I join the Cathaoirleach in paying tribute to a former colleague, Seanadóir and Deputy, Mr. Louis J. Belton. I extend my sympathy to his partner Anita, sister Maureen, neighbours and friends. We will have an opportunity at another time to give more fulsome tributes but, on behalf of the Fine Gael group, I would like to be associated with the Cathaoirleach's comments today. I acknowledge the great work of Galway County Council and first responders over the past number of days and at the weekend following the horrifi…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for choosing this Commencement matter. The Minister of State is welcome to the Chamber. Last March, the Minister for Rural and Community Development announced the first ever dedicated fund for shovel-ready community projects in our towns and villages. This followed a successful scheme from the previous year centred on refurbishment and supports for communities with existing community centres. The new scheme proposes an investment of at least €1 million per amenity, with a focus on the area…

I thank the Minister of State for providing that update. I certainly welcome the information provided. To have 22 applications shows the value and importance of the scheme because these are projects that had to have their own sites. They were effectively shovel-ready. They had planning permission and they had their own sites to develop. Clearly, 22 applications from around the country in a rather tight timeframe shows how valuable this scheme is and it is important that all those valid applications, or as many as p…

I again request a debate on matters regarding Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI. I am sure the Leader is familiar with Aasleagh Lodge and the Erriff Fishery which is in a beautiful part of the world in south Mayo on the border with Galway. Up to 2016 it was a thriving tourist amenity in the area. In 2016, IFI decided to sell the lodge and cottages and retain a salmon fishery in State ownership. To do so, it was necessary to move the working fishery base from the centre of the property to the site along the Leenane to W…

I thank Sinn Féin Senators for publishing this Bill and bringing it before the House. I have not bought second-hand clothes but I have been known to have clothes repaired, particularly suits and overcoats. That is important. They are expensive products and it is right they be repaired when it is possible to do so. A number of companies, such as Cartier and Burberry, were mentioned. I certainly do not frequent their stores. I agree that their business model has to be called into question. I know why they do not want…

Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

I concur with Senator Lombard. There is an animal welfare issue and a moral issue there. The vast majority of farmers would not knowingly send an animal in calf to slaughter. If this is required under directives or nitrates derogations or for our carbon footprint, well it has to be reversed. We cannot allow that sort of thing to happen and farmers to be forced to send animals to slaughter that are in calf. I want to raise matters of education. On numerous occasions a number of us have raised the issue of school tra…

In yesterday's edition of the Irish Independent , its environment correspondent, Caroline O'Doherty, wrote about another monumental cock-up in Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, which will result in the failure of dozens of prosecutions for fisheries offences throughout the country. This follows on from the discovery of a similar mess-up a few years ago due to a flaw in the 2010 Act that set up IFI which resulted in the abandonment of numerous prosecutions and embarrassment for the protection staff. In the article, Ms …

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement debate this morning on the issue of dental services. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Health. The Irish Dental Association came before the Joint Committee on Health on 5 July regarding issues within the dental service. The chief executive of the association, Fintan Hourihan, and others have expressed on the record their concern about the medical card scheme and the chronic delays in delivering the school screening prog…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I am heartened that she believes there is merit in the suggestion and I hope she will be able to bring it back to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. As the Minister of State said in her response, the public dental service provides a programme for second class, sixth class and, subject to capacity, fourth class. There is a capacity issue, and therefore, thinking of schoolchildren in Galway and every county, I am asking whether this short-term intervention using retired den…

We will all agree the history of our island is quite complex. Many people around the world would not be able to fully and accurately describe and attest to the intricacies of our own history, even over the past 30 years, going back to our independence, the Civil War or, indeed, the plantations, which had such an enormous impact on our history. Likewise, I am not going to pretend to be an expert on the situation in the Middle East and the intricacies in that part of the world. I will leave that to the Department of …

I acknowledge the very emotional testimony of Senator Black. If we are to have a minute's silence we need to have a minute's silence for all who have died and been killed in conflict in recent days. We have to acknowledge this. I know it is not traditional for Ministers to come to the House to speak about their departmental budgets but if they are agreeable it is something that would be positive. It would allow Members to speak about their specific departmental areas and to question Ministers. I have come from a me…

The Minister of State is welcome. I commend the budget announced by the Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath, today. I commend him, the Minister of State and the team in their Department on their comprehensive budget proposals. I especially welcome the increase of €100 in income tax credits for PAYE employees, the increase of €2,000 in the standard rate of income tax cut-off, which brings the entry to the higher rate of income tax to €42,000 and the reduction of the USC from 4.5% to 4%. I also welcome some individu…

I wish to share my time with Senator Maria Byrne.

The Minister of State is welcome to the Chamber. I acknowledge and commend his role and that of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in the publication and preparation of the budget, in addition to all the officials in the Department and their Government colleagues for their input. This is clearly a budget that accounts for our growing population, an ageing population and the once-off cost-of-living measures that are vital to provide for families and single people throughout our State. One area I will mention is that whil…

I welcome the Minister of State and thank the Office of the Cathaoirleach for choosing this Commencement matter. It is regrettable there is no Minister or Minister of State here from the Department of Health. I have raised this matter on at least two occasions going back to 2020 and 2021. It relates to the lack of cover by Westdoc for Moycullen- and Oughterard-based GPs. As the Minister of State will be aware, out-of-hour services are very important, and I know he will face similar situations in his part of the wor…

I thank the Minister of State for the reply on behalf of the Department of Health. As I said, it is certainly welcome that the Westdoc service has been expanded to cover the critical 12 midnight to 8 a.m. period and I welcome also the funding that was provided in this year's budget. Since I first raised the issue in 2020, there have been improvements in the service, and I want that to be concluded such that we will get full Westdoc cover. I welcome the fact there is engagement between the HSE, the management of Wes…

I welcome the Minister of State. I will address some of the changes that were made last year. Without pre-empting the budget, I hope we can see a repeat of some of those initiatives this year. The €1,000 reduction in registration fees was certainly a boost in terms of improving accessibility to our universities for students, as were the changes made in the Finance Bill 2022 whereby students could avail of the rent tax credit if they were renting a room or digs and their parents could avail of it if they were rentin…

The Minister is welcome. I suppose, at the start of the summer recess, the Minister did not think this would be an issue he would be facing in government. More importantly, it is an issue for the parents and children impacted over a long number of years who, unfortunately, are now suffering, although through no fault of the Minister. Previous speakers mentioned the need to examine how parliamentary questions are answered by CHI. I would go further and state that not only the Department of Health but also all other …

I welcome the Taoiseach. I welcome Mr. Tomás Heneghan to the Chamber and I congratulate him on his advocacy on a lot of different matters, particularly Seanad reform and the extension of the franchise in Seanad elections to all university and technological university graduates. It is five years since the Saolta Hospital Group promised that the planning permission for the new emergency department, paediatric and maternity building in Galway would go for planning permission. It is five years on and there is still no …