The Cathaoirleach has taken me a bit by surprise. I congratulate everybody on last week's celebration of the visit of President Biden to Ireland and particularly to Ballina in my home county of Mayo. The Department of Foreign Affairs and the local authority did a wonderful job in respect of that visit. However, I will raise an issue with regard to the Passport Office. A number of weeks ago, a client approached me. He had booked a trip from Boston in the US to Ireland for the Easter break. Two nights before the flig…

Senator O'Sullivan raised a very important question which could lead to a very important debate in this Chamber. We could have a very good debate. How many NGOs are there in the country? I would say there are hundreds of them. Are they all funded or fully funded by the Government? Is it the Department of the Taoiseach or the Department of Foreign Affairs which funds them or is every Department funding different NGOs? We could have a very good debate on that aspect of things. Will Leader organise a debate in the Cha…

I welcome the Minister. I also welcome the opportunity to say a few words on this very serious situation. On a number of occasions, I had the privilege of being nominated to stand for the Seanad by the Central Fisheries Board and I represented it here. At the time, the central board was made up of regional boards. There were such boards in the north, the west, the south, the south east and the east. At that time, inland fishing tourism in Ireland was flourishing. Competitions were held in lakes and on rivers. As th…

I welcome Councillor Adam Teskey to the Public Gallery. He is a hardworking councillor from Limerick and it is great to see him in the Chamber. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate at some stage with the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications on energy and retrofitting of homes. Retrofitting is a huge area. There are considerable grants given by the Government in regard to this. We would like to know how this is progressing. My experience with the SEAI is very good. It is very efficient. Its inspector…

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on the amendment tabled by Senator McDowell. I must say it has been very interesting to listen to him for the last number of minutes. I will vote for the Government, of course, whatever the Government decision is. I might be voting against my beliefs but I will vote with the Government. At the same time, as I have said, it has been very interesting to listen to Senator McDowell. It would seem very funny to have a corporate body with nine members, one of whom has no vote …

The machine will reduce it to 12 people.

I would like to ask the Deputy Leader to ask the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to come before the House at some stage, because it has been brought to my attention that there are discrepancies in the testing of public service vehicles between one county and another. I have evidence of a small transport vehicle that was given the okay in the county where a man bought it. However, when he brought it back to his own county, it failed. It cost him a considerable amount of money afterwards. The Department sh…

The Irish rugby team.

I would like the Deputy Leader to invite the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to the House to discuss the creation of offshore energy, particularly on the west coast. It seems the Government has decided to put on the back foot any developments in respect of the creation of offshore wind energy along the west coast in favour of the east coast. All of the generation is now going to be on the east coast. We are told that any energy created offshore on the east coast will be …

I condemn in the strongest possible way what happened in Northern Ireland last night. We have to condemn it at every available opportunity to us. I welcome the €1.2 billion cost-of-living package provided by the Government. I ask the Deputy Leader if we might organise a debate on the VAT rates in the House. I welcome the continuing 9% rate for the next number of months but inevitably, it is going to go back up to 13.5%. This will be a blow to small businesses when that occurs, particularly to small restaurants, bar…

I welcome the Minister to the House and I thank Senator Doherty for sharing her time with me. I love the Minister's thinking about freight and passenger rail. I concur with Senator Kyne on the western rail corridor. I thank the Minister for his commitment to that. He is one of the first Ministers who has really come out strongly in favour of the western rail corridor. At this point it would be no harm to remember the late Fr. Mícheál Mac Gréil, who passed away quite recently. He was one of the founders of the campa…

I raise the same issue Senator Kyne raised yesterday, namely, the vetting that has to be done for people taking up jobs in the HSE and teaching posts. Many of our young people travel all over the world for a number of years and, at some stage, many will come back and find work in Ireland. As a country, we are looking for a lot of people to work in the HSE, the health service, teaching and many other areas in the State. If one spends six months in any country outside of Ireland, one has to be vetted in each of those…

I support Senator Boyhan with regard to asking the Minister with responsibility for inland fisheries to come to the Chamber. I compliment Senator Kyne on the battle he has fought, going back to last May, in respect of IFI. I see a huge change in what is happening in IFI. I was nominated by IFI to stand for the Seanad on a number of occasions. It is very sad to see what is going on in our inland fisheries as it is a national resource. In the west we have five of the best fishing lakes the country, if not in Europe. …

I wish to be associated with the expression of sympathy to the family of the former Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreathnach. She was a very good Minister for Education and she attended this House on a regular basis during her time in the other House. I ask that we bring the Minister for Justice to the House to discuss the drone issue at Dublin Airport. It is unbelievable to think that this has inconvenienced 2,500 people at considerable expense. Some of them were returning from holidays with their families and so…

I congratulate the Minister of State as well and wish her well in her portfolio. This is very important legislation. We have seen over the years the hardship and so on that was visited at many doors in this country - not just in this country but right around the world - from the crash until now. The first two paragraphs of the explanatory memorandum set out quite clearly what the Bill purports to do: The principal purpose of the Bill is to confer powers on the Central Bank of Ireland to strengthen and enhance indiv…

I thank the Cathaoirleach. You learn something new every day. Today, we found out there are two Father Teds. Like Senator Cummins, I offer my commiserations to Senator Boyhan and my congratulations on letting his name go forward. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach and wish him, Conchobar and their families the very best of luck during his term as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann. This is an historic day, on a number of fronts. For one, Senator Buttimer is the first openly gay man to have been elected Cathaoirleach of …

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is important legislation to restore confidence in An Bord Pleanála. I remember when Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach, which is quite a few years ago - we have had a number of taoisigh since then - he brought forward legislation to fast-track the planning process for large projects. Since then, the whole system has actually slowed down, in every aspect. I have a few points to make in respect of the planning system. I appeal to the Minister of State to notify county manage…

It is a weakness in the case for such arrangements. I would be wary that it might put members under stress and lead to corruption or whatever else. The members of An Bord Pleanála are well paid, as Senator Boyhan said. At every meeting, the question should be asked as to whether members have a vested interest in the cases being dealt with. They should have to sign a declaration before every meeting stating they have no vested interest in the particular files being considered. There is a lot at stake here. People ca…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and congratulate him and the staff of the House for organising the magnificent celebration of 100 years of Seanad Éireann. I support Senator Seán Kyne in his calls for the board of Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, to step up to the plate, especially since it now has the backing of the Bradley report, to address the many issues he has raised this morning.

Senator Kyne and I have raised several issues over the last six months relating to Inland Fisheries Ireland. We have asked for the Minister to come into the House and for the Bradley report to be discussed here. We have not succeeded with any of it. If we do not have some action in the early part of the next session, we will have no choice but to bring forward a Private Members' motion about Inland Fisheries Ireland. I am certainly not happy about what is happening there. Our institutions are important to us, inclu…