I welcome Deputy Claire Kerrane and her guests to the House.

I thank the Senator. That is a nice way to conclude the Senators' contributions. On behalf of all Senators, I wish the Minister of State well in her new Ministry. She is no stranger to this House. She was an amazing Senator when she was here. I know she is doing amazing things in her new Ministry. Like all my colleagues, I wish her well. I know she has great respect for this House, its debates and its goings on. She is very welcome. This is the first time I have had an opportunity to see her in this Chamber since s…

As always, I thank the Minister of State for her energy and enthusiasm. Well done on a tight but passionate response. It is appreciated.

I welcome the Minister of State. He was here last week on an related matter, which is fairly interesting. Last week I talked about regulation for the public sector compared with regulation for the private sector. If there was a case to be made for my proposals last week, the matter I am raising today illustrates the sort of problems and challenges we have around our public housing. Let us get to the point. The headline on a recent article by Olivia Kelly in The Irish Times stated that the Government had refused fun…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. This ties in with the issue of standards in the public and private sector, which we will revisit at another time. In relation to Pearse House we need to send out a clear message. Are we committed or not? The fact that the complex is a protected structure is not the issue here. There are challenges around protected structures. The Minister of State and I, as former councillors, know that is a reserved function. The councillors have taken advice and made that decision. …

I thank the Leader for putting two important motions down on the Order Paper. This is, of course, the Order of Business slot in Seanad Éireann. We will be dealing later with one of the motions, which relates to the Oireachtas joint committees and is self-explanatory. It is somewhat surprising, months after a general election and months after a Seanad election, that we have finally got our act together in order that we can actually start working for what we are being paid to do. It is to be hoped we will have the co…

I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after “Joe O’Reilly”: “and Michael McDowell”.

I do not want to delay the House because I am very conscious no amendments have been tabled. I monitored this Bill's progress through the Dáil. Section 5 deals with the access to cash criteria and I welcome it. It is really important. I and Deputy Fitzmaurice were featured in Agriland recently, which covered the issue extensively. The article referred to the importance of ATMs in our rural communities and the distribution of these machines. We have seen the exit of Ulster Bank and other banks from the marketplace a…

I thank the Minister of State for covering all the points really well. I am fully supportive of this legislation and something that gives me more confidence is the role of the Central Bank under it, which is very important. I have one request of him, without rehashing the legislation, to which no amendments have been tabled, regarding the consultees. As a rural TD serving a constituency that is both rural and urban, the Minister of State is familiar with Irish Rural Link. Would it be possible through his good offic…

I welcome the Minister of State. I have not had an opportunity to congratulate him on his appointment. He has been in the House but our paths have not crossed. We worked very well and collaboratively on housing previously, especially concerning the Planning and Development Act 2024, as it is now. The Minister of State has vast experience in and knowledge of local government, particularly regarding housing. He is clearly suited to the post and I wish him every success. I raise the issue of the need for the Minister …

The kernel of this matter is simple: all tenants in this country, regardless of whether they are renting in the private or public sector, should be treated the same. I am making that case. As the Minister of State rightly indicated and as I already told him, the report of the Housing Commission contains strong recommendations to the effect that the residential tenancy legislation should be extended to cover local authority tenants and their relationships. That is a reasonable and fair request. I do not think you ca…

I will raise two issues. One relates to strengthening our local democracy. It is said that local government is the beating heart of our democracy. That is very true. We have just shy of 1,000 sitting county councillors in this country. There is less than a page in the programme for Government, which I have in front of me here, regarding strengthening our local democracy. One of the key aspects of political reform and strengthening local democracy is that the Government was to establish a task force on local democra…

I raise the issue of the shared island forum. It is 11 o'clock. At 11.05 a.m. the Taoiseach will take to the floor of St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle where he will give an address to the shared island forum. It is significantly important in the context of the shared island initiative. Everyone in this House knows it has been an enormous commitment by him, shared by the Tánaiste. He is fiercely proud of that achievement and initiative and he needs all the support he can muster for it. There is great potential an…

The final draft of the revised national planning framework was approved by Cabinet yesterday. Since that was announced yesterday, a plethora of statements and circulars have been issued on behalf of the Government through the Minister's office. I wish to acknowledge the importance of the work by me and Senator Higgins because we pursued the Government when these matters were being discussed in the Senate and called for these matters to be brought before both Houses of the Oireachtas. The cover of the final draft of…

I was.

Today, the Minister for children, disability and equality, Deputy Foley, published a report on negotiations with religious organisations associated with the mother and baby institutions payment scheme. Ms Sheila Nunan was the independent negotiator tasked with leading these negotiations with these religious organisations and was very much involved, of course, with our former Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. She engaged with eight religious bodies. This is all clearly set out in the report, which has been available to vie…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with this Commencement matter. For the record, I am asking the Minister for Transport to make a statement on his proposal to establish a transport security force. I am also asking whether city and county councillors are being considered for inclusion in the public transport safety working group. I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Transport and that Department. I will set out some concerns about this issue. …

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive overview of the situation and I think there is heart in that. I wish to reiterate two things. Let us get on and proceed as quickly as we can with identifying the necessary legislative proposals because such proposals will be needed, as the Minister of State has already told the House. Let us also see the necessary requirements established for the transport security force. The Minister of State did not manage to touch on the final piece which was the sitting count…

Members will or should know that from today, the Policing Authority and the Garda Síochána Inspectorate will be dissolved and a new policing and community safety authority, PCSA, will be established. This transition is happening as part of a wider policing reform programme called A Policing Service for Our Future and comes as a result of the commencement of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024. Since its formation in January 2016, the Policing Authority has been committed to overseeing the performan…

I welcome the Minister. It is the first time I have had the opportunity to meet him in the Chamber. It is a huge, onerous task as Senator Fitzpatrick said. I do not want to spend my ten minutes looking back and I do not want to engage in a blame game. We have to recognise that we have a crisis and we have to do something about it. The State, the Government, the Opposition and whoever else is involved in this need to work in a collaborative way with the local authorities, the construction companies, the public secto…