As the weather gets colder and the long nights approach, I would again like to bring attention to the turf that continues to lie wet on the banks of three south-east Galway bogs. On Ardgraigue, Barroughter and Cloonmoylan bogs, families have been prevented from returning to save the turf by a High Court injunction at the behest of the NPWS earlier this year. These families now face into the winter with empty turf sheds. The NPWS has offered turf bank owners a once-off payment of €24,000 to walk away from the histor…

I second the motion.

The Minister is very welcome here today and I thank him for coming to the Seanad this evening. Like my colleague Senator Brady, I believe this is a very positive motion with largely positive amendments. There are just a few points in the motion I would like to touch on. No more than my colleague Senator Brady, the first thing I would like to touch on is the bovine tuberculosis action plan. In 2024, as the Minister will know, over 41,600 reactors were disclosed in Ireland, which was a 44% increase when compared with…

I rise today to discuss a topic of particular interest to me as a commercial beekeeper, and that is the response to the positive identification of an Asian hornet nest in Cork during recent months. After the positive identification of an individual Asian hornet, it took two weeks to find the location of the nest using the traditional triangulation method. Now, while that method did work, the process could have, and should have, been gone through in a matter of an hour had the most up-to-date Robor Nature radio sign…

I express concerns about what is coming down the track soon with the Veterinary Medicinal Products, Medicated Feed and Fertilisers Regulation Act 2023. From 1 September, the new regulations will deem all antiparasitic veterinary drugs to be prescription only. These are a large number of remedies used on farms on a day-to-day basis, such as sheep dip, dry cow mastitis tubes and ivermectin that is used for treating cattle for worms, fluke and lice. These products are currently available over the counter and have been…

The Minister of State is very welcome. I thank him for coming to the Seanad this afternoon. Despite what has just been said by the Opposition, I stand here and compliment the Minister of State on the amendments before us. They will do exactly as intended: enable development. I will go to the bones of the amendment: "The holder of permission for residential development may apply to the relevant authority who granted the permission for the certificate certifying that a proposed modification...of the permission is a p…

I will address some of the statements made by my colleague Senator Higgins in her contribution. She stated that there is nothing stopping developers proceeding with existing planning permission for apartments. There is something substantial stopping developers proceeding with existing planning permission. It is financial viability. If a development is not financially viable, how can one proceed? We can talk about our aspirational large apartments all we like, but if they are not financially viable, they will not be…

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the Seanad. Having studied this legislation over the past number of days, I believe it to be a real common-sense and very necessary Bill that will facilitate the building of more homes and streamline extensions to planning permission timelines during this current housing crisis we are all experiencing. Of the 17 sections in the Bill, I will focus on three in particular, namely, sections 13, 16 and 17. Section 13 deals with the time that is lost for the live plann…

Next Tuesday.

Next Tuesday at 2.30 p.m.

I rise to speak about the blue badge parking scheme or what would be more correctly referred to as the disabled person’s parking permit. This permit allows persons with severe mobility restrictions to park in disabled parking spaces in our towns, villages and cities throughout Ireland and is issued by the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland or the Irish Wheelchair Association. People must reapply on either an annual or a biennial basis to have this permit renewed. Just last month in the audiovisual room of Lein…

I wish to draw attention to the condition and structural stability of Ireland's tallest and possibly most iconic monastic round tower, namely, Kilmacduagh in Tierneevin in south County Galway. In documents dating back over 250 years, a slight lean in that round tower was documented. Local archaeologists and local people monitoring the tower have noted a major increase in the lean of the tower over the past 20 years. What is worrying is that, over the past ten years, the rate of increase in the lean has got progress…

I wish to raise a topic that has been mentioned in the national media in recent days, which is the issuing of online sick notes in the State through websites that require no consultation whatsoever with a registered medical practitioner. A number of websites are offering a service where people can go online, submit their personal details, submit the details of their employer, select the dates they want the medical certificate to apply to, select from a drop-down menu what sickness they want to appear on the medical…

The housing crisis is the greatest challenge facing this State. It is an emergency, and emergencies call for immediate action. This Bill, I have no doubt, will help many tenants renting around Ireland. As somebody who lives in and has represented an area within a rent pressure zone for the past six years, I have some concerns about accidental landlords and the fact that inclusion in rent pressure zone regulations might act somewhat as a disincentive to some people to renting out their properties. However, overall, …

It is nice to be able to speak about balanced regional development with a Minister who is also from the west. As my colleague just mentioned, in the north west we have indeed 17.6% of the nation's population. As was also mentioned, between 2016 and 2024, our share of investment in public tenders worth more than €1 million was a mere 9.9%. To make matters worse, between 2016 and 2024, our share of investment in public tenders worth more than €20 million was a paltry 5.7%. Coming from a place called Ardrahan in south…

I wish to draw attention to the questionable special areas of conservation, SAC, protection status of three bogs in south-east Galway, namely Ardgraigue, Barroughter and Clonmoylan bogs. These were designated to be sites of community importance, SCIs, in 2002. Under the habitats directive and EU rules, if SCIs are intended to be made SACs, this must be done within six years of them being designated SCIs. These three bogs, where local families have cut turf for decades, if not centuries, were made SCIs back in 2002 …

I would like to raise the continued closure of one of Ireland's most iconic coastal castles, Dunguaire Castle, on the Wild Atlantic Way in Kinvara. Until 2023, Dunguaire Castle was open to the public throughout the tourism season and was run and managed under the ownership of the Shannon Group. In 2023, a decision was made that the ownership of Dunguaire Castle would be handed over to Galway County Council. From that day until now, that transition of ownership has not been completed and the castle has remained clos…

I second the amendment. As Fine Gael’s spokesperson on housing in the Seanad and as the owner of a construction business that specialises in the conservation and restoration of historic buildings, having read the Bill, I believe it is a well-considered Bill. I am very supportive of the vast majority of this Bill. Given the extent of dereliction in our towns and villages around the country, this is a Bill we are very much in need of implementing, as soon as we can get it right. I agree with the Senator that the Dere…

I wish to share time with Senator Mark Duffy.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in to discuss this matter. As somebody who served five and half years as a local councillor in Galway County Council before my election to the Seanad, I greatly welcome that the Government will convene this local democracy task force, which will bring forward proposals to Government to consider for the reform and strengthening of local government. As the Minister of State outlined, there are a number of focus points outlined for this task force to make recommendations on. I …