In the past week or two, I stated that we would be challenged. These are difficult times. It makes our job particularly difficult when one is in opposition and there is such a mass gathering in government, as is its members' call. This amendment should be included in the legislation. If circumstances change, we can reconvene. In one of his speeches to the House, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, talked about the role of the Seanad in scrutinising, improving and polishing legislation. It would be a sad day if the…

I warmly welcome the Minister to the House and I wish him well. I thank him even for the clarity and delivery of the content of the Bill. The first time I spoke to the Minister it was not in Ireland. The first time I met him and had a chat with him was in the company of the current British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, when we were on a trip to the UK. Boris Johnson came a bit late and offered us some refreshments. I think he suggested tea and we might have suggested something else. Anyway, he immediately picked o…

This part of the proceedings in the Seanad is the Order of Business. Senators are at a disadvantage if we come into the House and we do not have a copy of the Order of Business in front of us. I respect the Leader and her office. It is all very well for her to come in here and tell us what she has decided. We are challenged in both Houses in the current political landscape, but particularly in this House of which I am a Member, because we are up against a vast Government block of people. That is the Leader's right …

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, to the House and congratulate him on his appointment. I understand he will be the only Minister of State in the new Department and that the principal Minister will be Deputy Simon Harris. The primary purpose of this Bill is to establish a new Department of further and higher education, research, innovation and science. I will focus on education, research, innovation and science rather than the nuts and bolts of running the Department. I understand the Departmen…

I wish the new Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Dara Calleary, well on his appointment, albeit in very strange circumstances. He is an exceptional politician and will bring a lot to the brief and to his important Department. I wish him every success. I wish to talk briefly about the great legend and footballer Jack Charlton. I am surprised no one has raised this matter already. For those of us who were here during Italia '90 and witnessed the Irish team's return to Ireland, we saw what Jack did…

I welcome the Minister of State and I congratulate him. He is straight into the job so it is a tough day for him. I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, who is chair of the Eurogroup. The Eurogroup plays such a significant part in what we are talking about today and I wish him well as he embarks on what will be a challenging and demanding job, coupled with his work as Minister for Finance. The Covid-19 pandemic constitutes an unprecedented economic and social …

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and his staff and all the staff involved for facilitating us in this Chamber. Many of us never thought we would be in here. Many of us have left here for the Seanad Chamber. Did any of us think we would all be here together so soon after the past few months and the general election? It is always a privilege to be here. It is a nice little space, and I am sure many of us will be motivated, having spent a few hours in here today, to give it a second look. I would encourage everyone to do t…

Thank you for the encouragement, a Chathaoirligh. For those who do not know, I am on the Agricultural Panel. I am a practitioner of horticulture, I studied horticulture and I wish to raise two issues in that regard. First, I wish to deal with an issue the Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers Association, ICSA, has raised. I have had representations from counties Kerry, Galway, Monaghan, Clare and right down to Cork concerning the sheep industry. The wool aspect of the industry is on its knees. I have received a letter from…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. We soldiered together for a few years on housing and he was a very formidable Minister of State. I am delighted that he has been reappointed a Minister of State, particularly in this area as I know he has a strong record in enterprise. As a rural man who represents part of the constituency of Meath, he would be very aware of the difficulties that are faced by small enterprises. I want to concentrate on the significance and importance of the microenterprises that employ …

I take this opportunity to wish all the Ministers and Ministers of State every success and congratulations on their appointment. Their roles are challenging, there were major difficulties of which we all know, and there is the added difficulty of having a coalition Government. A grand coalition, as this one is, poses challenges to us as the people in opposition. We are now more in demand and we have the important job of scrutinising every single line of every piece of legislation. I, too, wish to raise the issue of…

I want to use this opportunity to thank and acknowledge a few people. I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I first met him during his first election campaign in Dún Laoghaire. I was a councillor there from 1999 onwards. I met the Cathaoirleach during every election campaign and I was always taken by his energy, enthusiasm and belief in something bigger and greater for the island of Ireland. People questioned that and suggested there were alternative motives for that but I never agreed. I thought he was driven, focused…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the staff in the Houses of the Oireachtas for facilitating this meeting. This morning, I read with some disappointment something by a journalist in The Irish Times who is not here, I thought she might have been, which referred to the "last hurrah of the Twenty-fifth Seanad and a rubber-stamping of new laws". It is not the last hurrah. That same journalist spoke of the last hurrah some months ago when we were winding up. We are a serious House of politics, we are lawmakers, and I am tir…

I am sharing time with Senator McDowell. I welcome the Tánaiste and thank him for his comprehensive statement. More importantly, I acknowledge the sterling work he, the Taoiseach and the acting Ministers have done. It has been impressive. As I said earlier, this is not a time for playing politics. It is about politics, of course, but it has been an impressive performance. People on all sides of the political divide have told me in the last few days of how impressed they were by the co-ordinated response of the Gove…

It is a day of new beginnings, departures and farewells. Some people will be packing up by choice while others may be packing up but hoping to come back. Whatever road they take, I want to wish them well and every success. I want to thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for your work over the last few years and the way you have conducted this Seanad. It is exemplary and shows your parliamentary experience and I want to acknowledge your work. I want to thank the Leader and the Deputy Leader, who cannot be here today as they a…

Well said.

Too kind.