I acknowledge the sincerity of the Minister of State's reply. Yet another timeline has been set down. I will hold the Department and the Minister to account on it. We are allowed to table Commencement matters every six months. I sincerely hope that, next December, I am not tabling a similar motion and that we will have the unit up and running. I acknowledge what the Minister of State has said, that there has been enormous progress in healthcare in the mid-west, an area in which there was underinvestment for decades…

I look forward to welcoming the Minister of State back to Ennistymon again in July.

I welcome the announcement yesterday of our priorities for the upcoming EU Presidency in the whole area of security and AI. I also welcome the county pairings that were announced by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, this morning. That is great because it creates buy-in with schools, community groups and sporting organisations into the whole Presidency. This is a huge opportunity for our country to showcase everything that is good about it. I am delighted that my own county of Clare …

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House, as the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, was as well. The message has been received loud and clear by Government that there are too many inconsistencies between counties. Having been in public life for over 20 years, I have dealt with many tricky and difficult planning decisions and, by and large, planners do the right thing and do the best they possibly can by clients, but sometimes regulations and requirements do not make sense. I welcome that the guidelines ar…

I join everyone in offering my sincere condolences to the family of former Senator Ernie Caffrey. I know him when I was a member of Young Fine Gael in University College Dublin, UCD. We were coming in and out of the House at various times, and he was always an absolute gentleman. I had not seen him for a long time. I send my condolences to the Caffrey family on their sad loss. At the convenience of the Leader, I request a debate on active tourism. This country has so much to offer in walking tourism, cycling touris…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, for coming to the House. He is deputising for the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke. The Minister could not be more ably deputised. What I am looking for this morning is that Ireland would open an office in Taipei. It is not setting any precedent. It is only reopening an office that was closed in 2010 or 2011, prior to the crash. We must bear in mind that we have a very similar history to Taiwan in the sense that we were colonised for 800 years. Taiwan has a gigantic neighbo…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. That was not the answer I was expecting or wanted. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, to review this and come back to us with the business case for not opening it? Why was the office there in the first place? When it was closed, it was simply because of cutbacks. There was no other reason. That was the reason given at the time. It does not make business sense. IDA Ireland is charged with channelling its resources in the way it considers to be most e…

I welcome our MEPs, particularly Mr. Flanagan, who served here for a couple of years, and Mr. Cowen, who I served with in these Houses for many years before he went to Brussels. I commend them on the great work they are doing in Brussels on behalf of the people of Ireland. As a former Chair of the Seanad EU scrutiny committee, which the Cathaoirleach currently chairs, I hope this engagement is the start of a process that will evolve, mature and develop over the years. Unfortunately, the distance between Brussels an…

The Minister is welcome to the House. It is great that he comes to deal with his legislation on such a regular basis. We have spoken on previous occasions about Ministers having respect for the House. He has shown respect in spades and he is very welcome, as always. The Bill is part of a commitment in the programme for Government to embrace and develop new technologies in An Garda Síochána to enable the force to take full advantage of those new technologies to do its job more effectively. Facial recognition is in o…

The Minister is welcome at any time.

I would also like to pay huge tribute and congratulations to our former Leader, Seán Kyne, on his elevation to the Lower House. I have known Seán Kyne for more than 20 years at this stage. The first time I met him was prior to the 2007 Seanad election when he came and sat in my kitchen and from then on we were firm friends. Seán is there in good days and bad. He is a thoroughly decent person and is a loss to this House but a huge asset to Dáil Éireann. The people of Galway are very lucky to have a representative li…

I am conscious of time. I will raise a quick issue. It was disappointing to see Lahinch beach lose its blue flag status last week. I live a short distance from Lahinch beach. I am on it most mornings, including this morning. To see the beach, which had the blue flag for a long time, lose the blue flag status, is concerning. We need to have a debate in this House on why beaches are losing blue flags. A lack of investment in infrastructure, that is, in the wastewater treatment system essentially has caused this probl…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is good to have a Minister of State in the Department taking this important Commencement matter. I acknowledge the significant achievements and improvements that have taken place in primary education in recent years. Free school meals is an inspired programme to ensure every young person has a hot meal once a day. There is also the availability of free schoolbooks. When we were going to school, we bought second-hand books and all sorts of things. Now, the books are a…

I thank the Minister of State. I have no doubt Sixmilebridge along with many other schools engage with the financial support services unit of the Department. The global point is the increase in capitation is an urgent priority, which is reflected in the Minister of State's answer. Unfortunately, they are going to have to wait until September 2026 to see that from the budget. Perhaps there is a case to introduce an emergency top-up in capitation grants for this year, if possible, but the Department is already runnin…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit.

The Minister of State is welcome to the House. I commend my Fine Gael colleagues on tabling a well thought-out motion. We can never speak highly enough or often enough in this House in support of An Garda Síochána. Over the years we have discussed An Garda Síochána frequently in this House. They have had many challenges and too many members of the force have lost their lives in the line of duty. We always remember them for the service they gave to the State, which was the ultimate price, and we think of their famil…

I support the calls made regarding the National Ambulance Service and the need for urgent further engagement. We had the Minister for Health in Clare yesterday. She was out in the very west of Clare, in Kilkee, and she saw for herself the distances involved. People who suffer most when there is a strike are the vulnerable people and those who are the furthest distance away from the emergency departments. I call on all parties to reflect because it is critical at this stage. I call for a national audit on vacant pro…

I know that we will have a debate today on Europe Day, which is very welcome. Europe got a great boost over the last 18 months with the Moldovan election and the latest Hungarian election. It gave a great spring in the step to the European project. I encourage Members to go down to the coffee dock after the Order of Business because the Oireachtas work learning, OWL, programme has put together a very good European Day with a competition and so on. It would be nice if it was supported because they put a huge amount …

I take this opportunity to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, who was here earlier. I listened to his contribution. He is a person I admire because he has moral courage and speaks out. I have been following him over the past 12 months, and he does speak out on important issues. That is something wanted to put on the record. When people voted to retain the Seanad in 2013, one of the key selling points was that we would have a greater role in scrutinising EU directives. On foot of his dogged determination a…

I would like to join Senator McCarthy, and perhaps others, in wishing Ann Lane all the very best. We have known Ann around the House working with the Labour Party over the years. Her good humour does not surprise me whatsoever. I wish her every success. I hope she has enjoyed her expeditions overseas. The Leas-Chathaoirleach and I, along with other colleagues, were at a very powerful and emotional briefing in the audiovisual room, partly facilitated by our former colleague, Mary Seery Kearney. We all know the great…