I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to the House. In the first instance, I welcome some of the kind comments that have been made regarding Shannon Airport. I do not agree with one comment, however. I certainly do not believe that as an airport, we should or can rely on revenue from the US military flying and refuelling its planes on their way to war zones around the world as any way supporting Shannon Airport. As a matter of fact, I believe that practice should be discontinued as a matter of urgency--…

-----even though it has been a Government policy of all parties for the last 20 or 30 years. The Tánaiste also made some comments over the weekend giving voice to the detail of the green certificate, which we have signed up to as a country along with our European colleagues. He also said that if he was in Tony Holohan's position as the Chief Medical Officer, he would be giving the same advice. We have, however, signed up to the digital green certificate along with our European neighbours as part of our commitment t…

I have listened many times to my colleague, Senator Higgins, speak about procurement and the need to have a more holistic approach to it. I suggest the Minister puts this into regulations as opposed to having it prescriptively included in the legislation. The overarching point about quality procurement, and it is something that needs to be voiced as often as possible, is that wanting the cheapest procurement option has often proved to be the wrong approach for many areas of society. There absolutely needs to be a m…

I welcome the Minister to the House. This is important legislation and I hope it will receive the urgent passing it needs. It will create at least one extra reserve function for councillors, which is welcome. The legislation gives a 12-month extension to both commercial and domestic planning applications that are live and that is only fair. Many people have found themselves in difficult and precarious situations as a result of the pandemic. I agree with suggestions made by Senator Keogan and others about providing …

There is a lot of logic in what Senator Boyhan has said. It makes sense. I am interested to hear the perspective of the Minister of State on the amendment. To speak briefly on the amendment tabled by Senator Higgins-----

I fully appreciate that but I had indicated and I do not think the Leas-Chathaoirleach saw me.

The percentage of the population that will, unfortunately, have a disability in future will increase significantly. I very much welcome the review of the disability strategy in the Department. It is heartening to hear the number of submissions. The strategy will be a roadmap to provide essential housing for people with disabilities.

Like others, I want to pay tribute to our former colleague, Pádraig Ó Céidigh. This Bill is part of his immense legacy from the period he spent in this House. He quite rightly identified the abuse associated with people committing perjury, but nothing was done to deal with the matter. Perjury should be considered a very serious crime. This welcome legislation will ensure that happens. The amendments that were made in the Dáil and brought back to the Seanad make a lot of sense because they strengthen the Bill. I agr…

The passing of the Bill is most important and I am glad we will see that happen here today.

Hear, hear.

Senator Davitt is correcting the record.

Today is World Blood Donor Day. I salute all the people who work in the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, who have been working right through the pandemic, making an unstinting commitment. I also salute the thousands of volunteers who give blood regularly and not so regularly. On this day, I encourage those who might not have given blood for a long time to consider doing so. If there are those who are in a position to donate and have not done so to give it a try because it saves lives. The hospitality industry is op…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, to the House. I apologise I was missing for a good chunk of the debate. I heard his opening address, but I was trying to deal with a pressing matter. This Bill is very welcome. It is embarrassing that we are still only at this stage when it comes to the gender pay gap. It really and truly should not be an issue in 2021 and that it is necessary to bring in legislation to force companies to provide information. To think that women are paid 14% less than their male counterparts…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I welcome the Bill because it is facilitating pay restoration. It was very difficult in this House between 2011 and 2014. The decisions that had to be made were extremely difficult. It is, therefore, very welcome to be passing legislation now that is having the opposite effect. I, too, would like to see the public service transformed in the way I know it wants itself to be transformed. Its staff are by and large fantastic. During Covid, they demonstrated exemplary flexi…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I welcome also this legislation, which essentially transposes into Irish law the EU directive of 2014 on the issue of counterfeiting and counterfeit euro notes and kinds. Why has it has taken more than seven years for something as important as this to be implemented? I agree that the use of cash has decreased dramatically, particularly in the last year, in our country. Nonetheless, the use of cash will continue for many years into the future. As such, we must ensure tha…

It is most unfortunate that we are in this situation.

I am someone who represents the mid-west.

The situation in Limerick is critical. This legislation is extremely important to protect not only the people of Ireland, but the most-----

The people of Limerick and the mid-west are in a situation in which-----

-----there are approximately 800 cases.