I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am grateful for the opportunity to say a few words on this important Bill. I, too, would like to voice my opinion on the rushing of this legislation. It happens every summer and at Christmas time and I often wonder why. In relation to data centres, the biggest companies in the world are employing thousands of people in this country and the vast majority of them are producing data. Why should we not have our fair share of the data centres producing data? There is an on…

We may well be but we have an obligation to have data centres here, particularly given the employment being generated in this country.

It is unbelievable that the Derrybrien wind farm is being dismantled. The Minister should seek a derogation from the European Union in relation to the current fines until we reach maximum energy production in this country. At a time when we are not self-sufficient in energy, it is daft that we are about to dismantle a wind farm at great cost and replace it with gas generation. The Minister should, therefore, seek a derogation from the European Commission in relation to the fines. The Bill does not provide for joint…

On the PSO levy being returned, could the levy be used so that people might be able to get a loan to put in solar panels? Equally, could this money be offset by some of the electricity or generation companies so that this levy could go towards a loan to put in solar panels or some other form of green energy?

Why is this money going to be taken out if it is going to be put back into people's account? Is that the way or how is it going to operate?

How will the low-cost energy scheme operate on the ground? Where does someone go and who will provide those low-cost loans? Will this come from the generation or who will do it?

Would people be able to go to their local credit union and get the loan there?

Planning permission has held up many projects on account of various issues. Nearly 40 years ago the Naas dual carriageway was held up because of a snail. A wind farm near where I live was held up because of objections to the planning permission due to concerns that the red grouse would become extinct. Objections to a bridge over the River Moy on the grounds of the freshwater pearl mussel caused a road connecting Ballina and Castlebar to be held up for years. In the case of the wind farm where the red grouse was the…

I welcome the announcement by the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton, of over €13 million in co-funding for transport projects in Ireland under the European Union's Connecting Europe facility. This is a key EU funding instrument to promote growth and jobs in Europe. I particularly welcome the €2.5 million for Irish Rail to support studies on the development of a rail freight system connecting Ireland's busiest seaports and establishing transfer points for freight between rail and road…

I can see the point Senator Gavan is making but I agree with the Minister of State. Good legislation has to stand on its own two feet. It cannot be the case that we are bringing in legislation but we will have to amend it in a particular way because of something else. It has to stand on its own two feet. What Senator Gavan is proposing is a matter that can be brought forward by a different Department. The fee to see a doctor could be waived or whatever by another Department. This is new employment law legislation a…

As Senator Sherlock said, this has to work for all workers. It has to work for employers as well. We have to be fair to employers as well. This is, as has been said, groundbreaking legislation. I suppose everything is relative. Whether one is on a lower wage or a middle-income wage, one's outgoings will be relative to what one's income will be. If somebody is out sick, whether he or she is in the middle-income bracket or not, he or she cannot afford to be out of work either. When this legislation is passed, and whe…

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on this very important topic. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I know he is very much au fait with this topic. It is sometimes hard to understand what is happening. We were importing peat while at the same time producing peat for export, although that was shut down and we are now just importing peat. On the other hand, we were paying very significant fines to Europe in respect of a wind farm at Derrybrien in Galway. We are now taking down the wind turbines o…

I would like to raise an issue with the Deputy Leader. I suggest that we ask the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to come to the House to discuss the matter. It concerns the tariff for electricity that is being exported by ordinary private individuals. They are not getting paid. The Minister said that such a tariff would be introduced in May or June. There does not seem to be any sign of the tariff being paid to ordinary people. Many people, both contractors and private individuals, have con…

I thank the Tánaiste for coming to the House and wish him well with this legislation. It is very welcome. It is only right that workers are well looked after. Employees must be kept happy because then they will do more work and the better the return one will get. As previous speakers said, however, there is going to be a knock-on impact from the cost of this scheme. Somebody has to pay for it. It must be paid for. It will either be the case that small businesses will close or there will be a major increase in costs…

I welcome the Minister to the House. This is a great debate. We have debated this issue up and down and the Minister will hear more before the evening is out. I am sure the Departments of the Ministers for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform are looking in at what is being debated here as well. What has happened over the last ten or 12 years is unprecedented. We have had the crash, the pandemic and now the war. This is happening not just in Ireland but right across the world. There is a scarcity of commod…

These were the same fellows who said we should close banks and that we should-----

-----take money out of the economy and close the economy down. That is what they said. Now they say we should pump money into it. Pumping the money into it has paid off when you look at what has happened. People's salaries had been reduced. Everything was reduced. Social welfare was reduced. Hospital services were reduced. However, all of those have been expanded over the last number of years. When you talk to people and employers they compliment Governments on what they have done and the hard decisions they had to…

I ask the Deputy Leader to arrange a debate on Irish Water and how one might get an extension to a water or sewerage scheme. There is a lot of ambiguity about how it works and how extensions are prioritised. There are many small towns throughout the country that need extensions, and I wonder how these are prioritised. Will the Deputy Leader also ask the Minister about the charges imposed by Irish Water on land connections? This affects fragmented farms particularly along the west coast, where most farms are small a…

I ask for a debate on infrastructure. I have in mind a piece of infrastructure extending from Longford towards Ballaghaderreen, with which Senator Murphy would be very familiar. It bypasses Strokestown. I refer to the N5, which has been the subject of problems because Roadbridge went into receivership. The project may well have to be retendered for. There are problems now. The Leader might like to organise a debate on infrastructure. The infrastructure in question is very important to the west; it is the gateway to…

He got a few tips on the football field as well.