There is some very positive news there. What is the timeframe? When does the Fáilte Ireland six months start? When is that kicking off? It is very good news. I understand the rent caps in rent pressure zones. That is brilliant. When can that be spread out to other places? A landlord in Ennistymon is increasing rent from €600 to €1,100 and has given the tenants two months' notice. It is not only an issue in rent pressure zones. Can the Minister clarify the last point he made? It sounds like we could make a case for …

If the algorithm of the RPZ is not changed, my area will not fit into the criteria.

When does the six month period start?

Yes, that is brilliant.

I am shocked to hear Senator Keogan say the only option is Sinn Féin. There are many colours to the political rainbow. The Senator also has very good Independent Members sitting behind her. I wanted to speak about the budget but, sadly, I was at an event on Sunday and I must talk about that instead. The quarter final of the senior hurling club championship took place. My parish team of Inagh-Kilnamona was playing Éire Óg, the Ennis town team. One of our best players, Jason McCarthy, was injured. We waited almost an…

I want to highlight an issue that comes to mind again and again. We all know there is a housing crisis and a housing emergency. We struggle in areas such as Clare as we look for water infrastructure so we can build housing estates in our towns and villages. We look at the cost of building houses, builders struggling to get materials and people struggling to find the money to build houses. I want to flag another issue yet again. Last night I did a bit of research. If I look for somewhere to live in Clare in mid-Octo…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus déanaim comhghairdeas léi as an obair dhian atá déanta aici ar an gcoimisiún seo. Well done to the Minister for fulfilling a programme for Government commitment to see this through with the completion of the report of the media commission. It is a very important document. Now more than ever, the way in which our media operate and how we support them are key, given the huge shift to everybody believing everything they read on Twitter and Facebook. Now more than ever, we need mainstre…

I welcome the Minister of State. I appreciate her taking the time to be here. I know she understands the importance of this issue. As Minister of State with responsibility for biodiversity, I am sure she is more aware than most about this issue. I thank Senator Martin for pushing this, as well as Senator McGreehan. It is great to see all the parties united on this because that is a rare thing. To me, the native Irish bee is like our language or like our hurleys - it is such an integral part of who we are as a natio…

I welcome this Bill and thank the Minister of State for his work on it. We need to look at some interesting facts and figures. According to Central Bank figures, at the end of 2020, the moneylending sector had more than 283,000 customers with €141 million in outstanding loans. Research shows that the customers of moneylenders are more likely to be women, to have dependent children and to be in their late 30s to early 50s. It is great the Minister of State said that when this legislation is enacted, borrowers of the…

I thank the Minister of State for his time today. Over many years many people in housing estates throughout the county have raised this and it does not seem to be unique to County Clare. We have private housing estates built by developers and construction companies that went bust. The housing estates have been left to their own devices. In particular I want to ask what is being done for housing estates such as Westcoast View, Annagh, County Clare. The people there have been waiting many years for the estate to be t…

I understand that it is not just the estate I mentioned. I note that the Minister has allocated just over €3.36 million for 26 estates across ten counties. I contend that there are probably 26 estates in County Clare that need assistance. I know that the Minister has been handed a legacy issue, but the water situation, between lead pipes, poor infrastructure and more, is appalling. Apart from being told that a study might be completed by the summer, which could mean June or September, I have nothing to tell the res…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I welcome his work on the Bill. It is great to see the legislation updated. It has been there since 2014. The Bill is very important. Of late, we have lots of experience of whistleblowers, what they can and cannot do, and how their lives are destroyed. Sergeant McCabe, of course, comes to mind, as well as others. I really welcome the Minister of State's work on the Bill. It is very important. We have seen how important protected disclosures legislation has been…

Sorry. I withdraw that.

I am just wondering how the law can support us in making sure that our companies when they go abroad have the same respect for human rights as other countries do. This is not Animal Farm . We are all equal. If people are to be paid properly in Ireland, they should be paid properly in other countries as well. We have to have proper standards in the workplace on pay, clean air etc. We have to take care of the workers no matter where they are in the world. This is outside the scope of the Bill, but I wish to put one c…

Yes. This links into it, if you will just let me finish, Acting Chairperson. Mary Lawlor is the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders. She highlighted to me the need to include human rights defenders as stakeholders in the EU directive. I think this Bill will help us strengthen the EU directive. As a country, since we have this strong improvement to the law around volunteers being protected, perhaps we could look at bringing that to EU level. I will probably work with our MEPs on this as well. This law wi…

Great minds think alike.

There is such a cocktail of things here it is hard to know which to choose. It is as though somebody had a lot of random thoughts about all things energy in Ireland and threw them down in a motion. I will go through a few of them. The motion states that to meet our demands for energy and the targets set out in the carbon budgets, Ireland needs to generate more electricity while also reducing carbon emissions. That is right. That leaves no room for debate, as nobody is saying otherwise. It states that while the Clim…

Most houses have immersions since the 1970s or 1980s so it paints a funny picture of midlands residents sitting around with turf as the only way of heating their homes. I do not believe it is 20% and, if it is, we need to find solutions because, unfortunately, we cannot continue burning turf forever. Those plants were closed down not by the Government but by Bord na Móna. It chose to shut down those plants-----

Based on EU planning laws, it chose to shut them down. If we are to have a debate on energy, climate and fuels, which are important, let us look at solutions. We need to move away from burning turf in the long term. We are not against people cutting turf. I will be cutting turf this summer and next summer because I know the Green Party never said one could not do so. Let us talk truth and facts and have a proper debate in this House. I am sick of the twisting and the populist notion that the Greens want to ruin rur…

There are no more contributions. Sorry, Senator Mullen.