I welcome the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and thank him for giving us his time. As agreed on the Order of Business we have 90 minutes scheduled for this debate. The Minister will have ten minutes to set out his stall after which Senators will each have six minutes and the Minister will have the right of reply for ten minutes. He may want less or more; that is up to him.

The next speaker is Senator Moynihan.

I thank Senator Moynihan very much for that contribution. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. We have set aside 90 minutes for this debate. Just two Senators have indicated their intention to speak and we are only 45 minutes in. I call Senator Casey.

I thank the seven Senators who participated in the debate.

I will be brief. This is a good debate. We have had it before and I am somewhat surprised by the change in position and the moving of chairs. The people who were for this Bill are particularly against it from time to time. I want to acknowledge and thank Senator Malcolm Byrne and his team for preparing what is a very simple Bill and one which I support. I have spoken on it before. I took the time this morning to pull out and read all of the transcripts of the debate on the Bill. The issue is very simple. I want to …

Yesterday, in the audiovisual room, NewsBrands Ireland and Local Ireland gave a presentation on their key asks in respect of the Defamation Act and issues around advertising. It was a packed room. There were perhaps more journalists than politicians in the room. That was a missed opportunity for the organisers in that, clearly, the target audience for their message was the politicians yet the room was full of journalists. It was good to meet them, however. I am very much a supporter of the local press and local med…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This Commencement matter relates to the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023. I was hoping the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, would be here but, as I read the newspapers every day, I am aware he clearly has many pressing issues on his plate this morning. I understand and accept he cannot be with us but I am sorry that is the case. I am seeking a clear timeline for the delivery of payments and other pr…

I thank the Minister of State for setting out matters comprehensively there. It is somewhat disappointing that it appears that we may not have a scheme up and running and paying out as envisaged this year. The Minister committed to having it in place and fully functioning in 2023. I accept this is complex, but it should not be. The scheme was designed not to be complex in itself and, as the Minister of State said, not adversarial. I have some issues of concern with the Minister of State's response. First, I note th…

I seek a debate on rural housing. I have asked for this on a number of occasions. Why am I doing so again? In the past few days, I attended the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, which met in Kildare. The social and environmental sub-committee, of which I am a member, took evidence over the past two days from many people involved in the sector, from the Office of the Planning Regulator to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and various stakeholders in this sector. One of the issues that has…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, to the debate and I thank the Tánaiste for his further comprehensive presentation to us today. Before I discuss Northern Ireland specifically, I want to touch on the Irish-British relationship, which is an important one. I acknowledge the Government's commitment to east-west ties in opening consulates in Cardiff and Manchester post Brexit. That was the right thing to do and was an important move. I thank the Government, particularly the Minister for Foreign Affairs i…

Yes.

I thank the Minister of State.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House this morning. I thank Senator Lombard.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Harris. It is great to see a line Minister here. I know the Minister looks after people very well, so Senator Emer Currie is very lucky.

I commend Irish Rural Link. The Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, launched its annual report earlier in Buswells Hotel. Irish Rural Link does amazing work. I am not going to spend any time here setting out details of that work. We all know the critically important work it does in linking into communities, particularly isolated ones that need a bit of encouragement and networking. The Tánaiste was also at the event earlier to launch the National Rural Network: Women in Agriculture Case Study. It is an amazing documen…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for agreeing to deal with this simple Commencement matter. I understand that, in his Budget Statement, the Minister for Finance agreed to extend the liability date of the residential zoned land, RZL, tax by one year to allow for the planned 2024 review of maps to take place and to afford the affected people a further opportunity to engage in the RZL tax process. Nowhere in his speech was ther…

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive response. I acknowledge and accept that this is a key pillar of Government policy in respect of bringing more land into active use for residential housing. I refer now to my only request. The Taoiseach is on record as saying he is proposing some changes to this tax. The RZLT is a universal, one-size-fits-all tax that does not take into account specific housing needs in each county or housing demand and viability in certain counties. This is the area of the scope …

I thank the Minister. Before I proceed I will explain that the Order of Business as agreed by the Members today has provided for 90 minutes and I am conscious of the time. We will have enough time for the speakers who are here.

That concludes the Minister's remarks. When is it proposed to sit again?

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. I thank the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, for agreeing to take this Commencement matter. She is, after all, the lead Minister in relation to forestry and I acknowledge that. The European Commission has now approved under the EU state aid rules Ireland’s new forestry programme. We are now at the start, albeit somewhat delayed. We had much debate and engagement. I certainly had a great deal of engagement on the matter with the Department and the …