I support Senator McDowell's call to provide time to do justice to Senator Norris. He is a great character. When in full flight in this House, there are none better than the Senator. He is so entertaining. I do not think this Chamber will see the likes of him again. He is unbelievable. I compliment the Government on bringing forward an increased cost of business grant. I hope it will be brought in efficiently and will go directly to businesspeople. Many small businesses are in a lot of difficulty and going through …

I support what Senators Lombard and Kyne said about sending of animals to slaughter that are in calf. I strongly support the strong sentiments expressed by both Senators. I would like to raise an issue that concerns fishing. We have received a communication from the public on the fishing industry over the past number of days and, in particular, the overfishing by huge trawlers from Belgium and Spain, and the effects that it is having on our seas and inland fisheries. It has been pointed out to us that salmon stocks…

I support Senator McGahon's proposal. It is a great idea and I have no doubt the Leader will take it up with Government. I want to raise the issue of charging batteries. A number of years ago, EU legislation was passed on making phone chargers compatible, enabling consumers to use one charger for all types of phones. This is not the case with tools, such as gardening tools, tools for contractors or household tools. There are different chargers for different tools. This involves huge costs for the construction indus…

I welcome the Taoiseach. I want to congratulate the people involved in the narcotics find off the south-west coast. According to today's newspapers, the value of the seizure is up to €500 million. The European market for cocaine is somewhere in the region of €12 billion, which is massive, and people say there is little we can do. There is something we can do, which has to be done at a European level. We all know where the drugs are coming from; the majority of drugs are coming from South America. The EU should cons…

Like Senator Cummins, I welcome the sports capital and equipment grants and advise clubs and community groups to avail of the opportunity to apply for them. I will raise the issue of occupational pensions this morning and how they have fallen far below the State pension. Occupational pensions, for example with An Post, Coillte, the Irish Aviation Authority and even Eircom, are only approximately €240 per week now, compared to the State pension of €265 per week, without taking allowances into account. They have fall…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I congratulate the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. This is a great motion in my view. I thank the Minister for accepting this motion on behalf of the Government. The Minister needs to be congratulated for the reforms she has implemented. I would say she has delivered more than any other Minister in the Department of Social Protection, as it is now known. We have seen the electricity allowance and other measures introduced in the past two years, particularly since …

I would also like to be associated with the expression of sympathy to the late Brendan Daly. He was a very good Member of this House, very active in all aspects of Irish life and always brought those issues to the fore here in this Chamber as well as in the other Chamber. I ask the Deputy Leader that we might have a debate in the next term with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on power generation, grid connection, and all that goes with it. We have solar generation, wind generation, district heat systems, and battery rol…

We have seen the recent Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, report on septic tanks, pollution of lakes and so on. I think there is a grant of €5,000 available from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for upgrading septic tanks. That is inadequate. I call on the Leader to contact the Minister. It is very hard to get a contractor to do a small job installing a new percolation system or whatever. They are quite costly as well. That grant needs to be upgraded. I also ask that we look at the whole…

With regard to the investigation and the court, where does jurisdiction lie with regard to the likes of EU countries and countries outside the EU such as the UK? Can the people who are being investigated or brought to court move jurisdiction to another state outside the EU such as the UK and look for his or her case to be moved to that state if he or she is being prosecuted in an EU state? Can a person from the UK who is being prosecuted in an EU state move the case to his or her own jurisdiction, which is the UK?

I welcome the Minister of State. I compliment Senator Boylan on bringing forward the Bill. Nothing ever stays the same. The longer we live, the more we know. I knew very little about this type of practice until the Bill was brought forward by Senator Boylan and Senator McGahon asked me to take it on his behalf from the Fine Gael side. There was a time that my wife and I were involved in the fashion business. There was a term in use at that stage, namely, "cabbage", which referred to lines of fashion that were overs…

I want to raise the issue of active travel funding. I ask for a debate in the House on funding for local authorities through the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Last year, I received a letter from members of Mayo County Council. Indeed, I was also contacted by members of other local authorities. They are looking for further funding for active travel and they feel they are not getting what they require. The Mayo allocation for 2023 is €4.5 million, and in 2022, it was €5 million, amounting…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is a timely time to have a debate on local government as we face into local elections in May or June of 2024. There are many aspects to local government and there have been many changes in local government in the past 20 or 30 years. As someone who was a member of a local authority for 25 years, until the dual mandate came in, I have seen a lot of changes. When I started first as a local councillor, we had responsibility for housing, loans, roads, planning - you name…

I welcome the ambassador and wish her well during her stay in Ireland. It is great to see that Luxembourg has a full ambassador in Ireland. I want to raise the issue of planning. The Fine Gael group of Senators had a great meeting yesterday with Niall Cussen from the Office of the Planning Regulator and previously the Department. I found it most interesting. At some stage, we should invite him to come before the House for a question and answer session. As someone who spent quite a long time on a local authority, th…

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I also want to wish Councillors Hoare and Carroll the very best of luck in the next 12 months. They will have a joint civic reception for all of the Mayo people who will be going to Pearse Stadium next Sunday in their droves. We will look forward to that.

I am afraid we will not be saying anything about that to the Cathaoirleach, who is a Corkman. Will the Deputy Leader ask the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to update the House on the report he is having written on Inland Fisheries Ireland? There is concern with regard to the former board members who were taken off the board by the Minister. They are very angry over what has happened because it puts them in limbo. They did nothing wrong but they have been removed from the board. They have been cleared by the Bradley report.…

I would also like to be associated with the expressions of sympathy to the late Mary Jackman. I served with Mary in this Chamber between 1997 and 2002. I was the Opposition Whip at that time. It was a pleasure to work with Mary Jackman. As we all know, it is difficult at times to get people to speak in Seanad Éireann, or to keep the House going. It was always the job of the Opposition to make sure it had somebody there to keep an eye on things, to see how Bills were going, and to call votes when they were to be cal…

I would like to be associated with yesterday's expressions of sympathy regarding our former colleague and Leas-Chathaoirleach, Mr. Paul Coghlan. We will have another day for proper expressions of sympathy for the late Senator. I support Senator McGahon on the issue he raised regarding the €70,000 grant for first-time buyers. That issue could nearly be resolved now. I compliment the Minister on being on top of it but the grant's hold-up has caused some hardship to some people. Issues with it should probably have bee…

I am a bit late to welcome the teachers and students from Claremorris. I wish to raise an issue this morning with the Croí Cónaithe scheme through which a person can get a grant of €50,000 to do up an old or derelict house and get a €20,000 top-up. There is an anomaly in that scheme in that if somebody is applying for a loan, there is a stand-off at the moment with the local authorities that are implementing the scheme and grant on behalf of the Government and the financial institutions. It is a shame that things a…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I welcome the opportunity to say a few words during the debate on this very important topic. The Government has to be ambitious and has to take a leap of faith. When explorers or oil companies go out onto the Atlantic, or wherever they go to explore for oil or gas, they do not know what they will get or whether they will get anything, but they take a leap of faith and they go there. The Government has to do that. Not everything it does will be successful, but it will le…

I also extend a welcome to our parliamentary friends and their friends from Malawi. I hope they have a very successful trip to Ireland. I would also like to be associated with the support for East Belfast GAA. I wish to raise the issue of jury service. I have come across something I have not encountered before, namely, what happens when a person who is moving from one job to another is called for jury service in the interval between jobs. There is no obligation on the employer to pay the person who has finished wit…