The Minister of State, Deputy English, is very welcome to the Chamber. He has ten minutes in which to make his opening remarks.

I thank the Minister of State very much. We will now hear from the group spokespersons. Senator Ahearn will speak first for Fine Gael.

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

When is it proposed to sit again?

Deputy Bacik is welcome; it is good to see her. I wish to raise the issue of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal, IPAT. It is welcome that we have waived visas for those coming from Ukraine. The regularisation of long-term undocumented migrants scheme is also welcome and is part of the programme for Government. However, we must be careful that as we open back up, all the cases that were heard online go back to being heard in person. People should at least be offered the option of in-person hearings. Most …

I welcome the Minister of State. Public banking is core to Green Party policy. The Minister of State has shown a commitment to looking at this. Credit unions are central to public banking. The reason public banking is key for us is not just because of the co-operative model. As others have said, it is also because of what it brings to a community. People feel that they have a stake in it and that it is their bank. This is what makes the difference. People trust it. We have all had credit union accounts. It meant so…

The Minister of State is very welcome. I thank the Senators for their motion. It is very welcome and one I support. It is important to say that much work has been done by this Government that people probably do not know about. Housing problems are everywhere and they are multiple. Each individual person has a different housing need. That is certainly the experience I have had going from door to door and in the work I have been doing. We have the owner-occupier guarantee whereby local authorities can designate up to…

I second the amendment to the Order of Business from Senator Chambers to take No. 22 before No. 1.

As one of the two parties against the abolition of the Seanad, I am more than happy for Senator McDowell to bring up the matter of Seanad reform every day. I will certainly support him on it. We will do all that we can to make Seanad reform happen. I welcome the Estonian ambassador to the Chamber. This should be a day of celebration for the people of Estonia, and it is, but I am very conscious the entire region is living in fear. We have already seen Lithuania looking to call a national state of emergency. What is …

I welcome the families here today. This is one of a long number of traumas that they have faced. They should not have to be here today. That is the reality of it. I grew up in Raheny and I was seven years old that night and I remember it very well. However, no one has the experience that any of the families have in relation to the events of that day. I was listening to the debate in my office and I heard some of the Senators say it is shocking that we are still here 41 years later. Actually, we are only starting a …

I welcome the Minister. This Bill is well overdue and we can all acknowledge that. It is also one of the most comprehensive legislative measures in the world when it comes to dealing with social media. Too often we come into the Seanad Chamber and say that the law is not in the same place as people are. This Bill acts as a vanguard when it comes to online safety for children and, indeed, all of us. We said the same thing when it came to the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act and now we have l…

Next Tuesday.

The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is very welcome. As he knows, it was some time in the middle of last year when we considered Second Stage. I felt the legislation should have progressed by this stage so I hope the Minister of State will assure us today that everything in our Bill will be implemented in the Government’s own regulations. I look forward to his comments on that. Thanks to the Cathaoirleach, we had Ms Mary Robinson in with us yesterday. It seems like a week ago at this stage.

She spoke very inspiringly about the need to use this Chamber to deal with the issues of the day. As she sees it, the number one issue is the climate crisis. We can use this Chamber on a cross-party basis to highlight the things we can all do in our lives to implement the changes required. Ms Robinson, like many of us, identified that the messages are not necessarily trickling down to every place where they are needed. While we have passed a climate Act, how much do people in our community feel that they can really…

Nobody is suggesting not going through proper environmental measures, but this all comes down to when does one start the process. We were under the impression that this was going to start much earlier. To be fair to us, there must be a recognition of that. We have given a lot of time to the Department in order to make this progress. An SEA is not an extremely arduous thing to do. We are not talking about measures that might require an integrated energy plan, for example. That is not the level of environmental scrut…

That is even better. There is an AA for two weeks and then there is a four-week period after that. Is that correct?

I am sorry, a Chathaoirligh, for having this little chat.

Does the Minister of State have a time for when that report will come back?

I wish to make a brief comment. I thank the Minister of State for the information he has given us today. I believe the issue of glint and glare was raised on Second Stage, so it is not a new thing since then. In any case, it is very good news today and we appreciate it. We look forward to progress within the next couple of months.