My party leader is indeed here beside me so I am being watched but I will take Deputy Naughten's six suggestions back to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan. The Deputy clearly cares very strongly about this issue and it is clear that he has engaged extensively with a number of Ministers on this matter. He has also been talking to Deputies Fitzmaurice and Kerrane and Senators Dolan and Murphy and is keeping them all up to date on this matter. He is clearly putting in a lot of effort. I commit to speaking to my …

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Senators for having me here today. The Appropriation Bill 2020 is an essential element of financial housekeeping that must be concluded by both Houses of the Oireachtas before the end of this year. The Bill serves two primary purposes. First, the Appropriation Bill is necessary to authorise in law all of the expenditure that has been undertaken in 2020 on the basis of the Estimates that have been voted on by the Dáil during the year. Section 1 and Schedule 1 set out the amounts t…

I thank Senators for their comments and for supporting the Bill. I also thank Senators on all sides for the acknowledgement of the great expenditure that went into protecting people and businesses this year. The pandemic unemployment payment was a significant innovation and rapidly delivered by the Department of Social Protection. Impressively, most people got this payment online. For businesses, there was the tax relief at source, the employment wage subsidy scheme and the Covid restrictions support scheme. There …

I thank Deputy Durkan for raising the matter. In the first instance I wish to express my sincere condolences to the borrower on her recent bereavements. In this case I assume the Deputy is referring to a borrower whose mortgage is held by the entity to which he referred in the details supplied. This entity in question is authorised on a transitional basis on the Central Bank's register of credit servicing firms. This provides for entities to be authorised until the Central Bank has granted or refused their authoris…

As I mentioned, there is a strong consumer protection framework in place to protect mortgage and other loan borrowers. Borrowers have a suite of protections and lenders have a range of responsibilities to discharge when dealing with borrowers in arrears. There are also a number of public supports available to borrowers in debt difficulty, such as MABS and the Abhaile service for mortgage debt. I encourage any borrower who is experiencing difficulty to engage with these services. If a borrower is in significant diff…

I thank Deputy Mairéad Farrell for introducing what is her first piece of legislation. I hope it is the first of many. I also thank all the other Deputies who contributed to the debate. The Bill before us provides for the amendment of six sections of the 27 sections of the Act. They are section 5 on the meaning of carrying on lobbying activities, section 11 on the details to be supplied by applications for inclusion on the register, section 16 on the code of conduct, section 18 on the relevant contraventions, secti…

I thank the House for inviting me to speak here for the first time. I am impressed by the passion and coherence of the question the Senator put forward. The Government is committed to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. We believe that to deliver on this commitment, we need a whole-of-system perspective for all modes of transport, whether active travel, bus or rail. That means developing evidence-based multimodal transport strategies that will guide development over the medium and long terms…

As I said, it is whole-of-system approach. The route in the south west is not fixed. It is not decided yet. It is not even decided whether it will go south west. The south east is also being considered in a feasibility study as are other sections around the city. All the different proposals that are made for where we should expand our rail network will have to be prioritised according to each other. It is not yet fixed. I am happy to bring the Senator’s comments to the Minister. I absolutely recognise the south wes…

The Senator acknowledged there are legal and regulatory hurdles to what we are trying to do here but I share his enthusiasm for what he is trying to achieve. Public procurement in Ireland is governed by EU and national law, and national guidelines. The EU treaty principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination, transparency, mutual recognition, proportionality, free movement of goods and services and the right of establishment must be observed on all tenders. Public procurement procedures require all applicants…

In 2017 the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, prepared an information note about how to deal with Brexit and what was ahead. It has updated that every year since then and is about to produce the latest version. Obviously events are changing very quickly and it is a huge challenge. We also have the Brexit funds coming in from Europe and there will be more news about that shortly. On the awarding of tenders to foreign companies, the Senator may or may not be aware that 94% of public procurement spend is awarded …

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the River Shannon Management Agency Bill 2020. Its purpose is to establish a River Shannon management agency on a statutory basis within the OPW with overall responsibility for the assessment and management of flood risk and flood defences along the River Shannon. I can sense the sincere passion in the voices of those who have spoken on this very important matter. The River Shannon is a valuable natural resource that is important to Ireland’s economy, society, cultu…

I welcome this debate and I am glad to hear the contributions of my colleagues on this topic. As the Minister of State with responsibility for eGovernment, I am keen to see as many public services put online as possible, not least because people expect it. People are now used to conducting their commercial and social lives online, and there is no reason that the Government should not deliver services to people online as well. There was a huge increase in the uptake of online digital Government services during this …

As Deputy Howlin has said, this budget is in the context of twin challenges to our economy, the enormity of which we have not seen before, namely, the pandemic and the challenge of a Brexit that may lead to the UK attempting to trade with the EU on WTO terms. This budget represents the biggest investment in the history of our State. It is coming at a time when we need it most to protect the livelihoods of our people and to rise to the challenges of Covid-19 and a hard Brexit. Budget 2021 seeks to protect our societ…

I will answer the Deputy's question about Macroom Garda station on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, who cannot be here in the Chamber. Since the Garda Commissioner’s announcement of a major reorganisation of An Garda Síochána’s structures and the decision to change the new Macroom station from a district station to a regional and divisional headquarters in late 2019, the Office of Public Works has undertaken intensive engagement with the key relevant State agencies. The Office of Public Works, OPW…

The Deputy has asked who the stakeholders are. The OPW has had meetings with the NDFA, An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice and Equality, which is funding the project on a regular basis to progress it as part of a PPP. Other agencies are involved as well. There were long negotiations with Cork County Council regarding the shared access road. Irish Water has concerns about the capacity required. An Garda Síochána upgraded this project significantly last year. It is a completely different project, more tha…

An Garda Síochána has not yet signed off on the design. The project cannot be sent for planning permission until An Garda Síochána signs off on it. The Deputy asked about the form of planning application, who will lodge it and whether we will use a traditional planning application or a fast-track process. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, to contact him directly on the matter. I apologise as I do not have that information to hand.

The programme for Government provided for a pilot programme of station reopenings throughout the country, including Bawnboy Garda station. The OPW undertook technical surveys on the building and issued a report to Garda estate management on the works required, the indicative costs involved and a proposed layout. The deliberative process between An Garda Síochána and the OPW to finalise proposals is ongoing. On final Garda sign-off, the office will prepare, submit and publicise the necessary Part 9 planning applicat…

One of the problems faced in this project was obtaining approval, due to universal access requirements for building compliance, which, as the Deputy will understand, is necessary. There was also a question about whether these stations should have married quarters attached to them when operational, and An Garda Síochána has yet to decide whether such accommodation is to be part of the functions of the reopened station. A fast-track application is being prepared under Part 9 and that is expected to happen this year.

I appreciate the Deputy's concerns about security, particularly around the Border area. Six stations were identified for reopening as part of the pilot programme, four of which have thus far reopened, with Bawnboy and Leighlinbridge the two that remain. There has been progress on this but I appreciate the Deputy's point on the concerns of local people about having community policing in place. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, to revert to him on the topic.

The plan is that the strategy will be updated in quarter 1 of next year.