met with Members of the Oireachtas from south Kildare to discuss this issue, following a meeting arranged by the Ceann Comhairle. In fairness, in the following weeks places were found for children, with the addition of extra classes and schools working across …

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Unfortunately, the first page is cut and pasted from a reply given last year. This is the problem I have in respect of school places in Kildare South. I have been highlighting this for a number of years, as have colleagues in the Oireachtas and on Kildare County Council. Thankfully, we see the results of that on the second page of the reply. There are four schools being either extended or newly built. The problem of course is where pupils will go for 2023 and 2024. For t…

I wish to be associated with the comments of various Senators about Seanad 100 yesterday. For many of us, it was a special occasion. I thank the Cathaoirleach and all the staff involved for arranging it. I wish to raise two issues with the Deputy Leader, the first of which is the shortage of medication throughout the State. In several recent conversations I had with my local pharmacist, he told me that his concerns about this issue had increased in the past number of months. Finding it impossible to source prescrib…

Additional changing places facilities will allow many families to plan for family days out and family events that so many of us currently take for granted. This would be a huge and important step forward. It has been welcomed by Changing Places Ireland and by many families to whom I have spoken. I thank the Minister of State for taking this step. It will make such a difference to so many families.

I support that. I am aware of the Minister's commitment to the means test review and listened to her at the social protection committee, of which I am a member. I recognise how important this is for so many families. I would like clarification from the Minister on the last point Senator Higgins raised. It is important and the Minister is very much aware of my previous interjections on the means test for carer's allowance. She is carrying out an important piece of work and I welcome that she has repeated the commitm…

Dáil Éireann has passed the Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2022 on 7 December 2022, to which the agreement of Seanad Éireann is desired.

Senator Burke wishes to share time with Senator Currie. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the Minister to the House. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. The Labour Party has been advocating for an increase in the qualifying limits for the fuel allowance over many years. My office has dealt with applicants who were just a few cent over the limit. I welcome the move by the Minister to increase those limits. The reaction in my office has been positive and the number of applications we are assisting people with is increasing by the day. There were some queries about the fuel…

I second the motion. I pay tribute to Senator Sherlock for the terrific work she has put into the motion on behalf of our Labour Party colleagues. I acknowledge the advancements in core funding and the work done regarding pay. I want to concentrate on rural areas where there are issues. I am sure the Minister of State is familiar with the issues in her area. In rural Kildare a number of service providers have said they are no longer in a position to provide services. I spoke to them in recent days. The Minister, De…

I, too, welcome the Minister to the House and the chance to speak about this Bill. It is a relatively short technical Bill that will provide a statutory basis to allow an increase in funding to Fáilte Ireland. The current ceiling is set at €300 million and the Bill will see that increase to €500 million. The Labour Party will, of course, support the Bill, as it did in the Dáil. There can be little doubt that the Irish tourism industry has gone through a devastating time in the past two years or so. However, every a…

I wish to raise Defence Forces issues with the Leader once again. I read a number of comments by Lieutenant Colonel Conor King, general secretary of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, in advance of its annual conference, which takes place in Kildare today. This morning, Lieutenant Colonel King outlined his fears about the growing retention crisis in the Defence Forces, stating that the forces had lost 500 personnel across all ranks in the past 18 months and that the total force now numbe…