Before I call the Minister I welcome the guests of Senator Rónán Mullen, who are Eamonn and Orlaith Crowley, and their family. They are very welcome to the House. As there are no other Senators offering, I call the Minister. He has 15 minutes, if required.

I welcome the Minister of State. My Commencement matter asks him to confirm progress on a formal, standardised, independent appeals mechanism in respect of social housing decisions and that such an appeals process be set out as a statutory requirement. I am glad to see the Minister of State here as he is from the responsible Department. One might ask what type of issues may be of concern and subject to an appeal. The issues in housing and local authorities range from allocations to transfers, loans, grants, repairs…

I do not know who read the Commencement matter. It asks the Minister to confirm the progress on a form of standardised independent means mechanism. The Minister of State dealt with none of that. It is a "teach your grandmother to suck eggs" lecture from someone telling us about the independence of local authorities to do what they like. We know that the Ombudsman has a massive number of complaints from these local authorities relating to Traveller accommodation, social housing, HAP and a range of other issues. We a…

First, I join with others in wishing Deputies Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall well. They are two amazing politicians. Regardless of what the Cathaoirleach or I may think of all of their policies, I salute their tenacity, hard work and absolute commitment to parliamentary democracy. We talk about democracy but we sometimes forget about the lack of parliamentary democracy in here, which is partly to do with the dynamic of the number of Government Members versus those in opposition. I acknowledge that because it …

I did not suggest that at all.

Senator Kyne is looking good.

Tantastic for you, Senator Byrne.

I welcome the Minister. This is an important Bill that is designed to give legislative effect to a new jobseeker's pay-related benefit for newly unemployed jobseekers. It is about many other things too, but I will not dwell on those. I just want to acknowledge this because it is really important. Sometimes when we look at legislation, we tend to look at things about which we might have a concern and we do not dwell on some of the positives. While I cannot speak about everything in the Bill in the short time that we…

That goes without saying.

We have loads of time set aside for this Bill.

I am precise and succinct.

I welcome the Minister and thank him for his overview of this important legislation. It is important at the outset to say we must always be mindful of the protection of the welfare of children in any care setting, regardless of where it is in the home or elsewhere. Sadly there have been too many cases of abuse of children in their homes. That is a reality we have to deal with on a very regular basis. I acknowledge the work that was done by the Minister's predecessor, Dr. Katherine Zappone. In 2019, as Minister for …

Hear, hear.

I join others in congratulating Senator Kyne on his appointment as Deputy Leader of the Seanad. I wish him well. He is a very experienced politician and I have no doubt that he will have no problem with the job. I support the Order of Business and welcome that, at last, we are to start engaging on the Planning and Development Bill 2023. I look forward to respectful and meaningful engagement across the Houses on it. Yes, we will have differences of opinion. The Deputy Leader will recall that we met in the west of Ir…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon. I acknowledge the significant work on the Planning and Development Bill. It has been a long time coming. The outline of the Bill was published and approved by the Government in December 2022. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage examined the proposed Bill extensively. I acknowledge the importance of all of that. There was extensive pre-legislative scrutiny and many witnesses, NGOs, members of the various planning institutes, develop…

Yes.

It is a bit of both.

Yes.

I am very interested in what the Minister of State has to say.

Macra na Feirme is having its pre-budget submission launch today and has extended an invitation to all Senators and TDs to come to Buswells Hotel between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. I undertook to highlight some of the issues for Macra na Feirme, including the challenges for young people living in rural Ireland, creating a more sustainable agricultural sector, succession, farm planning, which is really critical for the sector, supporting young people living and working in rural locations, the resilience of rural communities …