I thank the Minister of State for his response. He stated we were reaching the targets, yet I have evidence to show that, in the case of a woman who had an initial test in November and was told in December that she had abnormalities, it was not until last week, five months later and following my intervention, that she found out she will be okay. Despite what the Minister of State is being told, we are not meeting the targets. There is no problem with getting the initial cervical smear done, thanks to brilliant Cerv…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. First, I welcome Senator Clonan to the House. I congratulate his family and friends because behind every politician who is successful in an election, there is a great team of tired and enthusiastic people who sometimes have more faith in you than you have in yourself. Well done to his house and to the team behind him. I have some experience of working with modal shift and behavioural change in infrastructure around people with disabilities, having worked with schools for 14 …

I wish to share time with Senator Pauline O'Reilly.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. We have been talking about climate change for a long time but we now see from the IPCC report that the time for talk is over and we need action. Unfortunately, the Green Party has not been listened to for the last 30 years. Luckily, we are in government now and we have worked very hard on this climate action plan and this climate budget and, for the first time ever, we will see sectoral targets. I am spokesperson for enterprise, trade and employment and rural d…

I congratulate the Minister on today’s announcement of the pilot project for musicians and artists because music is a huge part of tourism in County Clare. First, I will cite the definition of sustainable tourism: "Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.” I know that the following is before the Minister's time but, and I mean no offence to Fáilte Ireland, it has not al…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I know it is not exactly his role, but I suppose he is here to bring the message back. I will not attack him personally. The recently-broadcast television programme highlighting the lack of transparency in local authorities was shocking. It must be frustrating for the people of Ireland, whose only say in local authorities is voting for their local county councillor, because there is this other tier in the council, removed from the public representatives, that has been pu…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is great that he acknowledged the Local Government Audit Service but, first, who knew that was even there and, second, who has time to check it up? We do not want to create a way of keeping an eye on the local authority. It is not like that. What we need is for people to have trust in the local authority in order that they do not have to find the time to check the auditing services to see what they are up to. For me, what is important is that we know what local aut…

I thank the Minister of State for his time. He was in the hot seat today. He is great and is always coming to the Seanad. Fair play to him. We really appreciate that because it can be hard to get Ministers to spare the time to come here.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank him for coming to the Seanad. I welcome this Bill. Its main purpose is to raise standards in the construction industry, which is badly needed. There has been a legacy from cowboys, as Father Ted would say, with lots of people having got away with low standards. This is an important Bill to undo that. Having a proper register is welcomed by all the builders and building suppliers I know. They are the ones doing a good job. They have often been left to deal with the mess tha…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. It is definitely not an easy time for farmers in Ireland. The war has just highlighted the huge issue that has been there for a long time. We cannot blame the Ukrainian war for our overdependence on a monoculture of dairy or beef and nothing else, because that is what has happened. We have been siloing farmers into one of two options and we see very little food grown. We must distinguish between food for people and feed for cattle. We must also distinguish between food security and feed…

We know this for a fact. I know this from being involved in Genetic Concern and Nestlé campaigns. We know for a fact the powdered milk we are selling is unfortunately being pushed into developing countries with poor water quality. The companies know that. They are using poor-quality water to mix formula to get women away from free breastfeeding in order to make money out of it. There are huge issues there and we could talk about them all day. Let us be realistic and have a proper, intelligent debate if we are going…

Amendment No. 11 has been ruled out of order.

On a point of information, amendment No. 11 would amend the Bill so that the section is irrelevant to the "native tree area" grant and would be a temporary scheme only. The Bill, as read a second time, is for the purposes of establishing a permanent fund.

The amendment must be ruled out of order in accordance with Standing Order 154.

I wish to point out that it was ruled out of order in accordance with Standing Order 154.

On a point of information, we are just discussing the native Irish pine.

Yes, but not anything else. Let us stick to that. The Senator has mentioned hawthorn and yew.

It is literally just the native Irish pine. The Senator has not mentioned hawthorn or yew in the amendment. Let us stick to the amendment, please.

Fair play to the people of the Burren for keeping the native pine going. As a Clarewoman, I am very proud.

Amendment No. 13 has been ruled out of order as it is in conflict with the principle of the Bill as read a Second Time.