We did not listen.

There are lessons to be learned. We will learn the lessons because the people of this country have spoken. I have listened quite clearly to what has been said. There are lessons to be learned in this House and in this whole building. Going forward, we should certainly not be afraid to say what we mean. That is very important. I hope that the measures will ease the pain for all those people out there because farmers, contractors and small businesses have experienced it. As a Government, it is incumbent on us now to …

That is very collegial.

I also raised this issue earlier on the Order of Business. What have we learned from this whole debate that happened on the streets? What I take out of it is that we have farmers, businesspeople and hard-working individuals who have worked on the land. They have borrowed loads of money because we have invested in them to generate food. They have come across hard times. I will tell the Minister of State about a contractor. A contractor will bale silage this year and the farmer could owe him for last year's silage. T…

I welcome the conclusion of the Bord Bia saga. In particular, I thank the IFA and all the farming organisations for the conclusion. I welcome the review that is taking place within the board. I congratulate all those involved in getting it to this stage. If it has done one thing, it is to strengthen our meat industry, food labelling and farmers' experience within the board. It highlights the concerns of the farming community. We now need to move on, strengthen the food we export and the labelling and get back to th…

The Minister is welcome to the House once more. It seems that we have him in this House frequently to discuss agricultural issues. He correctly said that bluetongue has caused much stress and strain for the farming community, which is correct. Bluetongue is spread by the infection of a biting midge. Thankfully, Ireland, as he rightly said, was one of the last countries in the EU to lose its disease-free status, last year. I pay tribute to his Department for keeping it off the island because everybody knows the pric…

Today I rise to address a deeply worrying matter. We have all heard of the Covid pandemic but unfortunately, in the last number of years, we hear of sepsis being diagnosed in hospitals all over Ireland and all over the world. It is not just an Irish problem but a world issue. To give some figures, 20 million people died of sepsis worldwide last year. For anyone who does not understand sepsis, it is failure of all the organs at the one time. We have seen that the pharmaceutical industry has not put resources into fi…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I agree with the sentiments of everybody who has spoken tonight. The last time we spoke about this, we spoke about tractor users and a provisional licence being given to somebody at 18 or even younger. When contractors come and a workforce is needed at silage or slurry time, they are allowed to drive up to 250 HP tractors and in some cases even more. With weight-bearing trailers, the slurry tank or trailer will be eight to 12 tonnes and the load behind that will be anot…

A couple of issues have arisen in the county town of Longford over recent weeks. A person in their 30s and a person in their 20s have been stabbed, which is shocking. One of them was stabbed and dumped outside our local Garda station. Everybody locally knows that it is feuding among families and it is drug related. In fairness, County Longford had two Garda superintendents at one time. We had one in Granard, our second largest town, and one in Longford town. Unfortunately, we have one superintendent there now and, …

I rise today to discuss the fox hunting Bill that will be before the Lower House tomorrow. As everyone knows, I have spoken on this in the past. I have received numerous emails from people claiming I misinformed this House when I spoke on the matter in the past. I said that, with an explosion in fox numbers, we might see a child or even an adult being attacked some day. Unfortunately, last week, a woman in County Cavan was attacked by a fox and received five stitches or staples to the back of her head. There was an…

On a point of clarity, the former Minister, Mr. Hogan, was not a Minister in 2008 and 2009, as Senator Andrews alluded to. I would like the record to be corrected. I remind Senator Andrews that he himself was a Fianna Fáil TD in government at that time.

I was a member of the AILG when I was a councillor, and one of the concerns that came up was that a lot of councillors did not have health insurance. With more than 900 members, there should be some health insurance policy available. There is no mechanism to deal with the situation when councillors are sick and not fit to do their duties due to treatments or whatever it may be. That is one of the key issues.

Today, I rise to remember the late, great Paddy Cooney. He was a Member of this House and a member of Government for a number of years. I grew up with my grandmother and father who had great time for and empathy with the late Paddy Cooney. He was a fierce worker, and so it was when he put his name on the ballot paper. He always seemed to get elected in the Longford-Westmeath area. He was a man with a fierce integrity and dignity and I suppose that shone through in his ministerial roles. He held a number of roles in…

I wish to raise an issue regarding dog attacks on livestock. This week, we saw dog attacks on livestock have surged to a six-year high. We are now coming into lambing season once more. We have seen that half the dogs that are impounded have no microchips. The system that is there at this moment in time is actually broken. There are fines from €100 to €300 for anybody caught by a dog warden who has a dog off a leash or one that is worrying sheep. Two thirds of these fines were not paid in 2024. It is alarming to see…

I welcome home our peacekeepers. Members of the 126th Infantry Battalion returned following a six-month deployment with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL. They were greeted, in emotional scenes, at the airport. It is wonderful to be able to say all our troops returned home safe and sound after a traumatic time for the past six months. As everybody knows, UNIFIL is to wind down at the end of 2026. The Lebanon area has had a huge connection with Irish troops over the past 40 years. I hope that when …

It would be remiss of me not to wish Senator Wilson a happy 80th birthday. He is looking very well for the times. Today, I rise in response to an article that appeared in the Irish Farmers' Journal this week. To be quite clear, I am not against trade deals. Journalists from the Irish Farmers' Journal went to Brazil, undercover, and visited a lot of towns and villages. They uncovered widespread illegal access to across-the-counter antibiotics. For anyone who does not understand, antibiotics have to be on prescriptio…

The Minister is once again welcome to the House for this debate on funding for horse and greyhound racing. As he rightly stated, both sectors are an important part of the economies, culture and heritage of our rural communities. We have all seen what horse racing has done for rural Ireland. In the town of Roscommon, for example, when a race meeting takes place, the activity it brings has an economic effect not only locally but through the wider county. People get dressed up, schools have reunions, there are hen and…

And none tomorrow.

Can we get the name?

I, too, would like to be associated with all the good remarks said about the Irish soccer team. I grew up in the Jack Charlton era and recall early mornings and late night socialising and celebrations. I recall the buzz that was around the Irish team and especially how their efforts brought together communities, a country and a nation. The Irish team also brought our diaspora across the water together because everywhere we went everybody loved the Irish. We grew, as a nation, through sport. I wish the Irish teams -…