I welcome the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, to the House.

Senator Cummins will not mind me coming in on this but as a former vice chairman of County Kerry vocational educational committee, VEC, as it was, it would be remiss of me not to compliment the Minister on his work in bringing to fruition our Munster Technological University. He has a very happy event coming up on Monday. It is a consummation joyful to behold and the Minister has played a blinder on that and well done.

Everybody from my generation will be familiar with this beautiful poem written by Máire Mhac an tSaoi, who sadly passed away at the weekend: Le coinnle na n-aingeal tá an spéir amuigh breactha, Tá fiacail an tseaca sa ghaoith on gcnoc, Adaigh an tine is téir chun an leapan, Luífidh Mac Dé ins an tigh seo anocht. She was one of the outstanding poets writing in Irish and she left a fantastic legacy. Máire Mhac an tSaoi was an extraordinary woman. The daughter of Seán MacEntee, she was educated in the Sorbonne and the…

I ask the Leader to consider holding a debate in due course on antisemitism in the Republic of Ireland. Most Members here will have seen the type of toxicity that is on Twitter and other social media in regard to members of the Jewish persuasion. A recent report by David Collier highlights this in a very serious way. If Members want to research him online, I assure them they will not find it very pleasant reading, given that some of the comments, tweets and posts are of the most heinous nature. We all know the hist…

Will the Leader ask the Tánaiste to come before us for an update on the situation regarding the task force for the Shannon Estuary? I raised this here previously. In the past six months, former parliamentarians, Michael Noonan and John Brassil, have been appointed chairman and vice-chairman, respectively. From that day to this we have heard nothing and people are concerned. We have the critical situation of the LNG terminal coming to a final decision on planning and, with changed awareness about the importance of g…

It is a very good idea to create a new bank holiday in order to recognise the work of front-line workers but I will not enter into a debate with Senator Craughwell now. This would be to recognise the heroic work that they have done for us to keep us all safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. I have no particular preference as to what that bank holiday date should be. I suggest that it would be very appropriate if we were to name such a new bank holiday the shared island bank holiday or day. I am saying this because it …

It is nice to be back in familiar surroundings. I have spoken here many times in the past about energy security. Without being a Cassandra, it has reached a critical stage. Several times during the summer, our warmest months, the warning register was showing up in amber. That means we were close enough to being at full supply and being maxed out. It is a real worry as to whether we will have an energy supply and confidence in the winter. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was unable last week to give a categoric assu…

I am sure the Leader will join me in wishing our retailers, shopkeepers and small businesses well on their reopening after a long close-down. My family were in the business of the provision and retail of menswear for 150 years and I know exactly how big a day this is for small shopkeepers. It is a time when we must give them support. The Government, in fairness, gave those businesses and their staff very good supports during the lockdowns. However, they are going to be on their own from now on. I would appeal to th…

I will conclude shortly. I have not spoken in the Chamber for a while.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Some of these people are well meaning. Some of them are academics, others are journalists and politicians. They may very well want to be helpful. However, former EU ambassador to the United States, Mr. David O'Sullivan, recently addressed the Pat & John Hume Foundation and stated that heightening tensions in regard to a border poll is the most unhelpful thing that could be done to the body politic in Ireland. He said it could, in fact, prove disastrous. I ask the people who…

Yesterday we learned of the sad passing of Mr. David Cornwell, the famous writer who was better known, of course, as John le Carré, who gave great joy to many people over long periods writing about spies in the Cold War setting, such as, for instance, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley's People . Many of those novels have been turned into films and series on television. He followed a long line of English literary types, such as Graham Greene, who had some experience of the secret service and it showed in what the…

This is my first time addressing the Minister in the House so I warmly welcome him here. I commend him on the outstanding job he is doing in health which, in fairness, is something that has been acknowledged by all sides of the House. I am sure the Minister is familiar with the very sad situation that obtains at Oaklands nursing home in Listowel, which is about two miles from my home. It has made the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons, in particular the fact that 23 out of 24 patients proved to be Covid-p…

I welcome the Minister of State's answer. I acknowledge that she cannot talk about particular instances and I am reluctant to bring up an individual case. I normally would not do so but as the Minister of State said, this is a rapidly evolving situation. There is concern about it as Listowel has consistently had very high rates of Covid per capita and was one of the highest local electoral areas, LEAs, in the country for a period. It is worrying for us and now it is worrying for other sectors and parts of Kerry as …

I will resist the temptation to use this debate as an opportunity to vent my views on Sinn Féin. I will not do that. My views on Sinn Féin are well known and I am sure their views on me are also well known. This is a serious motion and I am surprised that the Chamber is less peopled not only by Sinn Féin but also one or two other groups that are vocal on most issues. They are disappointingly absent here tonight. Money and politics have a fraught relationship at the best of times. No political party is as pure as th…

I do not have a question for the Leader but I commend the Cathaoirleach and the Ceann Comhairle on the speed with which they invited President-elect Biden to visit Ireland. As he is aware, there is an army of genealogists working in Kerry to establish an undoubted connection. We will depend on the Cathaoirleach to make sure that when he does come, he visits the kingdom as well. I also commend An Taoiseach on his attendance at the commemoration ceremony in the North over the weekend. This was a first for the leader …

He has made special arrangements and will be in observance of all the rules and regulations.

For the young people of Ireland you heard it here first: Santa Claus is definitely coming.

I think this is my first time speaking in the Chamber since we were re-elected. It feels nice to be back. The programme for Government, as set out, was a great one, and one to which we all subscribed. However, as the Cathaoirleach is aware, there was one huge disappointment for the people of Kerry, insofar as the liquid natural gas project in the Shannon Estuary was effectively dumped. My colleagues in the Green Party saw to that, and while they have their point of view on the issue, I have another, as someone who …

I am glad the Cathaoirleach clarified that. I thought I had been promoted.

I welcome the Minister of State. It is nice to have her back in the room with us.