Hear, hear.

I welcome the Minister of State and compliment my Fine Gael colleagues on the motion. We are obviously supporting it. I live in a place called Kilbeggan and you cannot get any more central in the country than there. Yet, having said that, traffic permitting and without breaking the speed limit, I can be on the west coast or the east coast in an hour and 15 minutes maximum. If you were that close to a coast in many other countries, you would say you lived on the coast. I can never figure out why we do not eat more f…

I move: That Seanad Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2025, copies of which were laid in draft form before Seanad Éireann on 16th October, 2025.

I welcome the Minister. It seems a little bit repetitive because the agriculture committee meeting was only yesterday evening and we are dealing with the same topic, so it seems like we are repeating ourselves, but when something is important enough to say, it is important enough to say it more than once. I welcome the fund. As I stated yesterday evening and even though most people know, it would be remiss of me not to put on the record that I am a former chairperson of a rural track at Kilbeggan. I am a current di…

You won because we agreed with you.

It is not a point of order.

As I was not here yesterday, I add my voice to the condolences and voices of comfort to the five families who were bereaved at the weekend. Along with four members with my family, I travelled to a football game in Mullingar on the N52 in a Volkswagen Golf on Sunday. To say it was a poignant trip would be an understatement because we had heard the news of the same type of car. I wish my remarks to be associated with all the remarks that were passed in the House yesterday. Based on Senator Keogan's last contribution,…

I welcome the Ministers of State. While it is not unprecedented to have two here, it is very unusual. There is a reason I asked for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to be here when I requested a debate on farm safety and farmer health and well-being. There is a little anomaly. I have been here since 2016 and, back in the day, we used to have debates on farm safety awareness during Farm Safety Week. However, in recent years, Farm Safety Week has fallen during our recess so we have not been afforded the opportun…

I, too, would like to welcome Anne, Amy and the family members. I make special mention of Tracy. I also came in here in 2016, a little wet behind the ears, for the term of the famous confidence-and-supply Government. Our colleagues in the Dáil were pushing the abstain button. We did not have such a thing here, so we actually had a bit of craic, for want of a better word. We managed to get things like Good Friday drinking legislation through. We were on the other side of the House and Billy was here. The odd time th…

We had statements on higher education yesterday evening. We have a lot of debate here. The franchise for the presidential election and allowing people in Northern Ireland to vote was mentioned this morning. We have heard a lot of talk of the shared island and unity polls down the line. What went somewhat under the radar, even during yesterday evening's discussions, was the announcement by the Irish and Northern Irish Governments of a joint, North-South, all-Ireland apprenticeship programme for the first time. When …

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I apologise that I missed his opening statement as I had to attend another meeting. Most of the points I wanted to raise have been mentioned by other speakers. It goes to show there is a common theme and the Minister is very much aware at this stage of the key focus for people. It is hard to believe the Ministry is a mere five years old. When we consider the concerns and issues raised by colleagues and the size of the Minister's workload, on which I compliment him, it is hard to believe…

I do not know how good a timekeeper Shackleton was because clearly it is not a Kildare trait.

The Taoiseach will not be surprised if I raise the issue of agriculture with him. He knows its importance and I compliment him. There are a number of issues coming down the track to us in agriculture, such as the CAP negotiations, the Mercosur deal, etc. in which the Taoiseach and the Minister will play a big role, in the back end of next year during our Presidency. There is, however, the big issue of the nitrates derogation. We have had this conversation so the Taoiseach knows it is the big issue. I thank the Taoi…

On my way here this morning, I heard an interview on "Morning Ireland" with a lady called Ann Woodlock, who is an 86-year-old who won a gold medal for Ireland in the European Masters Athletics Championships in Madeira at the weekend. It was a breath of fresh air and I take this opportunity to congratulate her. It was such a refreshing interview. It got me thinking about the fact that it was in the same news cycle as the news over the last couple of days about Shane Ryan, our Olympic swimmer, having signed up to the…

I second the motion. I thank our leader, Senator O'Loughlin, and everybody involved in putting the motion together. On 26 February 2022, my father died, four days after the outbreak of the current part of this war because that was not the start of this war, as we have to acknowledge. It has been a lifetime for me since that personal loss on 26 February 2022. I can only imagine what it has been like for the people who suffer attack every day and every night, and have also lost loved ones. It is an eternity. It is no…

I want to raise awareness among the greater public of the issue of avian flu. There has been a confirmed case in a commercial flock in Northern Ireland. Imagine going to bed last night as someone who rears turkeys commercially and has just one major pay day in the year. You would be living on tenterhooks. It is important that we raise awareness among the public. Someone who has a backyard flock of a few hens needs to be aware of this. If one of them gets sick and dies, they need to be honest and go to the correct a…

Before the recess I raised the issue of farm safety here because again this year Farm Safety Week fell during our recess. It ran from July 21 to 25, while we were in recess. Had we been sitting, we would have had the Minister in for statements that week. By virtue of the fact we missed out on that, I am raising the issue again today. The catalyst for raising it today is twofold. First, it is in reference to an open letter which the Minister has issued to all farmers to create awareness of safety on their farms. It …

I thank the Minister for being here today. I thank the Fine Gael Senators for tabling this Private Members' motion and giving us the opportunity to discuss the matters in hand with the Minister before the important meeting he is just about to attend. Coming in after Senators Murphy, Brady and Boyhan, there is not a lot left to say. I will briefly go through the motion. I have a small comment to make on each individual area, in no particular order. Succession and generational renewal are big issues. I welcome the co…

Senator Kelleher made me think with his comment about his son. I am also an Arsenal fan and I was also wondering if Saka is fit for the weekend, and then it made me think how can I be wondering or worrying about something so unimportant in the big picture of what is going on in Gaza. Senator Kelleher put it very well. Not as a Senator or as a public representative but as a human being, I have been horrified since the attack on 7 October by Hamas, which I condemned, but two wrongs do not make a right. Hamas was wron…

I attended the National Ploughing Championships last week, which were a fantastic success. I congratulate the National Ploughing Association on the fantastic annual event it holds, in particular its well-known managing director Anna May McHugh. With the season that is in it as we approach a presidential election, one could nearly say Anna May is the best president we never had. The success last week was a testament to that great organisation. When you attend that event in the role I have as spokesperson for agricul…