I thank the Minister of State for coming to discuss this very important issue. Small businesses and retailers are the very heart, as he said, of our economy. They make up the majority of the businesses in our country, employing two thirds of our workforce. As the Minister of State mentioned, they are the lifeblood and part of the fabric of our towns and communities. they hold everything together. The headline or overarching message here today is resilience. If we consider what our SMEs have done in the past 15 or 2…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber. I welcome the students from St. Paul's College. I am sure the Cathaoirleach will make an announcement before they leave. I raise an issue that is very important in the area I am from, Castlerea in west Roscommon, which is to prioritise the upgrading of the N60 national road through Castlerea. With the imminent completion of the N5 project - the extension from Scramoge to Tibohine, representing an investment by the Government of over €450 million - everyone wi…

We know the money has been allocated for the N5. I take on board what the Minister of State said about engaging with the local authority. When the TII conversation came before the councillors, it was a matter of taking all or none of the safety measures. As a result of the lack of engagement on the ground, none of the measures was taken on board. However, the roads engineer in Roscommon said at the time that if we were to try to look at a ring road or a float road in Castlerea we would be looking at an eight-to-ten…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O’Connor, to the House.

I, too, wish to be associated with the condolence messages that have been echoed in the Chamber today. Last week, in the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence, we heard from the young people and youth representative bodies regarding AI and the impact on their lives. This morning, we also heard from representatives from the older bodies, people representing the older demographic. A lot of the information we heard from both demographic groups was about what the apps and the tech companies are doing with our data…

I thank the Minister of State for being here and I thank the Cathaoirleach for organising this discussion this evening. Like Senator Curley, I want to acknowledge the 178,000 students that are getting on buses every morning, the 8,200 buses, and the 10,600 routes in the system. The Minister of State said that no child should be left behind and it is great to hear that. The increase in spending in this sector in recent years is impressive, going from €200 million to over €500 million, and shows that the Government i…

The Minister of State is very welcome this morning. I thank him for coming in to answer this Commencement matter. The situation regarding the courtroom facilities in Castlerea Prison is something I have wanted to raise for some time. Castlerea is a medium-security prison, purpose built to serve as a committal prison for Connacht and counties like Cavan, Donegal and Longford. It has a capacity of 340. It is a modern facility equipped to deal with the realities of the prison population in the 21st century. However, p…

I thank the Minister of State very much. It is interesting to hear there has been no change to that, but I welcome the additional court staff. I am looking at a newspaper cutting from 2020 with the headline "Harristown courthouse makes history as video-link installed for hearings". It was celebrated at the time. Obviously, we were dealing with a situation where we were trying to stop the spread of Covid-19 at the time. However, for some of these travels, I would hope that the videolink system could be used more to …

I wish to raise an issue that came up at one of the committee meetings yesterday regarding Oireachtas enquiry lines. I was trying to highlight with the witness a delay in getting responses. Following a bit of research, I found it is a much bigger issue across a lot more of the boards and agencies that we have access to. We as public representatives should not have to go back to members of the public with excuses as to why we have not received an answer within a specific time. I did some research. For State agencies…

I stand today to speak about social media and a number of stories that presented themselves over the summer. There was the spreading of misinformation and threats. Social media policy seems to protect the protagonists in these situations more than the victims. It is affecting every area of life at present but, specifically at this moment in time, it is affecting Oireachtas Members. It is affecting presidential candidates. It is also definitely prevalent among the general public and the general population. It is a r…

I welcome this conversation. I thank the Minister of State for coming into us today. Unlike my esteemed colleague, I did not get the chance to visit the rest of the country on the canvass for the Seanad, so I will talk about Roscommon and my area. I concur with Senator Cosgrove about the plan the Northern and Western Regional Assembly produced as well as a call for overall balanced regional development. Unfortunately, the plan the Senator referred to has very little reference to Roscommon in it. The infrastructure …

I join everyone else in welcoming Martin Hughes to his new role. I also pay tribute to Martin Groves and Bridget Doody for their work in their former roles. When talking about two people who have always gone above and beyond in their roles, it is worth mentioning the staff working in our schools. A lot have come back in difficult times, experiencing issues with bus transport and school meals. A lot of smaller schools received notification in recent weeks to say they were below the number of meals being delivered an…

I rise today, on the final sitting of this term, to talk about school buses once again. It is something I have raised on at least two occasions in recent weeks, but this is a good news story. Bus Éireann this week came back to me and, after a submission I made initially in March, said: We have investigated the feasibility of amending the school bus to serve Ballymoe Village and I wish to advise that this amendment will take effect for the 2025/2026 ... academic year. Because of what I have said in this Chamber befo…

I move: That Seanad Éireann: – having regard to the conclusions and recommendations of the Report of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders, published on 3rd September, 2024; – noting that it is the opinion of the Government that these matters of significant public concern require, in the public interest, examination by the establishment of a Commission of Investigation; – noting that the Minister for Education and Youth has led the Government's consider…

I thank the Minister for coming in today. I suppose we are all considering this motion with a deep sense of responsibility and with a conviction to support it and the establishment of the commission of investigation into the handling of historical child sexual abuse in day and boarding schools. This is a long-overdue recognition that the education system and the institutions that govern it harboured dark and painful truths. It is a moment that demands honesty, empathy and a firm commitment to justice. For too long,…

I thank the Minister of State very much for facilitating today's statements on sport. Like previous speakers, I reiterate the health benefits of investing in sport. We have often spoken in this Chamber about revitalising and regenerating rural Ireland and what a rural economy needs to survive. Sporting facilities are what a community needs to survive. I am not so old that I do not recall getting changed for soccer and Gaelic games in the back of cars. Likewise, I can remember togging out for football games in conve…

I rise today following a meeting yesterday with the Irish Hotels Federation, IHF, which is a representative body that represents more than 900 hotels and guesthouses employing approximately 66,000 people nationally. We in this House are all familiar with their ask with regard to the VAT rate. However, I wish to look a bit further and call for a discussion in this House on how we can support them in training up their staff. There is no training fund for that sector. Many of the institutes have to pay for that out of…

I was going to say, "Happy birthday".

I welcome the Minister of State, once again, to the Chamber. The Minister of State always seems to come in just before I speak but I thank him for coming in again. In the Minister's opening statement, he mentioned the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. While I was planning to talk about balanced regional investment and the north west, I recall speaking following St. Patrick's weekend to a hotelier here in Dublin whom was I was staying with and asking how busy the hotel was. The turnover was similar due to costs, but …

I thank the Minister of State for once again gracing us with his presence. He is a great friend to this Chamber. I thank him for always making himself available to us. I call on the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to make a comprehensive statement on the Department’s remote working strategy and the specific targets set out for the remainder of this term. This is a vital plea for the future prosperity and sustainability of rural communities, a future that hinges on decisive action and …