Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

I also welcome the community first responders. I compliment my colleagues who have worked to keep this Bill alive and see it through to its fruition. It would have been detrimental if the Bill ended when our former colleague, Dr. Keith Swanick, decided not to run for election the last time. Senator Wilson mentioned the contribution of Cathal Joyce in the AV room. I was at that game in Cusack Park on the day his life was saved. I am actively involved in Westmeath GAA. We have a lot of issues with vandalism in Cusack…

I move: That Seanad Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine entitled 'Issues impacting the Forestry Sector in Ireland', copies of which were laid before Seanad Éireann on 2nd March, 2021. I welcome the Minister of State and Deputy Cahill to the House. As a Fianna Fáil member of the agricultural panel, I am glad that Deputy Cahill is only passing through here today. It is a House that I never want to see him in unless - and I say this genuinely as a good friend and …

I welcome the Bill. While the amendments may be well intentioned, I do not think it is fair to portray farmers as recklessly starting to plant trees on the areas mentioned within the amendments. There are other ways of policing this through, for instance, area aid payments or schemes that will probably be forthcoming based on the passing of this Bill. That will police this. A person will lose the payment if he or she plants on a sensitive area, a protected area or in an area that is not environmentally friendly for…

I lend my voice to the assertion that this is a unique and unprecedented situation. The State is closing down and making illegal an area of farming. We only have three farms in the country, all of which are rurally based. I met the people involved. One individual said that if his employees are not compensated properly and sufficiently and do not stay in that area, it will mean the loss of the teacher in the local school. That is how much of an impact this is going to have on rural areas. I sat across the table from…

We are debating over and back. We will not complete Committee Stage tonight and it will need to be resumed on another date. We will then have Report Stage. The three people we are discussing do not even have a date. Can we give them an indication? Once this legislation passes, the current practice of fur farming will become illegal. Once the legislation passes, they will be performing an illegal act and only when the legislation passes will the negotiations for compensation for the employers and the people in quest…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House to discuss the Animal Health and Welfare and Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021. Like Senator Boyhan, I also had a communication from Councillor Moriarty. I welcome her endeavours to contact all Senators on behalf of her constituents, one of whom is one of the three farmers ultimately affected by this legislation. It is agreed across all political parties and by those who are members of none that the day has come for the prohibition of fur farming. There is no…

I wish to be associated with the remarks of colleagues on the sad passing of former Deputy, Noel Treacy. Prior to entering politics, Noel was an auctioneer and sold many a sheep. My father and uncle were two of his better customers, so I knew him for a long time outside politics. The Cathaoirleach rightly said, among Noel's many gifts and talents, his ability to remember faces and names was unbelievable. I was introduced to him by my father on one occasion in what was a very brief encounter. When I met him several …

I second Senator Martin’s proposed amendment to the Order of Business and compliment him on the fantastic Bill he is putting forward, which I have read. It is a vitally important Bill for all sporting events. Since the inception of pay-per-view television, the main source of income of many sporting organisations has been the sale of their media rights. Something needs to be done to eliminate the practice of people illegally broadcasting those rights. It is giving some people an unfair advantage in gambling, which i…

I move: That Seanad Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2021, copies of which were laid in draft form before Seanad Éireann on 20th October, 2021.”

I am delighted to support the motion to extend the upper ceiling for the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. I welcome the Minister and his contribution. Four minutes is a short time to speak so I will not rehash the figures and the investment into the fund, and the great role that it plays in rural Ireland. Most, if not all, horse and greyhound trainers are based in rural areas. Having a horse or greyhound trainer can cause significant activity in the area's economy, due to requirements for food, transport, staff, an…

I wish to share time with Senator McGreehan.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Taoiseach. There will be no element of surprise; I will be boringly predictable in mentioning agriculture. When I have to condense all that goes therewith into two minutes, I think the buck stops with forestry at the moment. When we talk about climate action and climate change our land mass provides our only way to capture, store and sequester carbon. While there is no silver bullet, the nearest thing we have to a silver bullet is forestry. I do not use this term lightly, but the forestry sec…

I wish to be associated with Senator Boyhan's remarks in complimenting and thanking the staff for facilitating the debate last night. However, I cannot let the occasion go, in commenting on his remarks as to why the debate went on for so long and what happened, to say I am blue in the face listening to arguments here about Bills being cut short and guillotines. On the one occasion on which we did allow seven hours to tease out legislation, I do not like hearing back that it should not have happened, and I wish to p…

I welcome the Minister of State for this debate on forestry. It is an ongoing debate, and has been both prior to and since she assumed the position as Minister of State with responsibility. That led to the Minister of State's predecessor, the former Minister of State, Andrew Doyle, commissioning the Mackinnon report, which the Minister of State mentioned and a copy of which I have before me. When a Department or a Minister of State commissions a report and when it hits the public domain, the stakeholders involved a…

On my behalf and that of the Fianna Fáil group, I wish to be associated with the Cathaoirleach and the Deputy Leader in sending our condolences to our colleague, Senator Currie, on the sad passing of her father, Austin. As the Cathaoirleach rightly said, his decision to squat a house in Caledon, County Tyrone in 1968 was widely seen and historically recorded as the beginning of the civil rights movement. He was one of the co-founders of the SDLP and, in political terms, successfully traversed the Border by later be…

I move: "That Second Stage be taken today."

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank him and his officials, as well as the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in her absence, for the swiftness with which the Bill has been brought to the Houses. As a person who lobbied on this issue for some time and was notified well in advance of the potential cliff edge many people were facing on 30 November, I warmly welcome the move being made here this evening. Although it is just a short amending Bill, I take on board and welcome the fact that there is a commitment …

Next Thursday.

At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.