I also say comhghairdeas agus bualadh bos to Seán Kyne. Go n-éirí an t-ádh leis ina phost nua. It is fantastic for him and I am delighted for him. I also wish Daniel Ennis the very best and congratulate him. I congratulate everyone who ran. It was a long campaign and everyone who ran needs huge credit for putting their name forward on the ballot paper. I was at a great report launch yesterday by the children and young people’s services committee, CYPSC, in Sligo and Leitrim. The report is on transforming youth ment…

I ask the Acting Leader to suspend the House until the Minister arrives.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire.

I thank the Minister for giving us the opportunity to discuss this issue. A few weeks ago, ATU and the students' union delivered a presentation in the audiovisual room. It was a student-based survey carried out among local ATU students and property owners on the availability of student accommodation. It found that the situation has deteriorated, rather than getting better. I am sure the Minister is aware of difficulties with accommodation in Sligo that was supposed to be purpose-built student accommodation but ende…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tóg go bog é liom anois. Beidh go leor uimhreacha á liostáil agam. Since being elected to Seanad Éireann, I have been contacted by numerous people from all walks of life expressing their dissatisfaction with the level of public transport available in Tubbercurry in south Sligo. Leaving aside the matter of the full reinstatement of the western rail corridor, which I know the Minister of State, as a west of Ireland man, supports, including bringing it right up to Sligo, the level of…

I know, yes.

Go raibh maith ag an Aire Stáit. Tá áthas orm é sin a chloisteáil. Just to confirm, it is not being taken away and it will not be taken away.

Okay. That is great to hear because there is worry and it is amazing the number of people------

Okay, we can take it as a given that it will not happen in the future either.

That is all right, go raibh maith agat.

I am happy with that. That is great.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. As I said on the last Stage, I would go so far as to say this is reckless. I would actually call it dystopian. I think we are walking into a situation that will be irreversible. I know the Minister of State comes from a legal background. It is great to be a Member of a House where there are so many legal minds. However, I do not understand why the Government is supporting this. I do not see any justification for it. Both Ireland and Canada have mature legal systems, with both deri…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. We all want infrastructure delivered quickly but we as the Labour Party think that the Government has misdiagnosed the problem. This Bill seeks to blame environmental law for the Government's own failings by suspending section 15 of the climate action Act for particular projects. The Government is now abandoning any pretence that our biodiversity, environment or climate should play any role in deciding what we see to be critical infrastructure in this country and whether particular proj…

I am sharing time with Senator Noonan.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I am very proud to put my name to this motion as well. I thank Senator Boyhan for including me in it. When I was looking into what I was going to say, I was thinking back to the opening comments from Senator Daly. My grandmother was also a farmer, and she loved farming and spending time on the farm, but she also was burdened by a lot of children. I should not be saying "burdened", but she ended up having to do both. She did not drive, so she spent a lot of time at home, whereas my grand…

It is all right. I do not need extra time. What I was saying was what everyone here had said, namely, that only 13% of total farm owners in Ireland are female. I know the Government has committed in the programme for Government to implement this report and is saying that the three multistructural changes would be policy overhauls, cultural validation and targeted innovation funding. This is where education comes in. For many years, I was a youth liaison worker in rural and urban schools. Agricultural science was al…

Hear, hear.

I also offer my condolences to the family and friends of Yves Sakila on his tragic and horrific death on Friday. I also wish to raise the global flotilla. Twelve Irish citizens have been detained by the Israeli forces. One of the women kidnapped is the Sligo-based GP, Dr. Margaret Connolly, a sister of President Catherine Connolly and wife of my former colleague, Councillor Declan Bree. My thoughts are with his family and their friends. The flotilla was bringing humanitarian aid, baby food and much-needed medical s…

I will speak about the ambulance dispute, which has stopped for the moment. I will go back to the start of it. When we ring for an ambulance, we do not care what qualifications the people have. We just want to know they will do the job we trust them to do. We rely on them so much. It does not make sense to me that the HSE is talking about having conditions before going into negotiations. We cannot end a dispute if there are predetermined conditions before negotiations even start. I have spoken to ambulance personne…