I thank the Minister of State and I also thank a friend of mine, Philip Quinlan, who brought this to my attention. I am really delighted to see that we are going to have an opt-in service for passports starting next year, which is my understanding of what the Minister of State just said. Therefore, there will be an opt-in. I take the point that people might change address or contact details within ten years and possibly there could be something going forward. It seems we are being encouraged to log into the mygov.i…

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I welcome the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026 and commend the Minister of State on bringing this important legislation before the House. As she mentioned, this legislation is important and necessary to ensure that Ireland meets its obligations in overseeing the development and deployment of artificial intelligence systems. The Bill is a national implementation measure that will establish the AI office; provide market surveillance authorities, MSAs, wit…

I will read a quote I have read here before: "There is a unique pain that comes from preparing a place in your heart for a child that never comes." I am chair of the cross-party group on pregnancy and infant loss, having taken over from Senator Nicole Ryan, who is on maternity leave. The cross-party group is made up of people from various parties who have come together because they appreciate the ache felt by the thousands of women across Ireland who experience miscarriage. Senators Tom Clonan and Evanne Ní Chuilin…

Sometimes, I believe that things happen for a reason. On my way to Leinster House today, I spoke to a friend of mine who talked about the struggles of dealing with a parent with Alzheimer's disease and how difficult it was for the family and, obviously, the person with dementia, who had worked all their lives, to adjust to the situation. This morning, the Alzheimer Society of Ireland gave a fantastic presentation over in Buswell's Hotel on what it was looking for in the budget. I was drawn to the fact it was lookin…

I thank the Minister of State for being here to go through this Bill. I am very sorry about his siblings. I did not know that and I thank the Minister of State for sharing that with us. I want to address the critical importance of the Insurance (Disregard of Certain Medical History and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025, which was formerly known as the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2025. The 2025 programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, committed to legislate for a right to be forgotten for cancer surv…

I wish Senator Ahearn massive congratulations. I was delighted to speak to him over the weekend. As Senator Ní Chuilinn said, we have heard so much about his mam and his beautiful family. I am sure they are all so proud. I wish him the best of luck for the next year and a half. There are a couple of things about which I want to speak. I was very proud to be in Navan over the weekend. We had the Midsummer Festival until 21 June, which was fantastic. It is the first time we have grabbed a festival and ran with it rea…

I wish to raise the topic of local radio stations around the country. It has been brought up here previously. I cannot express the importance of having a radio station like LMFM in our community enough. The staff call themselves the voice of the north-east. They reach up to 300,000 people on a daily basis. What has happened with local radio stations over the past month is that we have learnt that there are going to be lots of job losses and directors of different stations, like LMFM, will not be there in the future…

I want to bring up two issues. One is about the agricultural shows we are seeing now across our counties. I would like to say a big thank you to the Department of rural and community affairs for the money that is provided to these shows. I think approximately €1 million is dished out to about 126 different agricultural shows around the country, and they get between €4,200 and €11,400 each. I was at Ballivor Horse Show at the weekend. It was my second year going to it. I went to it last year as well. It really is va…

I commend my hometown of Navan, which for a good few years never really did very well when it came to the Anti-Litter League. A very progressive new Tidy Towns committee has been set up in Navan. I cannot take any credit for it. I have not even been out with them. I hope to get out with them in the future. We have moved from being No. 30 in the anti-litter league table last year up to No. 18 this year. It is the first round and then they go back and look at it again. I want to commend Navan because we have another …

Hear, hear.

In recent weeks, I have raised the subject of bringing back the holiday hunger pilot programme, which was run in 2025, this year. This follows on from the large amount of debate and discussion we have all had on the hot school meals programme. We learned at the joint committee on education, as I mentioned here the week before last, that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul had 112,000 requests for food assistance last year. Food poverty is still a massive issue among our children. Therefore, I was absolutely delighte…

I thank the Minister of State for coming in this morning. I have put in a couple of Commencement matters that involved his Department and he has been very gracious. I appreciate him coming in to answer this today. I met a lady two weeks ago who was looking for some help with her daughter, who is ten years of age and has been diagnosed with dyslexia. The psychologist recommended that she get a laptop for school but she was refused by the special educational needs organiser, SENO. When I asked why, I was told that ap…

I thank the Minister of State for his response and for outlining the fact that 3,600 assistive technology supports have come out this year. I am a little disappointed that we do not have the date for it. I appreciate that the Department is at the final stages of the report. I really was hoping to get a date this morning but I hope and I think the Minister of State probably can guarantee me that we will have it for the start of the school year in September. Maybe we can get it out in July or August in order that sch…

That is much appreciated.

I propose a suspension of the House until 10.55 a.m.

I thank the MEPs for coming. My focus is on small businesses and always has been. I would like when we take over the European Presidency that we have a focus on Irish business. When it comes to insurance, for example, we have not had a new entrant into the Irish market for 11 years to provide public liability insurance. I would like to know what the MEPs can do on that issue to help small businesses. The issue of counterfeit and fake branded goods entering the Irish market is becoming a major consumer safety proble…

Can Mr. Mullooly prove that Brazilian beef is going into Irish schools via the hot school meals programme?

I am so sorry, but the amount of businesses that will be affected by this-----

But he is not answering it, with the greatest of respect.

Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an TD nua, Seán Kyne. I just thought I would say that in Seán's language as he had such good Irish. I hope I pronounced it well. There is no such thing as a hopeless cause. I definitely learned that yesterday when I went to the Joshua Community's centre in Navan. It was my first time visiting. I ended up spending about two and a half hours in the centre. I am probably a little bit ignorant of everything that is going on with people who are vulnerable and homeless and it …