I welcome the Minister of State. I would say to Senator Martin that it will probably be 11 p.m. or 11.30 p.m. when I get home tonight, but I will see the kids in the morning, which is why I continue to drive up and down every day. When one has a young family, it can be difficult to be away. My wife is a primary school teacher who works too, so we know the benefit of childcare from the last years. The reality is that childcare has been neglected. People in that sector have been underpaid. That has started to be addr…

The Minister is welcome. I also commend and fully support the Bill. Tourism has been one of the major success stories in the country with significant investment being made. It is important that we insulate and nurture it because the figures seem to be going in the right direction but we have to make sure that continues. We have so many things going positively for tourism, but there are also some negatives. Around each corner there are many beautiful amenities. In the midlands, where I come from, we have the Hidden …

I have similar comments to make. I welcome the fact this has been put in place. As Senator Cassells said, this was a strong recommendation from the committee after pre-legislative scrutiny. There was discussion of the matter in the House and, as the Senator said, the Minister committed to coming back and discussing the matter. I am glad to see this has been implemented because it is important. We met the Australian commissioner. It was important we, as a committee, looked at best practice. This is best practice and…

Perhaps the Minister will expand on that point. Is the Minister saying the Bill will give the commission the authority to change the situation and allow for party political programmes outside of an electoral period?

I concur with the comments that have been made. This is a welcome group. The 20x20 campaign, which was mainly focused on sport, increased female participation in sport and the number of female broadcasters across all sports. It is welcome to see this provision in the Bill.

I support the recommendations and acknowledge the fact that a percentage of this funding will be available to independent producers. That funding will be there to make sure we have a large percentage of Irish language content, which is extremely important. The Minister mentioned the sound and vision fund. I thank her for the extra funding of €2.5 million that has been added to that fund for this year. In lieu of what a number of us were looking for with regard to the broadcasting levy, that is a fair compromise to …

Now.

I compliment the Minister. This is an important day. As we have said before, this legislation is probably among the most important that will go through these Houses during our time in the Houses of the Oireachtas. It supports all forms of local media. Our independent newspapers and media will in the main be happy that we have fought the case for them with regard to supports. Ultimately, it is about protecting young children and online safety, which is extremely important. I commend the Minister on the amount of tim…

I move: That pursuant to subsection 2° of section 2 of Article 25 of the Constitution, Seanad Éireann concurs with the Government in a request to the President to sign the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022 on a date which is earlier than the fifth day after the date on which the Bill shall have been presented to him.

I concur with a number of Senator Currie's comments on special education. I welcome the review which will take place and is being launched by the Minister of State at the Department of Education, Deputy Madigan, with regard to school places. The Joint Committee on Autism still has a number of months to meet so it is not due to finish shortly. We are publishing an early report tomorrow on the school summer programme for 2023 but that is not the final report. There are a number of months left for that committee to ru…

Now.

Now.

I move: That, pursuant to subsection 2° of section 2 of Article 25 of the Constitution, Seanad Éireann concurs with the Government in a request to the President to sign the Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2022 on a date which is earlier than the fifth day after the date on which the Bill shall have been presented to him.

I welcome the Ukrainian Ambassador to the House and pledge my support for the motion. I wish to voice my personal support, and the support of all the Members, for President Zelenskyy. There is continuing support for Ukraine from Ireland. I echo the comments of Senator Davitt, but I must remind him that all the commuter trains coming into Dublin actually start in County Longford, so any investment must be stretched out a little.

We need balanced regional development. We must ensure that everyone gets the funding.

I also want to support the comments made by Senator Malcolm Byrne yesterday on the increase in cases being brought to the High Court in respect of assessments of needs. I support the call for a debate on the issue. Both the HSE and the Minister have attended the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism, and the reality is that people are waiting over two years on assessments of needs. Indeed, they are lucky if they get an assessment within two years. The legislation states that children or young people are entitled to …

I support the comments of my colleague Senator Kyne on the national children's hospital. I would like a debate with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on supports for the sheep sector, which is in very difficult circumstances. A wool feasibility report recommended the setting up of a wool council, but that has not happened. The reality is that we need further direct supports to restore confidence in the industry. Could we have a discussion with the Minister on the future of the sheep industry in Iris…

I concur with Senator Malcolm Byrne's comments and second his proposal for a meeting with the Minister for Transport on road projects from 2023 onwards. The specific issue I wish to raise is that of the N4. It was mentioned in the House last year when it was removed from the funding plans for 2022, which would have paid to find a preferred route and ended the situation of a significant number of landowners along a 52 km stretch who have had their lands and houses locked since 2006. It is important infrastructure fo…

I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for taking this Commencement matter. Unfortunately, the Minister for Transport was unavailable, which is disappointing. I wish to highlight the matter of the extension of the N4 from Mullingar through Longford and on to Rooskey and County Leitrim. The Government launched the renewed National Development Plan 2021-2030 in October last year. This was the largest national development ever plan delivered in the history of the State, valued at €165 billion, with a particular…

I thank the Minister of State. She said that it is a critical strategic corridor for the north west and critical to our national development plan. However, the reply states that funding is in place to complete the route option selection process by quarter 2. Therefore, it will be stalled. I ask the Minister of State to tell the Minister that this needs to be prioritised. TII needs to make the funding available for that office, based in Mullingar, to continue its work on the N4 and bring it to a further stage, to a …