I thank the Minister of State for his work and for his address this afternoon on budget 2024. Senator Warfield, who is leaving the Chamber, said that Sinn Féin-----

-----wanted a budget that was more affordable. As people are travelling home this evening and digesting the news from this budget, they will have a sense and feeling that the announcements made by the Ministers, Deputies Michael McGrath and Donohoe, will have made a difference to their lives in a real and tangible way. People are financially better off and the fact that this has occurred has led to the fact that the Sinn Féin representative cannot stay to hear that, bar it hurt his hears or those of anyone else fro…

I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming my friend, Brian McGlinchey, the Irish consul to Delaware. He is very welcome. I thank him for his work in the United States on behalf of our country. The Taoiseach is very welcome to the Chamber. I thank him for his address. He put the issue of healthcare at the core of his speech, and rightly so. He spoke of reforming the health service and making healthcare more accessible for people. I am battling a HSE whose notion of reform is to close my hospital in Navan and whose notio…

The Minister is welcome to the Chamber. Back in 2017, at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, of which I was a member, we had the then Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O'Sullivan, before us, and she spoke of her belief that the streets were inherently safe and of how there was not an issue in the country. Her comments came in the same week that the local newspaper of the Minister and myself, the Meath Chronicle , carried a front-page story of still images of our then Mayor of Navan, Councillor Tommy Reilly, pul…

I agree with the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming the ambassador to the Seanad. The Cathaoirleach, the Leader and I had the pleasure of a very good engagement a while ago with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, in Luxembourg. We met the Prime Minister, Mr. Bettel. We worked collaboratively with the Parliament there. The ambassador is very welcome and I thank her for coming in today and for her presence. I want to raise the issue of the r…

I thank the Cathaoirleach very much and I thank him also for his welcome to Ms Mia Galligan and Ms Mya Doocey who are witnesses today, as the Cathaoirleach has said, at the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media. These are two transition year students and it is highly commendable that they are here today as witnesses for a full Oireachtas committee. The received a commendation at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition for the research they carried out on the impact of periods on young fe…

I thank Senator Kyne. I note the guests of Senator Micheál Carrigy from the active retirement group in Newtownforbes in County Longford, who are in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery. They are very welcome and I hope they enjoy their day in Leinster House and in Seanad Éireann. I also acknowledge the presence of Deputy Paul McAuliffe in the Visitors Gallery along with his guests, Professor Catherine Shannon and her niece. Professor Shannon is from Massachusetts and is a long-time friend of Ireland and of the late J…

When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I do not need to tell the Minister of State about the bombshell that went off last night in Navan following the temporary closure, as has been described, of Tara Mines, and the impact on the town and region. Some 650 people are employed in Tara Mines and 3,000 jobs depend on an income from it. The general manager, Gunnar Nystrom, speaking on "Morning Ireland" earlier, explained why the company took this measure. For the general manager and management of Tara Mines to act in the manner in which they did last night, …

The Minister of State touched on something when he said that the price needs to increase, costs need to be reduced and that this will lead to the cessation of this temporary lay off. The management needs to be honest with the employees as to what the nature of this temporary lay off is. The Government needs to press them on extracting an answer. This is not unprecedented. We were here before with Boliden Tara Mines DAC over a decade ago, when it did the same thing. On that occasion, it lasted for months. We cannot …

The Minister of State has a role in this. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, needs to sign the drilling licence.

I welcome the Minister of State. I commend all the Senators who have worked on the Bill, including Senator Keogan, and commend them on honouring the late Senator Quinn and re-introducing his proposals to the Chamber for debate. It is an interesting week in which to have a debate about an honours system, given some of the debates elsewhere.

From my 24 years in politics at both local and national levels, I believe Senator Craughwell is correct that we do already have a system in place to honour people at local level. One of the first things I did as a councillor 24 years ago, in 1999, was make Pierce Brosnan the first freeman of Navan. Then we made Seán Boylan the first freeman of Meath, so he could graze his sheep on the Hill of Tara. We even created a life-size bronze statue of the man, in Dunboyne, such was our dedication to him and all he has done …

Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

I welcome the Minister to the House to discuss this issue. I also welcome her officials. The Minister is a regular attendee in this Chamber. Before I address the matters the Minister has spoken about, I want to raise an issue affecting the crossover between tourism and sport, given that the 70th hosting of the Rás Tailteann began in the town of Navan yesterday. This is a significant event from the point of view of both sport and tourism. It is going to bring a lot of colour and excitement to many towns across the i…

I cannot believe the Senator will miss the Longford match.

I thank the Minister for engaging with the House here today. That concludes the statements on tourism. When is it proposed to sit again?

The issues of delays in getting decisions from An Bord Pleanála has now become farcical. We need to ensure that a reform is in place that at least gives applicants the knowledge of when they are going to get a definitive decision, at a time when there is a housing crisis in this country. There are cases backlogged, and people who want to build homes cannot get a decision. In respect of my home town of Navan, an application for a 100-home development approved by Meath County Council and appealed to An Bord Pleanála …

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his words. I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for sport and physical education. It is great to have the Minister of State in the Chamber, and it is even better because he comes from County Meath. He mentioned sports capital grants. Their significance is recognised by all of us as not just something positive for the sports clubs that become the recipients of the funding but also for the wider community. They have such a positive legacy. The programme is one of the…