Yes. The purpose of this Chamber is to allow people to come in on areas of expertise and interest, to go for it and seek accountability.

It is highly relevant because it is within the Minister's brief.

It is climate and agriculture. It does not have to be confined to both.

I do not think anybody can object to the fact that I am raising serious and important points. I am not making any allegations.

I am taking this opportunity to ask the Minister to address something that to my knowledge he has not addressed in the Seanad so far.

I was not faulting-----

Precisely. I am taking this opportunity to inform him and see what he wishes to say in response to the concerns I have raised and the questions I am asking. These issues are too important not to take every opportunity to bring them up. The shocking mistreatment of retired horses, which was exposed in a BBC "Panorama" report, was also discussed during the hearings of that Oireachtas committee. These are important issues. The committee published its report on 9 November. I believe enough time has passed to enable the…

I would encourage the Senator to go broad here. It is the only chance she will get.

The joys of the Seanad. We can all -----

Hear, hear. Well said.

I welcome the comments made by Senator Dolan. I wish to say that I disagree with hit-and-run heckling. I refer to the idea of a Member getting up and making a loud noise to disrupt a speaker without even giving that person the courtesy of a full hearing as he or she walks out of the Chamber. I do not think that is any way to behave. Today, I call on the Minister for Health to honour a commitment to tender openly for an independent chairperson for the three-year review of the 2018 abortion legislation. I also call o…

This matter is somewhere along the spectrum between sloppiness and sneakiness. I would like to find out where exactly it is.

I have never seen that.

Of course, we will have to return to some of these issues at another time. All I would like to say for now is that I commend all that is good in this Bill but I deprecate all that is sad. I hear my colleague, Senator Higgins, referencing new life and in a background here is a new legal architecture in the State that is about ending new life. I am very open. Where anybody needs care, after an abortion or otherwise, I do not see any logic or justice in excluding people from whatever benefits the State proposes to off…

Nobody mentioned religion except the Senator.

It is the Senator's obsession, not mine.

Well put.

I offer a word of thanks to all the people who, in towns big and small, in churches and in sports clubs, in buildings and in the open air, came out in recent days to express their outrage and their pain at the terrible event that occurred in Tullamore. It was very moving to see people's response. I hope we can continue to hold the Murphy family in our hearts in the coming days. It is often said at a time of bereavement that the sympathy one gets in the immediate period is great but that it is in the weeks and month…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus roimh Chathaoirleach an choiste, an Teachta Kehoe. As a member of the education committee, I am very glad that this report is before the House. As we see talk of the removal of restrictions in the coming months I hope that we take the opportunity to look back on all aspects of how the pandemic was handled, particularly the impact of Covid-19 on the education system. While much of this report is, by its nature, specific to Covid, many aspects will continue to be relevant in a more ge…

I welcome the Minister of State. He may very well know that the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 ensures animals are given pain relief before procedures are carried out that could cause them pain and distress. There are two issues to note about that. The first is it is a matter of legislation, not of being left to medical experts, and the second is that yesterday, during the debate on the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Foetal Pain Relief) Bill 2021, which was brought before the Oireachtas, the G…