The Minister of State is welcome to the House with this, his first Bill. Fianna Fáil welcomes and supports the Bill. As the Minister of State outlined, the Bill provides for the establishment of the marine accident investigative unit within the Department of Transport and for a regulatory regime to be put in place for the construction and operation of offshore service vessels operating in Ireland to support the offshore renewable energy sector as well as for the carriage of industrial personnel. This Bill is necess…

Ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá. First, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his success last night in being democratically elected to the Chair. I wish him very well for the term ahead. The father of the House gave him a fair run for his money. I am sure Senator Wilson finds it strange to be called father of the House. I do not know whether we should call him "Father Wilson" or what his title will be. He is a bit young looking to be the father of the House but there is no better man for the role. I also wish Senato…

I thank the Minister. Before I call the next speaker, I welcome the deputation from Stormont to the Public Gallery. The members of the committee on health are very welcome - Ms Liz Kimmins, MLA, chair, Mr. Danny Donnelly, MLA, deputy chair, Ms Linda Dillon, MLA, Ms Órlaithí Flynn, MLA, Ms Nuala McAllister, MLA and Mr. Colin McGrath, MLA. I hope our visitors enjoy the proceedings. I call on Senator Byrne who has 15 minutes.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber for this debate on the A5, the N2 and the TEN-T in the North. It was fantastic that there was an announcement yesterday of €600 million for the A5. It is brilliant news. I would like to know where everything moves from here. The A5 has been the blockage for so long. I remember being told on air by some of the Acting Chair's colleagues in Donegal not to worry about the A5 because Conor Murphy, the Minister in Northern Ireland, was dealing with it and it would b…

I agree with everything in the Minister of State's statement. Yesterday's news that the Irish Government's money is back on the table was absolutely fantastic. I implore both the UK Government and the Stormont Administration to step up now and make this project a reality. I ask the Minister of State to take a message back to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Department of Transport. The case study for the TEN-T project is with the Department and is due to come to Cabinet. I would like the Minister to put urgency o…

Before we start the next Commencement matter, I welcome Dwayne Edgar to the Public Gallery, along with Senator Fitzpatrick. Dwayne was responsible for setting up the Inner City Running Club. He is very welcome to the proceedings this morning.

Before the Minister of State replies, I welcome the students and teachers in the audience from Gaelscoil Eoin, Ballsbridge, Dublin. They are very welcome. They are all very good boys and girls. I hope they enjoy their trip around Leinster House.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, to the House.

I welcome the Minister to the House.

Amendments Nos. 1 and 170 to 181, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Yes.

Does Senator Sherlock wish to speak to amendment No. 6?

We will come to that.

Amendments Nos. 7 to 11, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome those in the Gallery as named. Are there any other contributors? I call the Minister, Deputy McEntee.

The Minister of State is very welcome. I have been notified that the Minister for Transport is unavailable today. I thank the Minister of State for coming in to take this Commencement matter. I have done this on foot of correspondence I received from a retired commandant in the Army who has been talking to many of his friends about the proposals by TII to shut off lay-bys on motorways. Neither he nor I nor anybody I talk to can really understand why we would have it in very large print on many of the digital signs …

The statement the Minister of State has been given contains the line that "the need for such lay-bys for non-professional drivers has reduced". Have people stopped getting tired or are they less tired when they are driving? This whole thing is nonsensical and that is why I am taking the opportunity to raise it. It was mentioned in the reply that the motorway service area policy was published in 2014. That policy was published because of the need for lay-bys for people to pull in and take a nap for road safety purpo…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I raise this matter and call on the Government and European Union to act swiftly to deal with the dumping of electricity generated by renewable sources, particularly in rural areas. I can speak only in real terms of County Donegal. The situation there, as I know it, is that most of the energy produced by the wind farms and hydro station is currently dumped and wasted. In the current climate, with the price people are paying for electricity, it is not good enough. I have…

I thank the Minister of State. I get that Donegal was not part of the question but the Minister of State can examine it and check it out. The reason that between 21 and 22 hours of energy is being dumped every day is because we do not have a network to carry it out of the county. One connector with Northern Ireland will not be sufficient for our future needs. The plans in place by various organisations are completely insufficient if we are to develop the capacity that is not only in the Government's current plans b…