I accept that he has committed to look at my proposal. I am committed to continuing to pursue it. Let us talk in the next few days. I thank the Minister of State for his robust engagement. Having regard to what he said, I will not press the amendment.

I move amendment No. 86: In page 30, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: "Role of Mayor on safety partnerships 38. The Mayor shall be the chairperson of their local safety partnership." It is a coincidence that my three amendments are together in a row. We will move on. I hope we will make progress on this amendment, which relates to the role of the mayor in the local safety partnership. We have had some discussion about this already. It is an important amendment. As the Minister of State knows, we ha…

The Minister of State is on record as saying that. As I said, the only two items I discussed relate to the previous amendment that he will now look at, which I thank him for, and the current amendment. The Minister of State is also on record in that regard. He is the Minister driving today's legislation. He has yet again confirmed his commitment to it. I thank him because that makes absolute sense, but this is his time, hour and moment to do something about it. We are dealing with primary legislation and not regula…

The Minister of State cannot accept the amendment for technical reasons.

That is the Minister of State's view. I have a different view. I have had other advice on this matter. I am advised that nowhere are we precluded from putting the amendment into this primary legislation, which is about Limerick. I will not have an argument with the Minister of State as I respect him. He has a view. I have a different view. I will park it at that.

To be clear, I have been advised that it is open to us. We are parliamentarians. We are dealing with primary legislation. We can be explicit. The Minister of State may be under instructions not to accept the amendment. That is his call, which I respect. It is important. Again, I reflect that Limerick city councillors share my view. From talking to city and county councillors, in the context of the role they have played and the very robust engagement they have had with some Senators regarding policing generally, I k…

I move amendment No. 87: In page 64, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “ Amendment of Policing, Community and Safety Act 2024 45. The Policing, Community and Safety Act 2024 is amended in section 114 by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (c): “(d) the mayor shall be the chairperson of their local safety partnership.”.”.

I welcome the Minister and thank her for coming back to the House. I know this is an important issue to her. She is committed to it. She has indicated before that she is focused on domestic violence. I thank her for that and the time, focus and priority that she has given to it. I thank my colleague and friend, Senator Vincent P. Martin, for drafting this legislation. I acknowledge the co-signatories of this, Senators Garvey, Norris, Clonan, Boylan, Gavan, Warfield and McGreehan. It is welcome that we are having th…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this important Commencement matter and I thank the Minister of State for coming to deal with matter of the Government’s enhanced grant scheme for defective concrete blocks. In many ways, the Minister of State is very close to it. It is a major concern in his constituency and I note his commitment to address it. I also note his experiences and how he interacts with his constituents in respect of this important matter. The reason I raise this is because I had been keeping an ey…

That is a comprehensive report. It is helpful and addresses many of the issues that I raised. As I stated at the outset, it is a draft report. The Minister of State has confirmed that the Department has it. The Minister is aware of it. I was interested particularly in the Minister of State's response in relation to the National Building Control and Market Surveillance Office because that was one of the issues of concern about the appropriate resources. I note the involvement of the city and county managers. I am al…

I note the Leader's proposal on the Order of Business for the mayor of Limerick Bill this evening and I have no difficulty with it. The issue I want to bring up is that of the local elections. I received correspondence in the post from the Department on Friday confirming that the Minister was not in a position to confirm the date of the local elections. The range could be possibly 7, 8 or 9 June. That has not been decided. I ask the Leader to use her good offices to engage with the Minister to ascertain the date. T…

You are doing a great job.

I welcome the Minister. I want to say well done to her for getting her message across in a very tight timeframe. The other day I was in Leinster Marts in Kilcullen. They are looking for an auctioneer and I thought the Minister would fit the bill quite well. I say again well done. The Minister had a lot to contend with. I will start with the very positive points and the last point the Minister raised. This morning our Cabinet approved the extension of the child benefit payment from 1 May to 18-year-olds and those wh…

No, it was not.

I want to flag that the UCD Earth Institute, in conjunction with UCC, will host a seminar next Tuesday, 13 February, for one hour. It will be in No. 45 Merrion Square, which is the Irish Architectural Archive building, and the topic is unregulated private wells, hidden hazards and the evidence for policy and action. It is very important, and I want to use this opportunity in advance of that seminar to call on the Government to introduce a well-funded - a water well-funded - advertising campaign for water cleanlines…

I join with others and would like to be associated with the many tributes to John Bruton, the TD, Taoiseach, father, friend, brother, supporter and encourager. What a wonderful man he was. I knew John Bruton personally. I had many reasons to be with him in County Meath. I was down in Meath yesterday and spoke to a number of people in Navan and in a lovely little place called Kilcloon. For those who do not know, that was the parish of John Bruton. While he lived in Dunboyne, he always went to the parish of Kilcloon.…

Before I call on the Minister of State, I note that I do not see any statement on this circulating.

That is okay. Members can get them when they go out.

Before I go any further, I welcome a transition year student from Portarlington, Conor Dunne, who is here for a two-week placement. He is very welcome.

I thank the Minister of State for taking time from her busy schedule to be with us this morning. We appreciate it. We await the arrival of a Minister of State to take our next Commencement matter. We will suspend the House for three minutes while we wait for the Minister of State to arrive. Is that agreed? Agreed.