Hear, hear.

Some day, you never know. The Taoiseach can appoint from the Seanad if he so wishes.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll McNeill, to the House. It is great when somebody from the relevant Department is in a position to take a Commencement matter. This concerns the Department of Finance. Many colleagues will understand the sometime frustration and difficulties in acquiring primary medical certificates. A primary medical certificate eases the cost of acquiring transport for people with disabilities and their loved ones. Coming from rural Ireland I know the difficulties when it comes to tr…

That is a very positive reply. It is great to know that work has already been done in this regard and that meetings have taken place. I would be very confident that we will see a new system that is more in line with modern Ireland and the complex needs of people with disabilities along with their ambitions to live normal and equal lives and contribute to society. This is the second time in the 12 years since I was elected to the Seanad that I received a script from a Minister that I could read. The last Minister to…

On my own behalf, and on behalf of the Fine Gael Party, I, too, wish Mary all the very best in her retirement. I thank her for her support. I also thank my colleague Senator Kyne for allowing me to go ahead of him today. I want to raise a very important issue that has been brought to my attention recently. For 20 years in the Department of communications, energy and natural resources, which is the Department of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, there have been six visually impaired telephonists. They work, answer th…

Hear, hear.

The Minister is very welcome to the House. I will start my comments by addressing the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I remember how a good few years ago the Leas-Chathaoirleach got the required number of signatures to bring this House back in August-----

You did upset everyone’s summer holidays, but for a good reason.

But it was for a very good reason. I attended that day-----

-----and it was a very interesting debate. I learned a lot from that debate. The only regret I have, and this is not the Minister’s fault, but it is more our fault, is that it has taken until now to deliver what was hoped on that balmy August day. It is only appropriate that we acknowledge the contribution of our Leas-Chathaoirleach, Senator Daly, because this Bill would probably not be here today but for the advocacy that has been done over the years by Senator Daly and others. I agree with Senator Clifford-Lee th…

I thank the Minister of State for his time. It is appreciated. I know how busy he is.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan.

I thank the Minister of State for his time this afternoon. I know how busy he is. I commend Senator Gavan on putting down this matter. As I am from a neighbouring county, I know the great work that has already been done on regeneration in Limerick. The people involved are outstanding. That clarity is welcome and, hopefully, this matter can be resolved.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to deal with this Commencement matter, as it comes under his Department. I have been concerned for a long time that Housing for All is not as dedicated to rural housing as it should be. While I appreciate that incremental changes are happening they are not fast enough and in my view are not dealing with some of the blockages that are there. When it comes to developers who want to build quality housing schemes, I have examples all over my constituency where developers are pre…

I thank the Minister of State for a comprehensive review. I am glad to hear that the guidelines are being examined again. The Minister of State understands the issues. It often annoys me to see buildings that used to be shops, shoe shops, clothes shops, etc. just closed up. Truly they could be turned into homes. The amount of vacant commercial property in small towns and villages around the country is terrible when people could be living in these properties. The problem is that turning it back into use is unviable …

I welcome the Minister to the House for this important legislation. I share the concerns of Senator Malcolm Byrne and others that it has taken too long and I think the Minister will accept that. This really should have been done a number of years ago. I accept the fact the Minister has only been in office since 2020; it should have been dealt with even before then. I find myself agreeing with everything my colleague Senator Mullen said. We are seeing a very dangerous development of vaping among young people. While …

I thank the Minister of State for giving up his time to take this matter. I tabled it because I am greatly concerned about the lack of availability of standard medicines in the pharmacy network throughout the country. I welcome the fact that we have extended the qualification threshold for medical cards. An awful lot more of our citizens now qualify for medical cards compared with a few years ago. That is good because it follows through on the principle of Sláintecare and ensuring that we have a public health servi…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and his acknowledgement this is becoming a major issue in pharmacies. We need a more comprehensive response from the HSE. I raised a Commencement matter seeking the appointment of a chief pharmacist officer at the Department of Health to oversee all this. While I fully acknowledge the good work done by the stakeholder engagement group, the HPRA and so on, this needs far more intensive engagement both with the IPU and pharmacists in general. This can and should happen. Ini…

I thank the Deputy Leader for outlining the Order of Business. I want to speak about the conflict in the Middle East. Yesterday, I had a brief engagement with the Israeli ambassador but I had a much more detailed engagement with the Palestinian representative here in Ireland along with the Deputy Leader. When one hears the stories in great detail, it is quite horrific. I do not know what we can do as a nation, but we are known as peacekeepers. We are good at diplomacy. We had our own conflict on the island of Irela…

I thank the Leader for outlining the business of the day. What I am looking for at some stage in the coming weeks is a debate on tourism, the importance of tourism and the challenges faced by tourism providers. We have a serious accommodation crisis because some of our hotels are being used, rightly so, to house Ukrainians. The tourism product we have in this country is extremely good but it can always be improved and worked on and we can develop new markets abroad. Over the past ten years we have faced a number of…