I want to mention the lack of regulation enforced by local authorities in respect of Airbnb. I have done a body of work on the number of Airbnb properties that are available. I discovered that there are ten times the number of Airbnb properties available on the Airbnb website in comparison with that the number available on daft.ie . That is an issue we must start talking about. We brought forward legislation in 2019 which gave local authorities power to licence Airbnbs but that has not happened. Local authorities m…

I rise to speak about the Covid vaccination programme and where we are with the booster for those who received the Janssen vaccine. It was rolled out for the younger cohort in society and administrated mainly through GP practices. They were encouraged at the time to get involved at a very early stage. Science has moved on and the Janssen booster has not come. It is a huge issue, particularly for these young people who are socialising. One of the key issues we need to start talking about is how we can engage with pr…

I welcome the Minister of State. I tabled this matter to seek clarity on how the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is dealing with a major fire incident that happened at a halting site in Bantry on 9 November. Has a report on the fire been filed and a fire hazard safety assessment completed? What is the long-term housing plan for the people who live on the site? On the night of Tuesday, 9 November, a major fire happened at a halting site in Bantry. One unit was totally burned to the ground. It wa…

I am slightly disappointed with the Minister of State's response to the question I raised on the fire safety assessment of the halting site. I asked whether it had been completed. It is important that we get clarity as to what assessment has actually been carried out on site since 9 November in respect of this incident. The crux of the issue is that the coroner's statement on the Carrickmines incident states that the fire and planning regulations make these sites exempt. Has that exemption stood? If one looks at wh…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I raise the issue of medical cover required on Saturday mornings in the towns of Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Rosscarbery, Enniskeane and Kinsale. Unfortunately, there is a dispute between the GPs and the HSE about who covers what and when. As a result, there is the potential there will be no such GP cover across the entire west Cork. There has been a breakdown in communication and trust. Particularly now when we all need to pull together to deal with the Covid crisis, it …

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response. The stopping of the payments for these GPs since July has left some GP practices with potential financial issues. That is unfortunate. Confidence among GPs in practices is a major issue. Engagement is needed to address this issue. I raised this issue at the health board forum last Friday. We need to make sure the HSE deals directly with those GPs to find a solution. What is happening currently cannot continue. We could have up to 5,000 or 6,000 Covid cas…

I thank the Minister of State.

I have previously raised the decade of commemorations, particularly how we will deal with the commemorations in 2022. It is a unique period in our history and it must be dealt with sensibly and appropriately. I am from west Cork and issues regarding Michael Collins will always pop up. A major campaign is under way to have a statue of him in Dublin. I fully support this campaign. We need to have a real debate in the House about how we will deal with 2022. We need to start talking about planning for memorials and sta…

As the pandemic goes on, many sectors will have been affected. Many Members have spoken about how the entertainment sector and late-night bars will be affected, but in the past ten days I have become aware of how the charity sector has been grossly affected by the pandemic. Local branches of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and local parishes may have two ways of raising money, one being raffles and the other being church-gate collections. As the House is aware, church-gate collections have been ceased over the p…

I raise the booster vaccine programme and how it is being rolled out. We have seen a significant announcement this morning by the Minister for Health regarding how he hopes to have that effected, especially for vulnerable people aged, I think, between 50 and 59 years. There is a huge issue with the cohort of people, particularly those aged over 70 years, who went to the GP for their first two vaccinations. Now, as GP practices are in some cases so busy, that cohort has been kicked backed to the HSE. That is creatin…

I welcome the Minister of State and her speech. If possible, the Minister of State might issue that speech to Members of the Seanad at some stage as it is important we would get a copy of it. We have had serious debates this year about the forestry issue in this Chamber, in the Dáil and in the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I am not sure how many times it has happened but on multiple occasions the Department has been before the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to discuss this issue and …

I want the Minister for the Health to make a statement on the disposal of baby organs in Cork University Hospital. This is probably one of the most troubling cases I have come across in my workload in recent weeks. On 28 September, an "RTÉ Investigates" programme showed an unfortunate incident in the maternity hospital in Cork, where 18 families were told the news that their children's organs had been disposed of. Subsequent to that, one of those families contacted my office and they were very irate about how this …

I thank the Minister of State for her response and her compassion regarding this incident. Yes, it really was a breach of trust. The lack of communication, or the breakdown in communication, needs to be looked at directly by the HSE. The communication lines were not appropriate, they did not work and they failed this family in particular. The review team needs to look at that when it meets. The meetings of 22 November and 24 November should be held both physically and online. Some of the families will want to atten…

I wish to express my condolences to Senator Currie and her family on the tragic loss of her dad. Obviously this is a very traumatic time for her and her family, and I would like to be associated with the kind tributes that have been uttered about him here in this House. I wish to refer to the significant proposal to stage a major yacht race, as part of the America's Cup, that is hoped to come to the southern half of Ireland in 2024. It would be the third biggest sporting event in Ireland in 2024 and would have a hu…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I acknowledge his opening statement, which was most informative. This is an issue that has been debated in the Chamber over the past few months. There was great fear of the deadline that is approaching at the end of the month. In my area of rural west Cork, the volume of interactions I have had with the public, including landowners, farmers and solicitors, on this issue has been amazing. One solicitor from Clonakilty told me a few weeks ago that it would take every soli…

Yesterday afternoon I met representatives of the Social, Economic, Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland, members of which I also met earlier outside the gates of Leinster House. The forestry issue in Ireland is one that we need to address immediately. Over the past two years, we have had discussions on forestry in this House and at the agriculture committee. We have seen changes in legislation with regard to the serial objection issue and with regard to environmental issues but there is a huge issue in ter…

To follow that theme, I went through a process of speech therapy with a four-year-old on Zoom during lockdown. It was the most bizarre experience of my life. There is a real need to look at the waiting lists that have arisen because of lockdown. There are issues with timelines, particularly for speech therapy, and they will be grossly affected unless we get movement. I would like to raise amenities in State ownership, specifically the only publicly-owned swimming pool in west Cork. It an amazing amenity that we put…

I raise the issue of water services and Irish Water and the impact this is having on rural towns and villages. The need for investment in water services is apparent. We have a new housing policy and its success is dependent on the provision of adequate water and sewerage services. I am talking about this issue because of an instance I came across yesterday where planning permission was refused in Rosscarbery on the back of not having adequate infrastructure. It is not possible to provide water services on the site …

I will follow on from the theme the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, spoke about, namely, women's participation in agriculture. I understand there are approximately 127,000 farms in Ireland, one eighth of which are owned or operated by females. We had a really interesting discussion on this issue at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on 21 September. More debate and acknowledgement of it is required. Maybe we could use this good Chamber to have such a debate and bring the women'…

I welcome my colleague, the Minister of State, to the Chamber. This morning I am asking for an update from the Minister of Education on timelines associated with the employment of a design team and the preparation of plans for the proposed new build for Summercove NS in Kinsale. The last decade or more has seen significant development of how we fund our education infrastructure. The days of prefabs in every school have moved on. Many schools in my part of the country have seen really significant development and tha…