I welcome to the distinguished guests in the Visitors Gallery. This morning, I raise an issue that has an effect on community groups across the country, which is the lack of pay parity between Tús and rural social scheme, RSS, workers and their equivalent community employment scheme supervisors. The Tús scheme and the RSS are an incredible lifeline and the lifeblood of rural communities. They do brilliant work supporting GAA clubs, community groups and village and town enhancements, but there is a total lack of par…

First, I welcome my friend from Castlebar and colleague in Fine Gael, Councillor Donna Sheridan, who is in the Gallery. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank him for his engagement and work done to date. It is great to see a Ministry for fisheries. As previous speakers have outlined, including an impassioned contribution by Senator Manus Boyle, there is an awful lot that needs to be done to fight the corner for Irish fisheries at a European level. The hook and line mackerel policy is an issue of con…

Could we extend the time to discuss the mussel farms and the quotas for hook and line?

I thank the Minister of State.

The mackerel.

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. This matter is quite a niche one and affects very few individuals in the country who take up and are willing to put themselves forward and put their name on a ballot paper to represent their community, district and county. This matter relates to front-line workers who are full-time firefighters and put themselves in the way of danger at a moment's notice to protect and defend communities. They are often well-known figures within communities and are heavily involved…

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. Obviously I am disappointed by it and I contest it. The key message in the reply is that section 161 "... allows the Minister to designate such class, description or grade of employments to which this restriction does not apply or to specify conditions under which the restriction does not apply". There is scope for flexibility there. It is a stroke of a pen. It is a power within the gift of the Minister. Regarding full-time firefighters, a small, niche group of people, p…

I so propose.

I join colleagues in supporting third level students throughout the country who have been shocked over the past few days by the proposals to increase third level fees. I was a students’ union president, as was Senator Harmon. We worked together at the same time in students’ unions. It was a time of deep economic recession and support through SUSI grants and supports through a contribution on student fees were what kept students in and out of college. I was students’ union president on GMIT’s Mayo campus, which is n…

We do not need to make any political thing out of what is a difficult time and a concerning proposal for students and families who are to the pin of their collar in a cost-of-living crisis. The proposal needs to be stopped. We need to find a solution for it. We do not need to play politics on what is a really important issue and we need to deliver for students and third level as we committed to in the Private Member’s Bill we brought in May. We need to deliver on that and I hope the Minister, Deputy Lawless, and al…

Before I make my contribution, I acknowledge the James McNeive Foundation, in memory of James McNeive, who tragically died last year. His friends and family will, over the next five days, climb five peaks across Ireland and the UK. They began yesterday in Ben Nevis in Scotland and will complete their efforts and climbs on Saturday on Croagh Patrick in his native County Mayo. He was from Aghamore. They are raising a huge amount of money for different local charities that are close to the family's hearts. I use this …

I want to raise an issue with serious health and safety implications for towns and villages throughout Ireland. I will use an example in my home county of Mayo. This week the father of a child with a disability took action himself to repaint a disability bay in Westport which had depleted and faded. During my time as a councillor, we regularly called for councils and local authorities to have line painting services carried out in-house. No local authorities in Ireland own line painting services and we rely on contr…

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. The matter I am raising is one I have raised regularly in the House and which has been raised very regularly with me by members of community youth groups like the No Name Club and Foróige and I have also observed it myself. It is the proliferation of vaping, especially vape shops, across every town and village in Ireland. It happened very quickly, so obviously regulation has not caught up with it. My point this morning is that tobacco regulations should be expande…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, for a very positive reply. I welcome all of the proposals. The minimum age for the nicotine inhaling products has been very welcomed, but to limit the retail sale of it in areas such as shops, butchers and phone repair shops, where it is clearly being cynically targeted at young people, is where we need to tackle it most. I am pleased with the reply. My main question is when this may take effect. The reply is 100% satisfactory, very welcomed and I am very pleased by it…

Before I call the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, I welcome to the Gallery the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Deputy Niall Collins, and his guests, who are from Lough Gur National School, County Limerick. As tradition goes, the pupils will have no homework for the week. I also welcome the guests from Gaelscoil Éadan Doire, who are guests of Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh. As tradition goes, they too will have no homework for the week.

Before we move on to the next Commencement matter, I welcome the pupils from Kiltale National School, County Meath, who are guests of Deputy Aisling Dempsey. As tradition goes in the Seanad, there will be no homework for the rest of the week. I also welcome to the House Senator Pat Casey's guests: Pat Vance and Barry Ryan. Everyone else in the Gallery is also very welcome to the House today.

I raise an important issue with the potential to affect many communities across Ireland. It relates to forestry. In Ballycastle in my county of Mayo, Coillte intends and proposes to plant a 30-acre site but the community does not want it and has expressed clearly that it does not want it in this location. The proposed site is right next to the Ballycastle GAA pitch. There are at least 12 or 13 houses in the immediate vicinity of this proposal. Coillte intends to go ahead with it as it stands but I am asking it to s…

I welcome the Minister. He will be familiar with a lot of the issues I raise. As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and my party's spokesperson on transport, a lot of the areas I will highlight relate particularly to transport. Last week, the Minister, like me and many others here, attended the Northern and Western Assembly briefing. One of the most stark findings of that morning's briefing was that the north-west region is one of the weakest regions with regard to transport. Comparable regions…

I want to discuss serious issues with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and small but important projects which are not being delivered in communities across the country. I served in the local council before serving in the Seanad. I found that basic interventions we raised as councillors and that had the unanimous support of all elected representatives, engineers and planners, along with local transport plans, were ignored in the context of funding. This happens whether a project involves a pedestrian crossing,…

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the opportunity to speak on such an important matter that affects towns and villages right across the country. I compliment the work of Senator Nelson Murray, a strong advocate in the House of insurance reform, reflecting her own lived experience and the challenges that face businesses like hers. In County Mayo, businesses have closed down. The role of businesses such as soft play centres, which are the heartbeat for young families in an area whe…