Good point.

Well said.

I thank the four Green Party Senators for co-sponsoring this important motion. My colleague has talked about us all being on board. I want to confirm that, yes, I am on board. It is a great idea. I will just speak to a few points on it. We might all remember - I certainly did - growing up when every schoolyard in the country had a water fountain and it was free. I am not sure if the fountain itself was very clean - but the water was - and everyone drank from that. There was no big mystery around it and it was all q…

I will do the job.

I thank the Senator very much for my proposal.

By vote, by acclamation.

I wish to bring to the attention of the House the fact that Macra na Feirme will launch a major campaign about the representation of young farmers. It will leave from the area of Duke Street or Emily Square in Athy, which is a particularly nice town where Macra na Feirme was founded in the 1940s. This is just one of many groups within the agricultural sector that are frustrated and disillusioned by the political lack of priorities, as they see them, in regard to agriculture, particularly in regard to young farmers …

We know it. We know.

Particularly the ones from Dún Laoghaire.

I will be brief. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, to the House. This is very welcome legislation. It has been a long time coming, and some political parties have dragged their heels for a hell of a long time. There have been many commitments, but we are now seeing it done, ultimately under the Minister of State's remit. I welcome it and I thank the Minister of State for how he has laid it out, in very simple terms. I would like to take the Minister of State up on the invitation he has extended for a m…

I welcome the Minister. We would expect nothing less from a Minister from Donegal with great knowledge and experience of sheep to be a great advocate of the sheep industry. I want to acknowledge that. When the Minister spoke about Carndonagh and the mart there and about Carrigallen in the lovely county of Leitrim, I was reminded of the great excitement, trading and the conversation about sheep, the sheep industry and its potential. He paints a very good picture. I have visited both places and experienced the trade …

I, too, welcome our guests in both sides of the Gallery. I also welcome the people who are tuned in online to listen to this debate. As a memento I have with me a little docket or complementary slip from RTÉ, which is signed "A note from Mary Raftery". I want to acknowledge the enormous work that she did in advocating with her very well documented "States of Fear" documentary, to which I contributed and that leads me on to my next little story. I have a very extensive file on this issue because, as I said from the …

Tomorrow an important piece of legislation will be put before the House, which is the redress scheme. I will not go into it now because it is for debate tomorrow. Many Members have received a lot of correspondence. The parties have received a lot of correspondence. There will be quite a few people listening in to this debate tomorrow externally and internally. When the Taoiseach came to address us last time he spoke about the Seanad being a revising Chamber. He talked about the importance of legislation. A substant…

I welcome the Minister of State on this bright spring morning. It is great to see him back in the House. The matter I raise relates to the derelict site levy. As he will know, there are 31 local authorities, so there are varying performances in respect of its collection. It is more of a challenge for big urban areas and cities than it is for some rural areas, given land values, dereliction and a range of other reasons, but it has become an issue. I am loath to suggest the Revenue Commissioners should have any addit…

I thank the Minister of State for the comprehensive response. It is a little weak but not on his part. I am glad we have had this dialogue because there are derelict sites and a housing crisis. There are motions every second week in the Dáil on the housing crisis. It points up a weakness that reports on derelict sites were done by the CCMA in 2021 and 2022, and it will soon issue an interim report on derelict sites, yet the country is blitzed with derelict sites. The Land Development Agency, LDA, stated yesterday i…

I thank the Minister. It is good news in what is a difficult portfolio. The Minister has had his external critics and his own critics within his party. That is always a difficulty for a Minister. He was resolute; he stood at the job. The Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, stood by him, and that was clear. I have observed in the past few years that the Minister is tenacious. He does not mind criticism and he is robust enough to withstand it because criticism politically can be constructive. He listened to the advocate…

I thank the Minister of State. Of course, he is in a position of influence himself-----

-----and it is to be hoped he will be able to pursue the points he has made at a higher level within Government.

We appreciate that.

The Minister of State may have another minute to finish if he needs it.