I thank the Minister for his considered responses. I will take the response to amendment No. 15 first. Being fined is not a problem for people who are very wealthy. In some cases the fines are paid by corporate companies. There are not many people for whom it is not an issue but there are those who just pass the buck down the road. It may be a company vehicle, somebody else's vehicle or they do not have a problem paying the fine. One clear thing to be sure of is that if we give people penalty points and they accumu…

I have just received a text message from a disability group. It states that the Minister is quoting the old figures on the fines. I will not be pedantic about this. New figures are listed which came into effect on 1 January 2023. Perhaps the Minister might get his officials to send out the details because this is important. This is the briefing I received from a disability advocacy group that is watching the proceedings.

It is a learning curve for me as well.

I hear what the Minister is saying. I have consistently raised this issue. This is a request from disability sector advocates. We speak about being holistic. The Minister is very able and capable of making holistic arguments on a range of transport issues. I believe this is important. The alternative is fines or putting people off the road. Let us keep it all very simple. If accepted, this proposal would put people off the road for a considerable period of time rather than allowing them to buy their way out after d…

I welcome that. That is a positive initiative. "Look" is a bit watery, to be honest. There needs to be a commitment that the Minister is actually going to do it. I take it that is a given. The Minister used the word "look" but too many of us are looking for too long; it is action we need. I appreciate that positive response. On that basis, if the Minister will assure us he will give the House that commitment, I am happy to withdraw these amendments.

I wish to withdraw them.

I move amendment No. 75: In page 71, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: “PART 15UNAUTHORISED PARKING IN DISABLED BAYS Parking in a disabled bay without permit 56 . A person who contravenes Article 44(1) of the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations, 1997 (S.I. No. 182/1997) shall be liable on summary conviction to a class D fine.”. I spoke to this amendment. We have some sort of resolution. I will withdraw it.

The Minister will be interested to hear there is a pretty nice job being done on the cycleway in Clonskeagh. I cycle parts of it myself. Well done to the Minister and all involved. I really appreciate the engagement we have had. The issue of disability parking is really important. We have had many emails since this meeting started. We can send a clear message and support the people who have permits and disability cards. I look forward to engaging with the Minister. I am looking forward to seeing this blitz starting…

I welcome the Minister and thank him for coming to hear about these issues at first hand. It is the first time he has heard them, but it is good that he is here. It is always important that we are courteous and respectful to Ministers. The Minister is part of a tripartite coalition Government made up of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. These are not new issues for any of these parties involved. I presume they have been discussed by those parties at length. None of this should be a surprise. I thank Senat…

It is the first I have been in the Chamber when the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, has been here. I congratulate him on what I think is one of the best jobs in government, which relates to local government. I know he has much experience in that and I wish him well. I raise the issue of urban regeneration. There has been much talk about it. Funding under the urban regeneration and development fund comes under three strands, namely, strands 1, 2 and 3. There is a common problem. The Minister of State will know …

I will be very brief. I am conscious of time and I know the Acting Chairperson is under pressure. I will make four key points. The reality is that the circular issued by the Department yesterday confirmed that €1.5 billion was allocated. We have had calls 1 and 2, we are heading into call 3 and, to date, only €144 million has been drawn down. That has to be of concern. I will leave it at that. The next issue is around the population figure of 10,000 when we talk about villages. These communities are represented by …

This week the Dáil will be discussing and, I presume, passing the Mother and Babies Institutional Payment Scheme Bill 2022. At least that is its intention. I do not want to rehash all of that today. Suffice it to say, the Bill is in the Dáil and many of us have received hundreds and hundreds of emails about it. I tend to respond to them all as a collective group because it is important that we engage with people and people feel absolutely isolated. In essence, when one distils the information before us in these ema…

I have just come from a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts at which there was a very robust engagement by parliamentarians with the Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the failure by the Department to draw down and spend all its money for last year and the carryover from the year before. I will not get into all the statistics and numbers because there seems to be a lot of confusion in that regard. I then listened to proceedings in the Dáil, where the Minister fo…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this matter and I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with it. I appreciate her coming here now because as the Acting Chairman will know, we will be discussing this later. I thank the Minister of State and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, for agreeing to appear before the committee later today to discuss this matter. I have two specific issues, the first of which is about the forestry programme while the second con…

I thank the Minister of State. We will have a greater opportunity this evening to discuss this matter. I want to raise two issues following on from the response of the Minister of State. There was a lot in her response so I want to consider it in some detail before this evening. It is clear that the new forestry programme 2023 to 2027 cannot be fully operational until it has this clarification in regard to EU state aid approval. It is also clear, or at least it is what I pick up from what the Minister of State has …

I will raise an issue with regard to the planning and development Bill 2022. We know the outgoing Attorney General spent approximately 15 months on a very comprehensive review of this legislation. Many of us, because we were elected city and county councillors, know there are considerable issues around Part 8. However, there are also a number of other issues with public engagement outside of the council chamber with regard to planning. I understand from a colleague of mine in the media that there will be a briefing…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

I welcome the Private Members' motion. I also welcome the Minister of State and thank him for coming. I want to dwell on the issue of the establishment of a dedicated public transport unit within An Garda Síochána. Before I came here for the debate, I did a search on all press coverage on this issue from a few months ago. I have a printout. I was quoted in the Irish Daily Mail where I expressed my disappointment at the Government parties in the Seanad for rejecting a similar proposal to that which we are discussing…

The people know who they are. I want to use my time constructively.