I raise the issue of the rural regeneration moneys that has been proposed by the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys. It is an important scheme. It is about making sure that rural Ireland gets back on its feet and many projects have been pushed through following the previous two calls for money. The most recent call for money closed last week. It is important that we have accountability for how the system works. Cork County Council has proposed five projects, as was the case previously. A…

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. It is great to have her here to discuss the Bill. The tone in which she ended her contribution was very important. The work that has been done by social welfare staff throughout the country has to be acknowledged. It has been an unbelievable year in so many ways. We have gone through a health crisis and we have Brexit pending in the back of people's minds as well. The Minister's staff in the Department have done so much good work. They drafted a Bill and got it up and running …

Next Wednesday.

This morning, the first vaccine was administered in the UK. It is a very positive step and I welcome it. The recipient was a 90-year-old lady from Coventry. The real debate over the next six months is how we will deal with life after Covid and how society will deal with going back to work and all the issues around that. We will have to start talking about people's ability to work from home two or three days a week permanently into the future. We have seen its success. If someone told me 12 months ago that the major…

The Bandon southern relief road, commonly known as the bypass road, is important infrastructure that for decades has been half complete. Bandon has been through major upheaval in the last ten years. It has been flooded several times and we are halfway through a major flood relief programme, which is very welcome and will revitalise the town. We also hope a public realm scheme will start shortly and help the town and its development. One of the key issues in the town, however, is the traffic passing through it. Band…

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response to this very important issue for the people of west Cork. I am aware that the feasibility study by Cork County Council, about which the Minister of State spoke, is still under review by TII. That is a very important part of the jigsaw. We need the design of the route to be brought forward as best we can because the need for that route is great. We need to know where it will go through a school site, where it will come out and whether it is going to be lon…

I welcome the Minister of State. This is the first time for me to address him about finance in this very important debate. I wish to focus on the significant farm safety measures in the Bill. Amendment No. 65, passed in the Dáil, was a very important statement by this Government. It showed that farm safety needs to be considered as a policy priority. There is really significant stuff regarding farm safety in this budget but it needs to be highlighted to the farming community. The ability for farmers now to get capi…

I want to speak about the current crisis in the local media sector. We all have local radio stations and publications based in our parishes. The pressure that they have been put under due to Covid-19 is immense. This is more of a rural issue than an urban one because the newspapers concerned are based in rural Ireland. They are part of the dynamic there and have been for a long time. There has been a lack of credible supports to help them survive. Advertising has collapsed and is down by 60% to 70% from where it wa…

Are we ever going to move forward with the actual debate about the post office service itself? Rural Ireland has changed dramatically, particularly over the past eight to ten months. The question about where we are going to put the post office service will be a significant issue that this House will need to debate. In my part of the world, we could end up with the post offices only available in the major towns while losing a spread of local sub-offices across the entire county. A debate about how we are going to re…

I welcome the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, to the House to discuss the issue of the calf investment scheme. Last January, a calf investment scheme was announced, initially for €1.5 million. It was expanded to €4 million. Some 2,500 farmers have applied for the scheme. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Minister's detailed report because I want to know how many farmers received a payment under the scheme. It is a worthy scheme. It gave the opportunity for on-farm investmen…

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. I take it that 838 applicants still have not responded to the issue. In fact, it is more. Does he know how much money is left in the budget pot? How much is unclaimed? Is there a proposal in the Department to have a new scheme? Does the Minister think a new calf investment scheme will be announced in 2021? Does he think it will be announced at an earlier date than this year? Will there be any calf investment scheme? The uptake of this scheme has been amazing. The…

I concur with the comments made by Senators who raised the issue of Dublin Zoo, but I will put a southern twist on the matter. Complexes like Dublin Zoo and Fota Wildlife Park need to be debated in the House. More importantly, action by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, is necessary. It is appropriate that she attend the House next week to discuss this issue. Fota Wildlife Park is a major driver of our economy and one of the largest tourist attractions on …

I welcome the Minister of State. He is obviously no stranger to this Chamber. I welcome his new position. This debate is very welcome. How we live and interact with Covid will be a significant issue in the future. The Houses of the Oireachtas need to consider holding debates like this, or perhaps even a rolling debate. The issues we have seen over the last seven or eight months have been frightening. The general public and the State have reacted amazingly to these issues and we have tried to change our lifestyles a…

I thank Senator Dolan for sharing time with me. The Minister of State is more than welcome. We met during the summer - unfortunately, when many parts of west Cork had flooded. I think of the residents of Rosscarbery, Dunmanway, Bandon to a lesser degree and especially Bantry, which was very badly damaged during the floods in August. The Minister of State came down, was very courteous and met many of the residents and traders. Unfortunately, last weekend Bantry was again hit by tidal flooding and 13 more premises we…

I compliment the Cathaoirleach on the unfortunate weekend his county had. It was a wonderful opportunity-----

Absolutely. It was a shame I was not there. I raise the issue of the Brexit negotiations. We are two months away from the impending date of Brexit and one of the biggest issues that still has to be resolved is that of the fishing industry and how it will deal with whatever the outcome of Brexit will be. One of the most important issues yet to be resolved is that of the fishing industry and how it will deal with whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations may be. Many rural and coastal communities from Kerry all…

Our business community has been struggling, particularly in the past two weeks, in dealing with this lockdown. Restaurants, pubs and hairdressers are all working in a very limited capacity, if they are working in all. It has been a tough seven months for the Irish business community. We put major supports in place, such as the wet pub grant, the restart scheme and the restart grant plus scheme. Those supports have all worked to a degree and we must acknowledge that. The major issue I have been coming across, howeve…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House; it is great to have him here. This issue of how we are going to cope with the devastation of the flooding is very important for west Cork and its residents and for Cork County Council. On 19 and 20 August 2020, there was a very severe storm with exceptional winds and rain, and within seven days, on 25 August, there was another period of 12 hours of torrential rain, which caused exceptional damage, particularly to the roads of west Cork. We have all seen the flooding in …

I do not mean any disrespect, but I am very disappointed with the response of the Minister of State. The damage to the secondary road network is absolutely amazing. Many news outlets have published photographs of the damage. I have walked around various parts of the area and met many of the residents. Roads have literally been washed away. Work and repairs have been carried out. I am fearful that if a programme is not put in place to ensure we can rebuild these secondary roads, west Cork will not have the infrastru…

I raised the issue of waste water treatment plants and the lack of major infrastructure we have in many of our towns and villages throughout the country during a Commencement debate earlier. Most local authorities are going through a county development plan process where they are examining land, zonings and how small villages and towns can develop. The key issue is the lack of waste water and water infrastructure. Without that infrastructure, these settlements cannot develop. That is one of the key issues Irish Wat…