I thank all the Senators for their contributions to the debate on the Order of Business and their agreement to it. I will begin by offering my condolences to the friends and family of Saoírse Ruane. It is very sad news for us to hear this morning. That little girl had more bravery in her body than any of us will ever have. I am sure their hearts are broken. We are thinking of them and her. May she rest in eternal peace. Senator Casey raised the issue of Garda numbers and recruitment. We commend the Minister for Jus…

We should be unequivocal about it. We should not rest and never stop calling for it.

The students from north County Dublin are welcome. The kids in north County Dublin are among the smartest and the hardest working. The boys and girls are very welcome.

This is Endometriosis Awareness Month and Senator McGreehan raised the issue of endometriosis, which one in ten women suffer from. Many of them suffer in silence, so it is great that the House and the Government recognise it. The investment that is going into women's health is transformative and the Government is to be commended on that. It is the first Government in the history of the State that called out and made a priority of women's health and it has not only talked about it, but has put real funding behind it…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That Seanad Éireann:" and substitute the following: “notes that: - Housing for All is providing record levels of funding to support the delivery of social and affordable homes by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency; - over €5 billion in capital investment is available in 2024 through exchequer funding, Land Development Agency investment and Housing for All lending to support the delivery of Housing Programmes; - Housing for Al…

The cynicism and dishonesty of Sinn Féin on this subject is corrosive. It undermines our social fabric and the progress that is being made. If Sinn Féin really believed there was a housing crisis then it would act like there was a crisis. You would stop objecting to the building of homes. You would support our local authorities, the Land Development Agency and the State to increase supply, increase affordability and increase security of tenure. For those reasons I ask the House to reject the Sinn Féin motion and ac…

I, too, support the amendment. It is important that the LDA is adequately resourced. It is a unique and unprecedented intervention this Government has taken to establish the LDA on a statutory basis and use State-owned lands to deliver public homes. It is using public lands to deliver social and affordable homes. The LDA has appeared before the Oireachtas committee, as Senator Cummins stated. We meet with it regularly. We visited its site in Shanganagh, where more than 600 homes are being built. They are top-qualit…

I thank the Minister of State and everyone in his Department for all their work to get this historic legislation passed. For the first time in modern history, we will have a directly elected mayor. It is a huge opportunity for the people of Limerick and for all those who contest the first election. I wish them well. As a Dub, I have huge ambition for our capital city. I believe very strongly in the power of a political mandate and political office to deliver for people in ways that matter in their daily lives. Dubl…

This morning, this House should recognise that there are renewed attempts to try to establish talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire in the Middle East. As a House, we are all very conscious and have talked many times since 7 October, now four months on, about the inhumanity that has been perpetrated there. We should call on all parties to engage in those talks constructively to seek to find a situation whereby a ceasefire can be achieved, humanitarian aid can be provided and sustained, hostages can be released and e…

Before I was appointed to the Seanad I was a city councillor. I was chair of a joint policing committee in Dublin Central and a founding director of the Cabra Community Policing Forum. I understand the importance of having good structures in place to deal with issues that arise in our communities around policing. I know the Minister shares the ambition we all have for safer communities. I believe safer communities can be delivered where there are proper structures in place that are properly resourced and that are e…

I support the Order of Business. I wanted to welcome the news overnight of the conclusion of the COP28 summit and the fact that, for the first time ever, an agreement has been made that commits to a transition away from and a phasing out of fossil fuels. This is an historic agreement. It is the first time that COP has managed to reach this agreement. We know it is not perfect and that more must be done, but it is a good basis from which to move forward. I wanted to congratulate all those who participated in COP28. …

I thank the Minister of State and the Department for the work in bringing forward the legislation. The issue raised by the amendments proposed by the Labour Party Senators is one that we discussed at the committee. We have discussed many matters about our electoral activities but I will try to confine my comments to the Bill and come back to the Minister of State on other issues, such as the integrity of our democracy, the ballot paper and the votes that are being cast, which is critically important. There are some…

Now.

I thank the Minister for being in the House. Section 62 is very important with regard to the determination of the priorities for the service. I come from central Dublin. Twenty years ago, determining the priorities for the Garda locally in Cabra and Glasnevin was a contentious issue for the community. We came together and we got the Garda to engage with the local community and public representatives. We also engaged with the local authority. Through this we were able to identify local priorities. For the Garda as a…

I apologise to the Cathaoirleach if he thought I was wandering. It was not my intention at all.

I tried to be succinct.

It is a very important issue and I apologise.

I was getting to the point on security services. There are a number of very high-profile locations in my area. When we speak about security services we could be speaking about Connolly Station, Croke Park, which attracts more than 80,000 attendees, the GPO or O'Connell Street, or the Phoenix Park. The security services have to respond to incidents. I appreciate that the Minister may direct them under the legislation. How does the local community get to input into the process? I will stop there and allow the Ministe…

I would like to hear the Minister's response as otherwise we may not get one.

If I may clarify one point, did the Minister say the national security centre is under the Department of the Taoiseach and is separate from the Department of Justice?