I welcome Finola Cassidy to the Visitors Gallery. She is very welcome. I know she is an amazing champion. I commend the Senator on raising this issue. I welcome the Minister. The Senator has four minutes to set out his Commencement matter.

I thank the Senator, who made a crystal-clear ask. The Minister of State has four minutes to respond.

The Senator should allow the Minister of State to finish.

The Senator was very concise in her request and the Minister of State was very concise in his reply, so they both have extra time.

First, I welcome the Smith family to the House. It is great to see them here. I also thank the Leader, Senator Doherty, and Senator Seery Kearney for their proposed legislation. I look forward to supporting it. It is timely, appropriate and necessary. I particularly thank Senator Seery Kearney for sharing. We are not very close in emotional aspects of anyone's life. It makes it very real when the lived experience and emotion is brought to the House. I acknowledge that and thank Senator Seery Kearney and the Leader …

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with it. The matter relates to the Government's plans for making new temporary appointments to the board of An Bord Pleanála. I hope the Minister of State will outline what those plans are and make a statement on them. None of us needs a lesson on An Bord Pleanála and the lack of confidence in the board among many members of the public. I acknowledge, as I have done all along, that there is a p…

The Minister of State is absolutely correct as regards maritime issues. We have seen maritime legislation and the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, and all of the bits of legislation around that. That is an important complement to any new board. The heavy emphasis on environmental issues is important because many of those subsequently become challenges and are referred for judicial review. Planning should not be determined by judicial review. I understand why it goes down that road, but we need a better, mo…

I join with others in supporting the proposal on Seanad secretarial assistants' pay. The Leader is committed to it, as are all other Senators, so we do not need to discuss it at any great length today. We know the shortcomings and we have promised to address this issue many times, but we have not got it over the line. That is a disappointment, given that there is support for it across the Houses. I hope that we can work collaboratively in support of our amazing secretarial assistants, who support us every day of th…

I second the motion.

I join the Leader in her words of support for the people of Creeslough, County Donegal. This afternoon in Seanad Éireann, we joined together to observe a moment of silence for Senators who wanted contemplation, prayer and reflection over those who lost their lives so tragically in Creeslough. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones - their families and friends - as well as the emergency services, both North and South, the community of Creeslough, the people of Donegal more widely and the co…

I welcome the Minister and thank him for coming to the House to set out this important Bill of his. I am generally supportive of the content of the Bill. We will need to tease out one or two issues and I will flag them to the Minister rather than tease them out now. This can be done later on in the process. I also want to thank the Oireachtas Library and Research Service which has done quite an extensive review of and commentary on the Minister’s Bill, which is very helpful. I would urge everyone who has not had a …

Thirty, I think.

Is there a difference?

I had expected the Minister would be here but I have no issue with the Minister of State being here instead and I thank him for coming to the house to deal with this issue. According to media reports, though not according to any politician I have spoken to, the controversial planning rules for the build to rent, BTR, apartments are set to be axed. I think it stemmed from the deliberations of the Acting Chairperson's party Ard Fheis at the weekend. A lot of media coverage was dedicated to it and to the Minister's in…

Neither was I.

The Minister did not hear it either.

I thank the Minister of State. I warmly welcome this decision, which makes sense. Nothing stays static. I would like the Minister of State to convey to the Department that it would be very helpful if we had the written statement because we have none, which is unusual for this particular issue. It would be helpful if someone from the Department could fax or email it to us this morning. I thank the Minister of State for that. I would also like the Minister of State to take back to the Minister that it is important we…

Hear hear - plenty of vacancies in here.

On behalf of the Independent Group, I welcome Lord McFall, whom I met last night. I thank him for hosting that wonderful lunch at the pavilion at the Palace of Westminster for the members of the British-Irish Parliamentary Association, BIPA. There are a number of BIPA members here today. It is a very important organisation. I thank Lord McFall for visiting in this important year for us, the centenary of the Seanad. Ireland and the UK both operate a bicameral parliamentary system and, therefore, we understand the ch…

I welcome the Minister and her officials to the House. I do not envisage this Bill taking as long as the previous Bill on the matter. The Minister has ten minutes to make her introduction.