I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donovan, and thank him for coming to the House to respond to this matter, which is related to substantial works being done by the Office of Public Works, OPW, at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin, Having had the privilege of getting an agricultural scholarship to study horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens, I know the place particularly well. It is one of the many jewels in the crown of the OPW, which I must salute. Responsibility for the running of this wonderf…

That is fantastic news. I will go from here to spread the Minister of State's good news to all the horticultural magazines and publications in the country. It is a wonderful organisation and something of which we can be extremely proud. I am delighted to see that this phased programme is continuing and that money is in place. Clearly, tenders and planning issues must be addressed. I also want to flag the fact that this is a free facility. There is no charge to go into the National Botanic Gardens. The politician I …

I am happy to support the Order of Business. Today, I do not want to ask anything of the Deputy Leader; I just want to share some thoughts. Earlier at 10 a.m., people of different traditions and faiths gathered in the heart of Leinster House to join in communion in the celebration of a Catholic mass. It also happens to be Ash Wednesday today. It was a great honour and a privilege to be invited and to participate in the mass. It was important to me on a personal level to attend. I know it was very important to the p…

I thank Senators Ruane, Flynn, Black and Higgins for using their Private Members' time to highlight, yet again, the housing issues of concern to us all. I acknowledge that they have continuously done so over the past year and a half to two years. I welcome their guests, who are here to listen, engage and see what we are talking about and doing. I also recognise the work of the Minister of State, which is a critical component of all of this. I acknowledge the Housing for All policy, which sets down objectives and ta…

We are all talking about Ukraine and rightly so. This morning I woke up at about 3.10 a.m., which is unusual for me because I do not go on morning, noon and night. I went downstairs and had toast and tea, and thought I would go back to bed quickly in order to be back in here. I turned on the BBC and the first thing I saw was Geraldine Byrne Nason, a wonderful Irish public servant who is our permanent representative to the United Nations, live on television at the table for a meeting of the UN. This unfolding catast…

I, too, welcome the Minister of State. I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting my Commencement matter on credit unions. I read with great interest an article on the issue in the Sunday Independent . I am sure the Minister of State had some feedback about it, as I did. People were genuinely encouraged by the article. The substance of the feedback I received from the credit union movement, including the Irish League of Credit Unions, was that it would like the Minister of State to make the regulatory changes to enabl…

I thank the Minister of State, as always, for his precise and informative response, as well as for his agreement to come to the House on 2 March to discuss the issue of credit unions. I thank the Leader and her office for arranging all that. The key question is how we can get credit unions to lend more, and that is important. There is a mortgage market, but we are seeing the winding-down and withdrawal of banks in communities. The strongest aspect of credit unions is that they are community based. They are embedded…

I am happy to second the Leader's proposal for the Order of Business. I am particularly pleased that we will discuss two citizens' assemblies. I will not get into too much debate because we have set aside two hours this afternoon; I thank the Leader and her office staff for arranging that. I will indicate some concern about the proposal by the Government. This motion was amended, but there is still no change. That is the prerogative of the Government but there is a proposal that 12 councillors will be on the citize…

I will speak on behalf of the Seanad Independent Group. As our visitors are aware, there are two independent groups within the Seanad. First I welcome the MEPs, Mr. Kelleher, Mr. Kelly and, in particular, Ms O'Sullivan. It is great to see her back. I remember the first time I met her was when she came out canvassing for the Seanad. We ran on the same panel. Her energy and enthusiasm were boundless. Of course, we immediately identified her as the Greenpeace Green. She was all of that and she deserved her place here.…

I am glad we acknowledged that.

I move amendment No. 1: In paragraph (2), to delete "a Citizens’ Assembly, to be known as the Dublin Citizens' Assembly, with a total of 80 members, including an independent Chairperson, 67 randomly-selected members of the public living in Dublin City and County, and 12 Councillors selected from across the four local authorities, to consider the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited for Dublin," and substitute the following: - "a Citizens' Assembly, to be known as the Dublin Cit…

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House for this debate on citizens' assemblies. I have no difficulty with the Government's proposals in general and I support them. I will focus on my amendment because I want to seek more representation from the local representatives of the Minister of State's party, Fine Gael, Independents and those from other parties and none. The Government is proposing that 12 councillors will be part of the assembly, with the selection process as random or not prescribed…

Before I call Senator Gavan, I wish to acknowledge the presence of Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan and his guests. I thank them for their visit to the Chamber.

I thank the Minister of State for spending the time with us and completing all of the Commencement matters this morning. We in this House value her time and her presence, as a Minister of State, with us.

I will raise one issue with regard to the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, who is on a very successful trade mission to Saudi Arabia. He met with the Saudi food authorities in Riyadh on Wednesday, which I believe was a very successful endeavour. He got agreement in principle regarding the lifting of current restrictions whereby Irish beef exports to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must come from cattle that have been slaughtered aged under 30 months. That has now been lifted. That has been welcomed this morning by meat tr…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with this particular issue. It is her portfolio and area of responsibility. I also warmly welcome Deputy Cahill and thank him for his enormous work and leadership in the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I acknowledge that Senators Paul Daly, Lombard and O'Donovan are also members of that committee and have done an enormous amount of work. The word "ambition" is important. We have to be realistic. Our report was completed a year ago and we m…

I welcome the Minister of State. I will speak to the section and about my serious concerns regarding this industry. It is very important. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We invited representatives of the three fur farms to come before the committee. They laid their stall out and made a very good argument. I was personally a little hard on them, which some of them confirmed today. One thing I was not too hard about was the issue of animal welfare. I welcome the en…

I thank the Minister of State for indicating that she would be agreeable to publish the Grant Thornton report. It would be helpful in our role as legislators. Ultimately, we want the best outcome for this legislation for everybody. It is contained in the programme for Government, so we are halfway there and now it is a question of the compensation package and supporting these rural communities in Donegal, Laois and Kerry. There is rightly a heavy emphasis on sustainable rural communities. While they are small busin…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and welcome the Minister of State to the House. The purpose of this Commencement matter is to highlight the concerns raised by councillors in counties Cork, Monaghan, Longford, Westmeath, Tipperary, Waterford, Offaly and Galway, from whom I have received representations. I am asking the Minister for Transport to explain the rationale behind the decision to shelve certain major road projects scheduled for this year, and to make a statement on the matte…

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive response. The disappointing aspect is that these road projects were announced, there was great excitement and press releases were issued. Local politicians promoted and welcomed these projects, as did the Minister of State. He travels these roads and two of them relate directly to his constituency. Therefore, I have every confidence that he will make these projects happen and that he will pursue this matter. We need some sort of indication now that these projects…