Now.

Now.

Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

I welcome the increased provision of funding in budget 2025 for housing. The substantial funding that has already been applied by the Government of in excess of €5 billion a year will be increased to more than €6 billion in 2025. The public funds will go to delivering thousands more affordable homes. An additional €1.25 billion has been allocated to the Land Development Agency to deliver affordable homes on public lands using lands previously underutilised. There is an additional €2 billion to deliver more than 10,…

I rise today in anger and frustration. I am sure every Member of the House feels the same about the ongoing saga of the spending of taxpayers' money on infrastructure associated with this complex. I am talking about the bike shelter and "security pavilion", as it is being described. It would be laughable if it were not so serious. I am furious and livid over this. I am dealing with community groups, families and individuals who are struggling with the cost of living. It is entirely unacceptable that the OPW or any …

Will we hear from the Minister?

I am wondering if there will be an opportunity for that on the basis of the time remaining.

I want to give most of my time to those Senators who felt they had little time and then abused all the time they had. First, as Senators Seery Kearney, Garvey and others have outlined, the Bill has been more than two years in the making. Senator Boyhan knows this because he participated in it when we received the heads of the Bill. We considered not only them but the wider Bill extensively through pre-legislative scrutiny. It is not fair to characterise his contributions or those of other Senators or Deputies from …

I am speaking to Sinn Féin's amendment No. 185, in the names of Senators Warfield, Boylan and Gavan. Before I was elected to this House, as the Minister will know, when I was a city councillor, I worked with my colleagues on the council - ours was not a Government party at the time - to drive the Oireachtas and the Ministry and to enable the city council to take action to preserve Moore Street. In fact, it was a Fianna Fáil Minister and Government that initially designated 14-17 Moore Street as a national monument.…

Go raibh maith agat.

I did not personalise my comments or my contributions at any point to any Member of this House. I do not see why I should become the target of any other Senator's contributions.

Thank you. In my contribution, I encouraged all Senators to inform themselves and not to make contributions in this House that are ignorant of the facts. The contributions that were made earlier were ignorant of the facts and I pointed that out. My track record in helping people of abilities of all levels and none is my track record and I stand on it. I do not need the judgment of any other Member of this House on it. I am very comfortable with my track record and my credentials as a person who always champions equ…

I thank the Minister of State for joining us. He does not have the benefit of having been here yesterday evening when Senator McDowell raised what are very serious concerns. I utterly reject the insinuation that anyone who votes for this section is in some way endorsing it. It is wrong to present it as a fait accompli when we are on Committee Stage and every Member of the House understands the Bill will come back to the House on Report Stage, when there will be further reflection and perhaps amendments. The issues …

I commend Senator Currie’s amendment. I hope that we all recognise that we live in a world of instant communication. Everyone recognises the essential nature of telecommunications infrastructure. Like much infrastructure, though, it is planned by engineers in an abstract way based on the optimal performance of the technology. Where the tension arises is where that infrastructure intersects with our human existence. I hope that, in the Minister of State’s response, he will be able to accept the amendment or, if the …

Can Members keep to the group?

Having had the privilege of serving on the country's largest local authority from when I was first elected in 2004, I take a particular interest in this section. As Senator Moynihan said, the pains and frustrations of the planning system are ones I am all too familiar with. When we apply ourselves to the exercise we are engaged in, in scrutinising this legislation, we would be well served by restricting our considerations to the legislation in front of us, and not to stuff that has gone on in the past or stuff that…

The Senator is reminding me of members of my own party.

It is entirely different.

I welcome our guests from San Francisco. I also welcome our new colleague, Senator Bradley, a champion of people of all abilities. I look forward to working with her. I call for a debate with the Minister for Justice on crime and antisocial behaviour in Dublin. Last week, I and some Fianna Fáil colleagues from Dublin released the results of a public sentiment survey which we undertook, to which there were more than 1,500 respondents. The findings of the survey confirmed what each of us had been hearing anecdotally …

I thank the Minister of State for bringing this legislation to the Seanad. I do not know who needs to know this but it is totally unacceptable that students would be asked to pay for accommodation they are not occupying. Students paying for accommodation they are not availing of is beyond perverse. We encourage students of all ages to invest in themselves, their education and in being greater participants in and contributors to society. One of the biggest costs involved in study, after tuition, subsistence and trav…