Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Seachtain na Gaeilge atá ann mar sin tá mé chun an Ghaeilge a úsáid i dtús báire. Tá sé an-tábhachtach go bhfuil an t-ábhar seo á phlé againn. It is hard to do everything that everybody wants in every way. Some people want the whole country opened up and some people want it closed down. It is a difficult time that we are in and everybody thinks he or she is right. I appreciate the fact that we are taking our advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Sometimes, …

I welcome the Minister. It is good to see her here again. I support the Bill. It will simply permit the identification of people convicted of the homicide of children. Currently, perpetrators can hide behind the child's privacy rights to conceal their identities. The Bill will amend section 252 of the 2001 Act. It will also allow for the identification of people convicted of some other crimes against children where the public interest justifies it. The Minister has brought a very important legislative measure to th…

I welcome a recent announcement made of a new bus route in west Clare down along the Shannon Estuary which will go through Labasheeda, Kildysart, Ballynacally and other beautiful places that people rarely even hear about. It is a whole new opening for that part of the county. There was much consultation about rural transport and Local Link up to last March with local authorities, local community groups and individuals. To that end, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, listened and took action. As a result…

I welcome the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to the Chamber for statements on Covid-19 and transport matters.

I call Senator John McGahon, who is sharing time with Senator John Cummins.

Ar mhaith leis an Teachta Ó Donnghaile labhairt le haghaidh cúig nóiméad agus nóiméad amháin a fhágáil tar éis?

It is great to hear all of the positive stories from Members. It is a rare thing and it is great that we are all on the same hymn sheet in recognising the important work that is being done by the Department and the Minister and in overall agreement on looking again at how we share spaces and design for people and not just for cars. It is great to hear this unified voice in the House. I thank the Minister for all of the funding that has been provided for rural transport. It is absolutely transformative for people in…

I welcome the Minister of State. This is a very rough time for her to be landed with the aviation brief, if she will excuse the pun. I do not envy her at this time. No-one saw what was coming down the tracks or the runway as the case may be. We are where we are and I believe that both the Minister and Minister of State have done their utmost to deal with this unforeseen situation. I could not call myself a Clare woman without mentioning Shannon Airport and how important it is to the whole region. It is the nucleus …

I welcome today's announcement by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, of the funding he is giving to regional and local roads projects. We sometimes get grief for being Dublin-centric but I certainly am not, and the Minister can stand up and say that he is not either, having given more than any other Minister to local infrastructure and roads, and to funding for walking and cycling. Today's announcement is very important, not just because it is badly needed, but because, due to climate change, the engineers themselves…

It is nice to see Senator McGreehan in the Chair. I welcome the Minister of State. I thank Senator Currie. This is indeed a fantastic piece of work. To alleviate some of the Senator's concerns, the Government has been working hard on this issue to ensure it is done properly and fairly for workers. As Green Party spokesperson on enterprise, trade and employment, since we have been in government, we have made submissions on many things to which the Senator has referred. To clarify, nobody is saying anything about sto…

I wish everybody a happy spring and a happy St. Brigid's Day. I will speak on springing into action in respect of two recent announcements by the Minister for Transport. He announced €50 million for rural infrastructure for walking and cycling and he also announced 248 new jobs in that sector. Following on from Senator Blaney's remarks, this is not just an environmental or climate change issue. This is a mental and physical health issue. We have a significant issue at present in that a quarter of our nine-year-olds…

It is very auspicious to have a strong, capable woman in the House on St. Brigid's Day. I thank the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, for attending. I commend the Department because nobody foresaw the pandemic. It has been a mad year. The staff of the Department have done amazing work. I am aware from sitting on the Oireachtas committee that staff have put in an unprecedented number of hours to get all the payments processed. Bureaucracy can often cause delays but when the emergency came, staff put their shoulder to the …

I welcome everybody back. There are not many of us. With all the goings-on and things not working out right, I want to draw attention to something positive coming out of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Finally, the Government will have the microgeneration payment coming back again. Many years ago, quite a few people took up the whole idea of solar power and making electricity themselves, which they could sell back to the grid. Unfortunately, a couple of governments ago that was stoppe…

Not only do we need to pay councillors properly but we also need to look at the lack of power given to local authorities over the years. We have reduced the money and power they get and, as a result, the job of councillors, who receive this low wage, is even harder. They do not have money to fix water infrastructure or to fix houses. That has all been centralised. As we discuss the Appropriation Bill, I would like us to look at that issue and to rethink how we allocate power and money to local government in additio…

Did the Minister mention an amendment to section 11(3)( b ) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, concerning public meetings?

I am not sure when I will get to speak. My notes say we are dealing with section 11, but it is actually section 4.

Táimid ar ais arís inniu ag caint mar gheall ar uisce. I was just thinking that a person would not put dirty petrol or diesel into his or her car yet we have a huge issue of water quality in this country. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, carried out a big survey and tested much of the waters in Ireland. Some of its finding are horrific. I will throw out a couple of figures because I like a few statistics to back up any issues I bring to the House. It tested all the rivers in Ireland between 2013 and 2019. …

Táim ag iarraidh labhairt inniu mar gheall ar áiseanna a d'fhógair an tAire Iompar, Teachta Eamon Ryan, inné. It is a positive news story as we edge towards Christmas. There are to be 120 new jobs created in Bus Éireann. For the first time in 15 years, we see absolutely proper, clear, well-thought-out planning and investment in rural transport. We are to have Bus Éireann services where there have been none for several years, or perhaps one bus per week, all around rural Ireland. In my constituency, if a passenger c…

This is an important debate. There is nobody who suffers from hearing issues in the Houses of the Oireachtas. Somebody has to be their voice. I thank the Cathaoirleach for the work he has done over the years, and the Minister of State for putting all of the support behind the hard work that has been done. It is important that we thank the working group. Politicians are great at talking but we are not experts in different areas. We heard from experts. I refer to the working group. I want to acknowledge the work of t…

I second the motion. It is 2020. It is no longer good enough to have periods, tampons and active sex lives as taboo subjects in this country. We must accept that and move with the times. Our young people are begging us for that. We have only recently started to talk about the concept of consent. That concept of consent is so lacking which is why there are all these unwanted pregnancies. It is why today it is important that we discuss at this time the need for choices for women around contraception. I thank all the …