I also welcome the Government's additional measures in relation to the living over the shop grants, on which there was some clarification today. I think it makes sense. Many of our urban and rural towns and villages are falling apart. It is a shame, in particular as many of them are of architectural significance. Of course, there are great benefits to that. I welcome the measures. I also want to touch on the issue of rural housing. We have had the rural housing guidelines since 2005. It is now 2025, and it is unbel…

I fully support Senator Black and her work on all of these amendments. At the end of the day, we are very familiar with the term 100% redress. That is what people are entitled to. This defective concrete block system results from the light-touch regulation of successive Governments going back a long time. Innocent people who set out to realise their ambition to provide a home for themselves in the county they love and want to work and live in have found themselves in this situation. I cannot support anything that d…

I welcome the Minister and his officials. I acknowledge the enormous amount of work that has been on this matter. I served for nearly ten years on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and this was a matter we discussed at great length. Senator Blaney is right that there were many detractors of some of the proposals. Emotions ran high in both Houses, but we must remember that we are talking about people's homes. We are talking about people who were strapped for cash and whose home…

Is it law?

I have three issues. I share Senator Fitzpatrick’s concerns about The Complex. Indeed, I had a number of calls, one of which was from the director, Vanessa Fielding, who wished me to refer to the issue here. Her key message was that it is not the Minister for arts or heritage they want to speak to but the Minister for Finance. I want to pass that on. That was not suggested earlier, but that is actually who they want to speak to and see in relation to The Complex arts space in Dublin. I will leave that as a request …

I will be brief on this. I do not propose to talk at great length on this group of amendments because we will have another opportunity in a few minutes. Has the Children's Rights Alliance been in touch with the Minister of State on areas around this particular section of the Bill? It is very much focused on children and the courts. I have had some correspondence, but I wanted to ask if the Children's Rights Alliance had been in touch with her. What is it saying to the Minister of State or her officials? Have its co…

I thank the Minister of State.

I move amendment No. 36a: In page 22, after line 38, to insert the following: “(a) in line with the best interests of the child, this section must be fully compliant with the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) of which Ireland are signatories;”. I submitted this amendment because we had not reached section 10, and it was open to me to submit an additional amendment. It very much hinges on many of the issues I tal…

I will just respond to the Minister of State. What she said is disappointing in light of the representations. I do not see any conflict in the overarching acceptance. If there is no difficulty with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, I do not understand why they cannot be embedded in this primary legislation. Let us be clear as to what I am asking for here. The amendment proposes to include the following wording: ... in line with the best inter…

There is a lot in that, and that is why it is taking so much of our time. However, I too am emotional and passionate about this. I have spent my entire life as an advocate. I do not see myself ever as a politician but as an advocate, and this is one of the areas in which I have always advocated because I believe in the cause in my very heart and being. Also, I have lived experience of it. Therefore, I put great store in the Ombudsman for Children. Any time he is here, I seek to engage with his presentations. I have…

No. We are the policymakers, the legislators. It is a challenge for us. It is a failing that it is not a priority. I do not know whether anyone thought this issue was important enough to put into the programme for Government. I do not have it in front of me. What I do know, however, is that the issue was not accorded sufficient priority by those who have been in government for many years in some shape or form. There are amazing, strong advocates on the Government and Opposition benches in the Seanad who have advoca…

At this stage, I am conscious that we need to move on. The Minister of State has stated her position. I have stated mine. However, it has been a wake-up call. As I say, my takeaway is that both of these conventions have not been worked into domestic law. I am already drafting in my head Private Members' business that I will table. I will engage constructively with Ministers, as I always do. Clearly this is something I will certainly be writing to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste about in the next few days. I will als…

I do not doubt anyone's commitment to reform in this area.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who is no stranger to working in local government. Indeed he has served in local government and worked within the Department and I want to acknowledge his work. I also acknowledge Mr. Tim Carey who is here from the Department and heading up local government and has vast experience in it too. I acknowledge his work, the Minister of State's work and the Department's work. I thank the independent Senators who brought this Bill forward. It is a very simple Bill, with o…

Many people would like to be in public life but they can give it the time due to their family commitments. Their own security, jobs and professional trajectory sometimes does not necessarily allow it. Of course we all want to support councillors but we want to do it in a meaningful and effective way. The easy option is to come in here and say it is all terrible. I am not in the business of doing that, because councillors are no eejits. They have been around for a long time. They have been around many a corner and h…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for coming. I am raising an issue about Tailte Éireann. Tailte Éireann resulted from the merger of the Property Registration Authority, Valuation Office and Ordnance Survey Ireland. I was a member of the Oireachtas joint committee that scrutinised the legislation on this and teased out the issues. We warmly welcomed Tailte Éireann and its establishment. At that time, it promised many things. I had tabled the exact same Commencement matter previously. I look…

I thank the Minister of State. I did tell him it was Wednesday 26 February. The cut-and-paste sentences in the beginning are exactly the same but forget about that. People have to do a job, and I understand that. The Minister of State has shined a light in a few places. All of that, I dare say spiel, but, respectfully, all that the Minister of State read out there is about resources. There are 71 vacancies in an organisation that is two years old. This is the story that is told to the solicitors who ring up. I sat …

I want to touch very briefly on the issue of the commission of investigation that has been established by the Government to investigate the handling of historical child sexual abuse in our day and boarding schools. I do not want to comment on the case that was made yesterday other than to say it clearly hit the media last night. There have been a lot of communications with all Oireachtas Members in relation to Willow Park in Blackrock. However, I wrote a brief note to the Minister for education last night and, to h…

Could the Minister of State just clarify the last point about the maximum and minimum? She suggests it may drop according to a sliding scale, subject to regulation. She referred to the maximum, but what does she envisage as the minimum? I am talking about the sliding scale to a minimum, which would be done by regulation.

This group of amendments are effectively all the Minister of State's amendments. We do not have to go through them because I will explain as I go along. Group 5 is amendments Nos. 10, 26, 46, 53, 54, 56, 69 to 73, inclusive, 78 to 83, inclusive, and 85 to 88, inclusive. These are fairly minor amendments and there is a recurring theme within the grouping. I thank the Minister of State and her officials for sending on some details this afternoon in line with what we had asked for. I have not had time to study them be…