I want to use my time in the Seanad today to perform a global call-out to the tradespeople of Ireland we lost through emigration over the past couple of decades. I would like the entire House to support me with this and I ask the Senators to reach out to their contacts in other countries about it. In particular, we lost many good people to Canada, Australia and England. As a Government we have committed €4 billion per year to build social and affordable houses and we will not be able to do that without tradespeople…

We are all aware of the situation the Minister of State was handed when she took office. I congratulate the Minister of State on her great work since then. There are many broken issues and she has dealt with them with great stealth and passion, for which I thank her. Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People is a national programme which is changing the way services are provided, which is a positive outcome. As I am from Clare, I wish to highlight the figures released in February which state tha…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit anseo. “Sláinte agus saol agat; talamh gan cíos agat” was every Irish person's dream long ago. Tógadh an talamh uainn agus bhí orainn troid chun é a fháil ar ais agus é a roinnt idir na clanna ar fad. We had big challenges to get our land back and then it was divided. Land is a hot potato as we all know very well and it is very important that we make this intervention. It is a good intervention by Government. It is an example of politicians listening to people, organisations and fa…

I will talk about the Coast Guard situation in Clare. It is not just an issue in Clare. The only reason we have a Coast Guard in Ireland is the volunteers. The management would not be able to carry out the Coast Guard functions, of which there are many, by itself. I thank all the volunteers in the Irish Coast Guard for all the work they do, for free, off their own bat. They put themselves at risk which affects their families, in order to protect all of us in this beautiful, large coastal island of ours. We have to …

It is great to see Fine Gael bringing this motion forward. I was involved in the programme for Government negotiations and I know that the Green Party fought hard for a major investment in public transport. For the first time in history, more money is going to be spent on public transport than ever before. I will claim that partly for the Green Party. We have been raising the issue of rural transport for many years, so it is great to see Fine Gael coming to the table with this motion. Public transport means so much…

The MEPs are amazing being MEPs, as being a Senator is mind-blowing. I do not know how they do it for the whole of Europe. I do it for County Clare and the country, but hats off to them. I hope people appreciate that it is not that easy. The meeting happening in Scotland this week is the single most important meeting that has ever happened on this planet and that will ever happen on this planet. I want to talk about farmers in Ireland in regard to climate because I have deep concerns. We all know a massive percenta…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. He has a busy week ahead of him. I thank the Minister for the work he has done to date. For the past 30 years, he has been one of the few people talking about energy conservation and the need for the country to become sustainable and independent energy-wise. Were it not for the Green Party, we would be trying to figure all of this out. It is great to see all the parties now echoing what the Green Party has been saying for 30 years about becoming energy self-sufficient. The Minister's go…

I thank Senators for their contributions and invite the Minister to respond.

I thank the Minister for his time. I thank all the speakers for their contributions. I wish the Minister the best of luck with his onerous task in Scotland over the next couple of weeks. He has a lot of weight on his shoulders, as have our other leaders. Go n-éirí leat leis sin. When is it proposed to sit again?

I move: “That Seanad Éireann: acknowledges that: -floods are an inevitable part of life in Ireland but the frequency and intensity of flooding has greatly changed both now and into the future, as Met Éireann can confirm, because the type and intensity of our rain and our weather has changed and our flood management needs to adapt also; -floods are usually caused by a combination of events including: - heavy rains; - overflowing rivers; - broken dams; - coastal storms and storm surges; - a lack of vegetation; - bloc…

This was a very good debate, which does not always happen. Sometimes debates are very polarised but this was a good one. It was great to have all parties on both sides of the House, and Independents, all supporting the motion without any amendments. I thank the Minister of State for his time. We have been here for a couple of hours now and he has listened with great patience. Rivers have routes and so must our plans for dealing with flooding. The Minister of State has done well to state in a nutshell what needs to …

It is a tricky issue. As a child, I was reared while going to the bog, footing turf and having great craic in the bog every year. It is what we all did in rural Ireland. The only thing I ever regarded as having to do with re-wetting bogs was when the turf did not get home in time and the sods got wet again. That was some years ago now. We are where we are, however, and it is a very different time and place. It is horrendous that food growers are struggling to grow food in this country because of the situation we ar…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. Doing a national budget is very difficult, especially coming out of a Covid pandemic. Despite all we have been through, I feel positive and hopeful about this budget. That is what people need to hear at this time. Is maith an t-iománaí an fear ar an gclaí. The hurler on the ditch has the easy job but we were busy playing senior hurling when we were working very hard on this budget. I commend everyone involved, including civil servants, NGOs that made submissions, v…

I am the Green Party spokesperson on enterprise, trade and employment. We did much work on submissions around helping the SME sector go green because that is the way we must now move forward. There will be €10 million in the climate transition fund to help businesses to decarbonise. I made a submission to the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on this. It was good to see we can work together in coalition. There was also €5 million for regional enterprise development fund to help encourage sm…

Céad míle fáilte roimh an Aire. Gabhaim buíochas léi as teacht isteach. Tá sár-jab á déanamh aici agus is iontach an rud é go bhfuil sí anseo linn arís inniu.

Go raibh maith agat, a Sheanadóir. Anois, cúpla focal ó Sheanadóir Marie Sherlock, le do thoil.

Go raibh maith agat. Anois, an Sheadadóir Seán Kyne, le do thoil. He has six minutes, and I will give him a warning after five so that he does not go over.

Senator Higgins is next. The Senator just came in there and I caught her in the corner of my eye.

Speak to the Bill if you do not mind ,Senator.

I thank Senator Boyhan for his work on this Bill. It seems like the work was done before and, sometimes, we must resurrect Bills. I am working on a Bill that was brought through back in 2008. If we can get this Bill through in nine months' time we will be doing great. I support the Bill but I support the amendment too. A will is a legal document. We often pass Bills about things that are not legal documents so one thing we must make sure of is to get this right. We all know wills can make or break families. In some…