Now.

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his engagement on this Bill over recent weeks. It is tremendously important. It is the end of an era with regard to the unwinding of the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, enactments from a decade ago. That is an important juncture for public servants. As the Minister of State said, they have had a very difficult 12 months. There have been numerous challenges and perhaps there will be new methods of working in the future, including remote wo…

I thank the Cathaoirleach's office for choosing this Commencement matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, to the Chamber. To set the scene, Barna is a popular place to live. As I am sure she will be aware, it is on the outskirts of Galway city. It is a coastal town that has experienced rapid growth over the past 20 years. The 2016 census recorded a population of 2,000. The population projection is set to increase by 750 people by 2028 under the draft county development plan presently on display. In…

I thank the Minister of State for her response, which was somewhat disappointing. The capacity of the school or local authority to improve safety is limited at that location. It is a busy regional route and there is no space to widen the road, provide a car park or implement safety measures. A new school is needed in the area. Not only would this increase the safety of children and their parents when dropping children off, but it would also increase the safety of the road itself. The Minister of State mentioned the…

The Minister is very welcome. I congratulate him on progressing the Bill. I congratulate also my colleague Senator Pauline O'Reilly, and others who have led on this ambitious Bill, as well as all involved in the climate change committee. The Minister will be aware that I too have served in his Department, on the natural resources side of things, and we have had back and forth debates on a number of things, including fracking and oil licensing. I will have to change my views, to a degree, in support of the Bill but …

I move: That notwithstanding anything in the Standing Orders relative to Public Business, or the Order of the Seanad of Tuesday, 15th June, 2021, in respect of the sitting of the Seanad on Friday, 18th June, 2021, the business to be taken shall be confined to the items set out in the Schedule to this paragraph and, accordingly, no other business shall be taken unless the Seanad shall otherwise order on motion made by the Leader of the House or such other Senator as she may authorise in that behalf. Schedule Plannin…

I move: "That Second Stage be taken today."

I welcome the proposals that are laid out in this Bill. It is clear in terms of the national planning framework, regional strategies and the county development plan. Councillors must take part in much onerous work, including preparatory work, reading and understanding. It is important for that power to be given, where it is deemed necessary, first to the planning authority and to the members, if it is deemed that more time is required. Perhaps the Minister will let us know how many approaches have been made across …

We have had a week of uncertainty in the aviation sector. Our thoughts go to staff who have lost jobs over the weekend and those whose jobs are under threat within the aviation sector. I welcome that emergency seven-month contracts can issue where a new operator can be found for PSO services to Kerry and Donegal. It seems like a different world when in late 2019 the then Government of which I was a member was able to buy the Connemara airport for the PSO service to the Aran Islands. Little did anyone think we would…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the publication of the Bill. It is a throwback to the last financial crisis of 2008-09 which has been with us throughout the past decade. In that time we have gone through the Croke Park, Lansdowne Road and Haddington Road agreements, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act of 2015, the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017, the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 and Building Momentum, which was ratified by ICTU in February.…

Next Monday.

I propose that we suspend the sitting until 4.10 p.m. to allow the Minister to arrive.

I welcome the Minister of State. I am delighted to speak about schools in my area of Moycullen, County Galway. Some people describe Moycullen as a village but in reality it is a small town at this stage. It was certainly identified as such in the draft county development plan. It is close to Galway city but has its own community close to the amenities of the National University of Ireland Galway, NUIG, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, University Hospital Galway, UHG, Galway Bay, and the theatre, nightlife…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I am somewhat disappointed that I have not received a hard copy of it but I am sure it will be circulated or I will get one later. The Minister of State said there is no identified requirement for additional school places. This is the issue and problem. Moycullen has always sent its students to Galway city because there has been no other option. A small number of students go to An Spidéal and a small number to Oughterard. The population is continuing to grow and people h…

I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome this Bill, which is probably a precursor to a more important Bill regarding planning and all that goes with it. Marine planning is a complex area, covering a variety of sectors, especially with regard to renewables, which are important but difficult under the planning system that we have in this country. I urge those in the Houses of the Oireachtas who can to visit the Marine Institute in Oranmore in Galway. I commend the team for all the work it has done there in the many…

I welcome the Minister. I acknowledge the work of the HSE on rolling out the vaccination programme nationwide. Many people did not believe the Minister, the Government or our specialists in NIAC or the HSE that the issue initially was a supply issue but clearly it was. It has been proven that once the supplies come into the country, the HSE and the State are very efficient at ensuring the vaccines get into people's arms. This is a compliment to the HSE staff, the teams working in the vaccination centres, GPs, teste…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, to the House. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has recently engaged with councillors on a cross-party basis on the issue of funding for Galway County Council. Obviously, they are better placed than I am to put forward the case. As I understand it, the amalgamation of the city and county councils is off the table, so there is no point in talking about the merits or demerits of that. Fund…

When Galway County Council increased the LPT - it was one of the first local authorities to do so - it was done on the basis that the Department would come with it some of the way, but it did not do that. While one could argue it would have gained an additional €2.2 million by increasing the LPT, I return to the comparisons. Galway County Council's budget for this year is €136 million, while the budgets of the local authorities in Mayo, Kerry and Tipperary are €159 million, €168 million and €185 million, respective…

I am delighted Senator O'Donovan is here to tell his tale and I concur with him on the importance of the condition of epilepsy. I call for a debate on the issue of planning. Every element of our infrastructure is dependent on our planning process. In the main it is open and transparent and allows for objections and submissions to the supreme authority for appeals, An Bord Pleanála. The duration of some cases and in particular the open-ended nature of the legal challenges to decisions frustrate the process, making i…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to the Chamber. The vaccination performance over the last number of weeks, in particular, is welcome. For a long time, one would have had a hard time trying to find someone who had received a vaccine, but now we are meeting plenty of people who have had it, including family members and, thankfully, parents. It is, dare I say it, a shot in the arm for society in terms of providing hope for the future and that is welcome. On the Bill, it is regrettable that it has to be brough…