Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. The Minister is very welcome and I welcome this debate. The points have been well made in respect of breast density. I bring this on behalf of a friend of mine who has campaigned on this issue. The main points she asked me to mention are that women with dense breasts are at a higher risk of getting breast cancer. Also, they do not know whether they have dense breasts. When the BreastCheck service and hospitals conduct mammograms, the radiologist reporting on the mammograms knows but the…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. He is very welcome to the House this evening to discuss this important Bill proposed by the Cross-Party Group of the Labour Party, the Social Democrats and the Green Party. I am sure the Minister of State will be aware, from his own part of the country, that vacancy and dereliction is a blight on our villages, towns and cities. We estimate, and they are conservative estimates, that there are as many as 80,000 properties that could…

I will pass to one of my colleagues.

I thank the Minister of State. I thank all the Senators for their contributions. I will address a couple of points raised by the Minister of State in his closing contribution. From our perspective, we are disappointed that a timed amendment has been placed on this legislation. As others said, this an opportunity to bring this Bill to Committee Stage and some of the deficiencies, as the Minister of State put it, could be addressed on that Stage. We have long debated this matter and Senator Higgins has already relate…

I welcome the Minister of State and I thank him for his time today. Like other Members, I very proudly served as a local authority member. I spent 16 years on Kilkenny Corporation – that is what I call it – and then Kilkenny County Council after another Kilkenny man decided in 2014 to abolish it, unfortunately. This is the premise of some of the other contributions. Kilkenny had a unique place in Irish history. The first minutes of Kilkenny Corporation date back to 1231, to the Liber Primus Kilkenniensis , and Kilk…

That is hugely important. The other thing I worked on in my previous role was dedicated heritage teams. That is starting to roll out, whereby we have archivists, archaeologists, architectural conservation officers, ACOs, and heritage officers. Crucial to all of this, however, and this goes back to the comments other Members have made, is around the role of elected members and the responsibility. Sometimes, bad decisions which are pushed by the executive fall back on local authority members. As we have discussed pre…

I welcome the Minister of State. This probably is the first time we have had her with us formally so I wish her the best in her work ahead. The OPW gave a tour of the biodiversity of Leinster House this afternoon, which is why I was late to this debate, so I apologise for that. It is the International Day for Biological Diversity. I will make points on that. Before that, regarding points that have been well made by other Senators about the purchasing power of the State and how important it is that small local compa…

There is a vote in the Dáil. I ask the Acting Leader to move the suspension of House for the duration of the vote.

Fáilte to the students from Buncrana. They are very welcome to the Public Gallery. I hope they enjoy their day here in Leinster House. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The second Commencement matter is from Senators Scahill and Boyle.

I ask the Minister of State to be brief. We are trying to get one more Commencement matter in before the Order of Business.

Yes, there is.

The next matter is in the name of Senator Tully. I apologise, but time is going to be limited.

We are waiting for the Minister of State.

I might have to cut short the Minister of State, if that is okay, because we must finish at 3.30 p.m.

Unfortunately, we do not have time for the Senator to come in again because of the Order of Business.

I seek leave to amend the Order of Business to have No. 9 taken before No. 1 to introduce the cross-party Bill on dereliction and building management. Ibrahim Ammar Saad Al-Qara, Karam Amjad Hafez Shamlakh, Rafif Mahmoud Aref Al-Faqaawi, Al-Anoud Suleiman Jaber Al-Qirinaawi and Hour Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Mamlouk are just five names of infants who never reached the age of one. I thank Senator Stephenson for providing us with this list. It is important to put names to the statistics because the statistics can numb us a…

I move: Bill entitled an Act to provide for identification, management, restoration and bringing back to use of derelict buildings and to simplify and expedite applications to refurbish or change the use of upper floors or ‘over the shop’ for residential use by establishing in each local authority a special planning and building control approval system to be called a Town Centre First application process.

Next Tuesday.

I welcome our visitors in the Gallery. I hope they enjoy their visit to the Dáil and Seanad today.

I welcome to the Visitors Gallery pupils and teachers of Ballycanew National School in Gorey, County Wexford. I hope they enjoy their visit to the Dáil and Seanad here today. They live in a beautiful part of the country and I hope they enjoy the sunshine down there over the weekend.