I am conscious that four Members present are members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The man that may have more to say than anyone is the man from that wonderful horse country, Kildare. He is the Senator slightly behind me here. I thank the Minister for being here. We all know that horse racing and horse breeding are an integral part of agricultural, rural life, rural communities, and the rural economy. They are connected both directly and indirectly to rural employment and the rural eco…

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I will be brief. I support this excellent motion. I do not intend listing all the county councillors from Kildare. I am originally from Kildare, a little place just outside Athy called Narraghmore. Therefore, I know a lot about Ernest Shackleton. I salute the people of Athy in County Kildare for the interpretative centre and museum and also their connection with the nearby town of Ballitore, which many know due to the Leadbeaters and the Quaker history and tradition ass…

If we park all of that, I want to make the point-----

-----that there is a commitment and history. I support the motion. The Antarctic is unique. It is an isolated landmass with no permanent human settlements, surrounded by a wild, cold and stormy ocean. Few can perceive the benefits of the Antarctic. Few of us have clear opinions based on personal experience, for many of us will never visit or have the opportunity to visit that continent. The whole of mankind benefits from its isolation, which is part of its uniqueness. Few will ever have an opportunity to visit its …

The Senator got plenty of value for his time.

I thank the Minister for his detailed response to the motion. I invite Senator Martin to respond.

When is it proposed to sit again?

The Minister of State without interruption, please.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, to the House.

I welcome the Minister. This is a large body of work and complex legislation, as he outlined. I took the time in recent days to look back over the Dáil debates in preparation of some amendments. One might ask why someone would consider amendments before he had heard the Minister speak but the great advantage is we can read the report of the debates in the Dáil and read the various amendments that were proposed. I followed the trajectory of those amendments and saw that most of them were rejected, but listening to t…

It will be planning led.

I welcome the Tánaiste to the Seanad. Someone must have sat in my seat because the pen here states, "Vote Leo Varadkar No. 1". I hope that is not an omen. I did not bring that in here; someone left that here.

Anyway, Miriam Lord might have a giggle about that on Saturday. That is a challenge to her. The Minister is always very welcome here. It is great to see him here. He is the Tánaiste at the end of the day, and that is important, as is his being present to listen and engage. Communication is a two-way process. It is both internal and external. Sometimes we get lost communicating to each other in this little bubble in the Oireachtas, but the reality is that these are unprecedented times. We must follow the science and…

I warmly welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House yet again. I thank her for taking the time to come here and set out her comprehensive rationale behind the legislation. I thank the many hundreds of people who have written to Senators, and no doubt Deputies, with different points of view and perspectives, all valid. That is important. There is a suggestion that people in political circles are doing down people because they have a different view, but I do not subscribe to that. Everyone has a val…

One of many.

Hear, hear.

As indicated earlier, I am supporting these amendments and I am doing so because of the rationale that has been teased out well. I will not delay the debate because it is time sensitive and there is nothing to be gained from teasing it out to that extent, other than to say that what Senator Gavan talks about is parliamentary oversight. That is really important. Nothing that is happening in these amendments or in any of the other amendments will in any way undermine what the Minister of State has said today or the p…

I thank Senator Moynihan for clearly setting out the issues behind this very important amendment. I talked to the Minister of State earlier about clarity of message. Let us be clear because we are seeing the external results of the internal communications. We need to be clear about what we are doing and considering here today. It is my understanding that we are talking about our citizens, our people, who want to return to the State. This is the major focus of this amendment. I spoke earlier about the submission the…

This amendment relates to parliamentary oversight and accountability in the Dáil. I do not think there is an issue with the Minister of State regarding that either. We talk about the quality of the debate in the Upper House, which I acknowledge, but it would be great if a Minister could come into the House and just support a very reasonable amendment. I know the Minister of State spoke about the collective in Government, and I appreciate that. There is a corporate collective overview and one cannot have people devi…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and thank him for his ongoing engagement. I know he and his party, the Green Party, are particularly committed to the issue of engagement with our citizens in the planning process, which is an important point that I want to acknowledge. The Government is seeking to streamline planning laws and this has been covered extensively in the media, although I am not sure all of that media coverage is accurate. …