The new Electoral Commission was set up to look after both the Dáil and Seanad elections, constituencies and the electoral register. I call for a debate on how the electoral register is commissioned and maintained and what changes the new Electoral Commission has made or is making. I ask because I have not seen any great changes to the electoral register. Some people are not on it while other people are listed a number of times and, therefore, we need a debate. This House is an ideal one in which to have the debate…

I wish to raise an issue relating to tracker mortgages. We had a big debacle in recent years with regard to tracker mortgages and how unfairly people on tracker mortgages were treated by the banks. In all, more than 40,000 people were badly treated by banks over a number of years in the context of tracker mortgages. Some time ago, a number of borrowers brought a case against Ulster Bank. The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman made an independent decision in respect of those tracker mortgages. Two borrowers b…

Having listened to Senator McDowell, he is suggesting we are creating a legal quagmire in this Bill for generations to come. Yesterday, it also transpired this measure would be applied retrospectively to every business as well. I did not think we could have legislation with a retrospective impact. It was pointed out yesterday, however, that this measure could be retrospectively applied to people who gave false information and that other people could be held accountable now through retrospective legislation. I would…

It seems that the Planning Regulator has a huge role in these plans. When one takes the regional assemblies into account and the plans they bring forward in the making of their own regional and economic strategies, it seems to me from my reading of this Bill, which is quite complex and complicated, that the Planning Regulator feeds into the regional assembly and that is what then feeds down into county development plans, and shapes them and what one can do at local authority level. It is proposed to allow a county …

I agree with Senator Dooley on the issue he raised. I fully support him on it. I join with the expressions of sympathy regarding our former colleague, John O'Mahony, who died last week. I express my sympathies to his wife, Gerardine, and their family. I am sure we will have an opportunity to express those sympathies at a later date. I will raise the issue of artificial intelligence and new technologies. We should have a rolling debate in the House regarding how this will affect our country, including the displaceme…

I listened to the number of points made by Senator McDowell. He made some great points about the legislation. As a group of Senators, we met the regulator on one occasion. The regulator told us there is absolutely nothing that councillors cannot put into a county development plan. They can do everything. I would like clarity on that point. Councillors tell us they can do nothing and can put nothing into development plans because the managers will take it out. They cannot go against the advice of the manager or the …

Two sections, sections 7 and 8, deal with short-term lets. What is different in section 7 regarding short-term lets? Is it just because they are in the rent pressure zone area-----

We are dealing with section 7 and short-term lets as they relate to rent pressure zones, which are included in section 7.

Section 7(d) deals with short-term lets. It references "short-term letting (within the meaning of section 8 )" and rent pressure zones. Is it just short-term lets in rent pressure zone areas that section 7 deals with? Are such lets dealt with differently under this section than in section 8 or will section 7 deal with them in the same way?

Short-term lets are a result of the changes brought about by the Internet, such as people being able to do business online. They have been brilliant for tourism areas and I am sure some of those areas are in rent pressure zones. We have been lobbied by people who let their properties short term to supplement their wages and pay for children to go to third level education. It is a way of making some extra money. The changes were made, these houses may not be rented out on long-term leases. I worry about the provisio…

I agree with the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. Will the Leader ask Iarnród Éireann to clarify the position regarding the restoration of in-carriage services for light food and beverages?

It has said it will be restored to InterCity services but that does not clarify the position for other routes such as that from Heuston Station to Westport and Ballina. I congratulate Iarnród Éireann on the service it is running at the moment. We have six services from Mayo to Dublin on a daily basis. They are on time even though the time it takes now is nearly the same or maybe 20 minutes less than it took 100 years ago, but Iarnród Éireann is doing its best due to the single track for half the journey. However, o…

On trustees of a charity, is it the Charities Regulator that will decide if there are breaches relating to a trustee? Who oversees cases where a trustee might have to step aside or vacate their responsibilities as a trustee?

Now.

Now.

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy O’Brien, on bringing this Bill through the House. It is a very important Bill from the perspective of charities. It gives power to the regulator to oversee that charitable organisations are run on an efficient and above-board basis. Over the years, we saw many charities which had fundraising with church-gate collections. Now we see less and less of that because there are fewer mass times and fewer people going to work. When you had collections at church gates or whatever…

I congratulate Senator Malcolm Byrne on bringing forward this Bill. I join him in thanking the Minister for accepting it. This is important legislation that is about to be passed by the House. The Senator stated that peaceful demonstration is a vital part of our democracy. That is quite true. We have to allow people to demonstrate and to protest in a peaceful manner but what we have seen over the past number of years outside high-profile public representatives' private houses where their families are inside, is not…

I welcome the Minister back to the House. I also welcome this very important legislation. As the Minister indicated, it will be important going forward because it is a foundation stone in the context of pay-related benefit. She said it all when she said that it will establish the principle of pay-related benefit in this country. As she also stated, this can lead developments in areas such as maternity benefit and many more. There could probably be paternity benefits as well as other benefits that are not being paid…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to the House. I raise this issue in regard to the provision of respite beds at the Sacred Heart Hospital, Castlebar. As the Minister of State will know, the Sacred Heart Hospital, Castlebar, was renovated in the past ten years. St. Joseph's ward, where the respite beds are, was renovated during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a respite bed and a rehabilitation bed in St. Joseph's ward. Prior to Covid-19, there were two respite beds at the Sacred Heart Hospital in St. …

It is all related.