I acknowledge that in a Minister who is extremely busy and has an awful lot of pressing things going on. I also acknowledge and commend the proposers of and signatories to the motion. When people were asked to sign up they signed up and there was no doubt about it. I commend the speakers so far. More importantly, I want to acknowledge the presence of John Finucane, MP and his brave and honourable quest for justice and truth. Before I came in here, I was thinking that if we are true advocates of justice who are comm…

I thank the Leader for setting out the proposals for today's Order of Business. I welcome the announcement by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that he has effectively banned the construction of new co-living developments. Co-living was a disaster that should never have happened. To be fair to the Minister, he stood on his record. He argued long and hard against co-living and I am glad to see that he walked his talk and has delivered. That is welcome. If we have learne…

I welcome the Minister to the House. I know he is a very busy Minister and there is pressure on his time so I appreciate him coming here to deal with this matter. The matter relates to EU Regulation 2019/6 in regard to veterinary medical products, which is to come into effect in January 2022. The antiparasitic resistance stakeholder group has sought a regulatory impact assessment in advance of the implementation of EU Regulation 2019/6 on veterinary medical products. There was a very detailed discussion on the matt…

I thank the Minister for his response. I share all of his concerns as set out in his response. What gives me hope is the fact that he has not ruled out ongoing engagement with all of the stakeholders, which is critical. As I have said, the Minister will be aware of the issue of responsible persons and of the distribution networks of antiparasitics in rural communities. He will be conscious that any increased costs arising from veterinary prescription charges would be of concern. He will be, and should be, concerned…

On 15 November 2000, which is nearly 20 years ago to the day, I sat as a guest in the Public Gallery and listened to the then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Micheál Martin, discussing the use of vaccine trials and experimentation on children in institutions in the State. Promises were made. There was a long debate in the Seanad that evening. Senator Norris, who has just left, made a lengthy contribution, as did my colleague, former Senator Helen Keogh. The then Minister made a compelling statement. If we …

What about my point?

We will resume statements on living with Covid-19 and have an update on level 5 restrictions. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health to the House. The following people have been noted as speaking and I am advised that they cannot speak again: Senators Clifford-Lee, Byrne, Keogan, Conway, Hoey, Gavan, Higgins, Dooley and O'Loughlin. Senator Currie had possession so she can resume and she has four minutes.

Hear, hear.

There are no other Senators offering. Before I call the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, to respond, as I have not been in the House previously when he was here I take this opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment and to wish him every success.

To clarify, the contributing group spokespersons have eight minutes and all other Senators have five minutes. We must call the Minister of State no later than 6.09 p.m. and statements will conclude at 6.15 p.m.

I thank the Deputy Leader of the House for setting out the proposed Order of Business for today. I must take up two or three issues with her. One relates to No. 3. I have a problem with anybody who tells me I cannot do anything. I do not think it is good parliamentary practice to come to a House and propose a motion without debate. There is some confusion, although I am not confused. The Deputy Leader might clarify this later. On 13 November 2020, we were furnished with two motions on this issue. One was to approve…

No.

I will not spend my time talking about the Bill; I will repeat what I said this morning, namely, that to give this 90 minutes was nothing short of a disgrace. I look forward to talking about it again another day. I did make the case, and clearly there was a very constructive debate which I watched from the television screens, but to set aside 90 minutes to deal with hate crime and hate speech is very disappointing. It is disappointing that Members of this House could not make this a priority. We had people come in …

I will hold my space.

I will, but 90 minutes is a joke.

I wish to raise three issues with the Leader. First, I take this opportunity to welcome the news by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, on the payment, two weeks in advance, for the GLAS scheme. For those who are not familiar with such payments, they are the green, low-carbon scheme, GLAS. In the past two years at least, there have been issues about payments being late or back payments. The scheme, which amounts to €138 million, will arrive this week in the bank accounts of almost…

I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for selecting this matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, to the House. This relates to reform of the local property tax. I am calling for an end to the local property tax section 8 exemptions. Some elderly people in their 70s, 80s and 90s living in locations like the one in which I live, Dún Laoghaire, have no income other than the State pension and are paying the tax. They can apply for a deferral which is not always granted. As the Minister of State will know, many…

There are 6,000 properties in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area that are outside the net. At an average local property tax of €675 in the area - it is lower than the real average but we can use it as the figure - this equates to €4 million gone that the local authority could do with. I will read an extract from a letter in The Irish Times the other day from a pensioner. It states: I believe in paying my fair share but this is unjust. I urge the Government to modify this local property tax in a fair and…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for setting out the matter simply. We can get caught up in the technicalities of issues. It is great that the Legislature showed foresight in requiring this to come back to both Houses. That is good in a democracy. The Minister of State had a prepared script that he did not read into the record. I just want to make a few brief points on this motion to change the format of the 2019 statutory instrument, which contains three indentation errors, as he confirme…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, to the House. This has been a good debate on these matters but the reality is that the Minister is asking us to agree a proposal to extend these measures to 9 June 2021. I want to say at the outset that I fully support the members of An Garda Síochána in their challenging work in policing our communities but I also support the citizens, the greatest watchdogs of our communities, and their role in assisting An Garda Síochána with policing. Much policing is soft policin…