I support the amendment and wish to make a few general points. I support what has been said about the pace with which the Bill has been brought through. The problems, the arrears and the backlog must have been developing for far longer than the past few months, and it is an awful pity that this problem was not addressed earlier. I am also conscious of the fact that the crisis that has taken place in the forestry business and forestry sector, with the destruction of saplings and so on, is a sign of weak administrati…

It should be remembered that the target of the then Minister involved the planting of 69,000 trees every day.

If weekends are taken out of that, it is 90,000 trees per day, every day. The present programme for Government has set not quite as ambitious a target: the trees can be planted over 20 years rather than ten years, and the metrics are slightly more relaxed. However, and this is the fundamental point and the reason I support the Bill, this country, if it is to engage in major afforestation, needs to get serious about it. We need to make it possible to comply with the targets we are setting. There is no point in wande…

The reason I support this amendment is that I believe the public has to understand the target and the process, and understand that not everybody can live surrounded by a bare landscape if we are to plant 400 million trees over the next 20 years. The Wicklow Mountains will change. The land in Roscommon and Leitrim will change. Views we used to have will no longer be there. We must get serious if we are going afforest this country. Senator Boyhan gave me a book about the history of afforestation policy in Ireland, go…

I echo what the Cathaoirleach said. I welcome the Minister of State. I very much welcome the fact that a Member of this House is a Minister of State. I congratulate the Senator on her appointment. It is a major innovation. The last time this was tried was with the late Senator James Dooge. That was a long time ago. The Constitution provides for someone such as Senator Hackett to be a Minister of State. I am very glad that is the case. The topic I am raising concerns the future of the MetroLink project and the south…

I note there were some additions in pencil in the document that was given to me. One of them is particularly revealing because it suggests that the Minister is considering doing a turn-back facility at St. Stephen's Green. That suggests there is a proposal to have a loop at St. Stephen's Green for the MetroLink project. That is interesting. However, the Minister told the voters in his constituency, at great length and repeatedly, that he wanted a different outcome from the one that was then being proposed, to marry…

I was not seeking to embarrass the Minister of State at all.

I thank the Minister of State for her frank confession.

I sympathise completely with the remarks made by other Senators regarding what we are being told in the media about what the Government intends to do on the basis of the advice from NPHET. I have no confidence in NPHET for the very simple reason that the difference in treatment of meat plants and restaurants between it and the HSE is dramatic and inexplicable. I have no confidence in the HSE because for the three years from 2016 to 2019, report after report recommended increasing the level of ICU provision in hospi…

First I want to observe that having stated that the business of this sitting of the Seanad was solely concerned with the Government's Bill, the Cathaoirleach himself then breached it by making remarks about Clifden.

I do not agree with some of what was said and I do not believe it is the function of the Chair to make remarks of that kind. I do not believe it is the function of the Ceann Comhairle to make far more trenchant remarks in his Chamber.

Excuse me, a Chathaoirligh. If we are here to discuss one item only, which is the Bill and the Order of Business relating to it today, then the Cathaoirleach himself led off by breaching that. Just remember that. It is not the Cathaoirleach's function to talk from that seat about Commissioners or judges. It is not that at all.

I am making the point that it is none of the Cathaoirleach's business to talk about judges and Commissioners from that seat on this occasion.

Yes, and it is not your function-----

It is not your function to-----

It is not your function to speak about judges or Commissioners on this occasion.

The Cathaoirleach is an impartial chairman and it is not his function to make announcements of that kind.

I am just pointing out that if the Order of Business is to be adhered to, then the Cathaoirleach should do it himself. I do not believe that the measure before us is of such urgency that it must be dealt with in one day. I do not believe we should be in a position that there is pressure on us not to call votes because of the cumbersome nature of votes being called.

Hear, hear.

I do not believe we should be in a position that there is pressure on us not to call votes because of the cumbersome nature of votes being called.