I have the floor now. The language the Senator used was disgraceful and totally unbecoming to this Chamber, whose Members have always been very honourable and have conducted their business with dignity and respect. Quoting history and using the type of language the Senator used is totally appalling. I welcome the Minister to the House and I am sorry he had to put up with that tirade but such is life. None of us want this Bill; of course we do not. We want to see a normal society where hospitality operates as normal…

Hear, hear.

I welcome the Minister to the House. I echo the Acting Chairman's observations on the Minister's presence here. It speaks volume and he is always very welcome. We do not necessarily want to extend this legislation because nobody wants to quarantine people who are coming to our country. This is a country where the céad míle fáilte is something that we are very proud of but unfortunately, due to the public health emergency, it is necessary. I repeat what I said earlier on; we have managed this pandemic exceptionally …

I echo the sentiments expressed by Senator Malcolm Byrne. The Minister of State has done a great job with the Bill. She spoke about the support structure around her, comprising officials and stakeholders such as farm families and business-owning families. As many of us in the House come from business or farm backgrounds, we know how important this is. The Bill will make a difference to the lives of older people and we have got it through the Houses in 12 months. We are here to make a difference to the lives of citi…

At 2.30 p.m. on 21 September, here in Leinster House.

The Senator should withdraw that. The remarks should be withdrawn.

The Minister is as always very welcome to the House. I begin by saying Dr. Tony Holohan, our Chief Medical Officer, retains the confidence of this House, the respect of this House and indeed that of the Irish people for the extraordinary manner in which he has led this country through the worst pandemic in living memory. It is extremely important that is reiterated. The work Dr. Holohan has done, coupled with the work of Dr. Ronan Glynn and indeed all of NPHET, the Department, the HSE and frontline workers througho…

The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is very welcome to the House. Every time she comes here, she engages with us fully. Over the last 12 months, I have been most impressed with her openness, her dedication to her role in the Government and the progress she has made. It has not been easy. The last 12 months have seen the worst pandemic in living memory and yet upgraded legislation on the fair deal scheme comes before us today. The fair deal scheme has been a great success in giving people the opportunity to get nu…

Hear hear.

Like everybody in the House, I, too, wish to pass on my sincere congratulations to our former colleague, Deputy Bacik, with whom I have worked for more than ten years as a Member of this House, a member of the justice committee and as spokesperson on justice up until last year. She will be a huge asset to the Lower House but absolutely will be a loss to this House. Her contribution to politics will continue, however. This is the final Order of Business on which we will speak before the summer recess. I will take th…

I will follow on immediately from what Senator Gallagher said by acknowledging the courageous and dedicated work of teachers for the past two difficult years. I am very troubled by the fact that, unlike last year, the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, which provides specialised support to visually impaired children, seems to have been excluded from the summer scheme for special educational needs and students for this year. I have tabled a Commencement matter for tomorrow to try to get clarity on this and I…

Senator Keogan has given a stellar and robust defence of the Catholic Church. However, I remind her that plenty went on in this country that the Catholic Church should rightfully be ashamed of.

I do not believe that it has any place in healthcare in this country. With that said, I welcome the Minister of State to the House. As always, she is very welcome. This is a key commitment in the programme for Government. It is a pity that successive Governments did not deal with this issue and facilitate the building of a new national maternity hospital on a greenfield site which had no hand, act or connection with any religious bodies whatsoever. It is fair to say that the nuns and the religious bodies played a k…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach. It is important that this legislation has passed, albeit seven or eight years too late. I can never, for the life of me, understand how it takes so long to transpose European directives into Irish law. This is a commonsense piece of legislation that is agreed by everybody. Going forward, if there is one lesson from this it is that we need to be doing these transpositions into Irish law a great deal more quickly. The directives are created for a good reason and the time …

We have spoken before in the House about the importance of equipping councillors with more reserved powers. I was here on Second Stage when the issue was discussed. I welcome the fact that Senator Fitzpatrick has tabled this amendment. I also welcome the fact that the Government is sufficiently open minded to accept it. A simple majority is the norm so that is reflective of good practice to say the least. When it comes to development plans it should start and finish with the county councillors. It should be a reser…

I welcome the Minister and thank him for and commend him on the very hard work he has done in the 12 months since the Government took office. It is fitting that on the first anniversary of the formation of the Government, we are introducing this groundbreaking legislation, the Climate Action and Low Carbon (Amendment) Bill. As has been said, this is the emergency that existed pre Covid and it is the emergency that will exist post Covid. We showed how we could handle the Covid emergency, so let us do the same with t…

I welcome the Minister to the House. It is appropriate that this legislation is coming before us to extend the protections for people who find themselves in financial difficulty on the PUP, have difficulty paying their rent and are in financial difficulty in general. At least this protection is now here until January. Please God, this pandemic will be somewhat behind us in January. Hopefully, by then, the population will be vaccinated and we can return to some level of normality. Post-pandemic, we probably need to …

I join Senator Craughwell in giving some credit to our Leader. In her previous role as Minister with responsibility for social protection, she did great work on school meals. This has been built on by the current Minister, Deputy Humphreys, with the announcement yesterday of an extension of free school meals. That has to be very much welcomed. We need to go a lot further in the provision of free school meals. Every DEIS school in the country should receive free school meals. We need to aspire and work towards this …

I welcome the Minister to the House. I take her observations and those of An Garda Síochána on the need to continue the Special Criminal Court in its current form very seriously. This court is there to protect Ireland and its citizens from organised terrorism from criminal gangs and dissident republicans. Unfortunately, until such time as these issues are dealt with and these groups are no longer a threat, the Special Criminal Court will be necessary. This is my eleventh year standing up supporting this legislation…

Hear, hear.