What a special day. A Oirircis, Ursula von der Leyen, Uachtarán ar an gCoimisiún Eorpach, thar ceann Chomhaltaí an dá Theach agus thar mo cheann féin, cuirim fáilte romhat chuig an gcomhshuí seo de Thithe an Oireachtais. Your Excellency, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, on behalf of the Members of both Houses and on my own behalf I wish to welcome you to this historical joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Frau Präsidentin von der Leyen, hundert tausend mal, bitte Ich Sie im iri…

Excellent

Madame President, that was both uplifting and inspirational. Thank you very much.

Thank you. It was remiss of me at the outset not to welcome members of the diplomatic corps from across the world who are joining us here today, and in particular to make mention of H.E Larysa Gerasko, our great friend and the champion of Ukraine here in Ireland, who does so much work for her people and her country. The ambassador is very welcome. On behalf of An Tánaiste, I call the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney.

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Minister.

What a special day. A Oirircis, Ursula von der Leyen, Uachtarán ar an gCoimisiún Eorpach, thar ceann Chomhaltaí an dá Theach agus thar mo cheann féin, cuirim fáilte romhat chuig an gcomhshuí seo de Thithe an Oireachtais. Your Excellency, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, on behalf of the Members of both Houses and on my own behalf I wish to welcome you to this historical joint sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Frau Präsidentin von der Leyen, hundert tausend mal, bitte Ich Sie im iri…

Excellent.

Madame President, that was both uplifting and inspirational. Thank you very much.

Thank you. It was remiss of me at the outset not to welcome members of the diplomatic corps from across the world who are joining us here today, and in particular to make mention of H.E Larysa Gerasko, our great friend and the champion of Ukraine here in Ireland, who does so much work for her people and her country. The ambassador is very welcome. On behalf of An Tánaiste, I call the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney.

The Bill is scheduled to be dealt with. When we were scheduling it, we were not aware as to who would be here. It is scheduled and, therefore, we must proceed.

Deputy Boyd Barrett is sharing time with Deputy Gino Kenny.

That is a heart-rending story. If the Deputy wishes to table that for a Topical Issue matter on Tuesday, I guarantee I will select it. We will do our best to ensure that some of the Ministers from the Department of Health will be here to deal with it. That is not something that should have to be brought up to the floor. I appreciate the fact that the Deputy saw no other alternative. It needs to be dealt with.

Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, will work on it. If the Deputy wants to table it for Tuesday, we will do that. I call the Minister of State to respond to the debate.

I am amused at the thought that electoral officers in any political party could possibly contemplate promoting a competitor even during maternity leave.

No, they would not. I could not believe it myself. I call Deputy Ryan to give us the view from Monasterevin.

Thank you, Deputy.

I am not supposed to talk about these things but I have a passion for local government. I was elected 37 years ago. I was fairly young at the time. We have seen much legislation pass in that time. I think what the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, has done is exemplary. It is about strengthening local government. We have to accept that we have appallingly weak local government in many places across the country. Much of the legislation that has passed has distorted the balance between elected members and the executiv…

Congratulations to all involved.

I thank Deputies very much. I wish we could deal with all legislation in that way.