I have good news for the farming community this morning, in that the Minister, Deputy Heydon, has extended the time to allow farmers under the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, geese and swan action to graze for an extra month. Especially when we are coming into a fodder crisis and everyone knows that there is a shortage in the country, an extra month for these farmers to graze on that land will certainly ease a burden over the winter. I thank the Minister and his officials for bringing this initiative …

The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on road safety, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to conclude at 2.15 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 2, proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of the defective concrete blocks social housing scheme 2026, to be ta…

I thank the Cathaoirleach. Before I respond, I confirm that the time for the group spokespersons on No. 3, statements on the school meals programme, is eight minutes and not five minutes as I mentioned earlier in my opening statement. Senator O’Loughlin spoke about the Baldonnel Singers and cancer, and awareness regarding FND in Athy. We would welcome a debate this House around FND. I thank Senator O’Loughlin for putting forward this motion. She also spoke about the commuter belt and the budget expenditure per head…

Senator Craughwell spoke about the taxi service and some companies owning 20 licences or more and hiring them out for €6,000. He also looked for a debate on the ownership of the taxis and why some companies owned 20-plus licences. He spoke about sole traders and the need for a debate regarding sole traders, taxi regulation and taxi services. Certainly, I would welcome a debate on this. Senator Rabbitte spoke about solar farms. I am delighted that somebody has raised solar farms again. There has been no regulation o…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Unfortunately I am not left with a lot of time. I support the scrappage scheme. It is a great scheme. When people say that they do not know what is going to take over from oil, I will give an instance. A pellet burner in a house will take over from oil. It will do the exact same job as oil. For instance, it is more efficient and more carbon friendly. That is one instance that we should look at and maybe support more of that. With regard to the roll-out of the rebate sch…

I wish to discuss a case that is ongoing all over social media where animals were euthanised on a farm in Roscommon and in County Clare last week. Forget about the rights and wrongs or who is right and who is wrong. The manner in which the animals were euthanised is where I see a problem. I call on the Minister for agriculture to strengthen the regulations around euthanising these animals. There have to be stronger regulations. It was overseen by the Department even though the Department did not carry out the eutha…

I rise to address a concern that Councillor Michael Boyle raised yesterday in respect of Donegal. I compliment him on raising what will be a huge concern all over Ireland. It is that Irish Water has sent out notification that it intends to switch off water. I know it is putting in a hose-pipe ban and that is fair enough because people do not need to wash cars or water lawns at this time of year. However, it is talking about switching off water when we have livestock and farmers and we have temperatures in excess of…

I welcome the Minister. I, too, support the countermotion. My colleagues have raised a number of issues but I would like to touch on the GAA's demographics report. It is about how we support those clubs in the countryside that are finding it hard to get players and the population to stay in that area. In my home village, it is all about supporting two local schools. In the case of the one in Ballinamuck, if we can support keeping even three families around and there are two children in each family, we keep a nation…

I, too, would like to be associated with the thoughts for Máire Lillis. I thank Senator Flaherty for such kind words. I hope the Lillis family can find some comfort in the joy they had for the 24 years that Máire was on this earth. Today, I rise to speak about the Longford Agricultural Show that was held last Sunday in Councillor Gerry Hagan's field. It was a spectacular show. I would like to wish Ballinamuck Olde Fair Day, which is taking place next Sunday in my own village of Ballinamuck, continued success. It is…

I rise to speak about the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. For decades, the narratives that surrounded CAP have been a battleground of maximising the different sectors that can extract the most from the budget, be it the suckler cow sector, the sheep sector or the tillage sector, yet the fundamental human element has constantly been ignored. I refer to the quality of life of the person working the land. For generations, farmers have not taken time off. They have not got time to take time off. I will supply some fig…

I too would like to be associated with the comments regarding our new Leader. It is a huge achievement for Senator Ahearn and his family. I hope he will really enjoy the post, and I am sure that he will. He has been very fair to us all. Today, I am raising the issue of the Irish Farm Film Producers Group, IFFPG. This is a group that collects all the plastic recycled from baled silage all over Ireland. I acknowledge, first of all, that the IFFPG did ring me back this morning regarding collection points in the north …

I rise to discuss the current problem that is in our beef sector. We have seen the price of beef fall again this week and last week. It is a sector that is in grave danger. We have farmers losing, on average, between €300 and in excess of €500 on animals that they have purchased and fed over the past six to eight months. The beef sector is really in crisis. Since Bord Bia has been stood down, we have seen beef prices fall at a rapid rate. I would like Bord Bia to come out and give a statement about where our market…

I would like to be associated with the comments of my colleague from Longford, Senator Flaherty, on the brutal treatment of Thomas Quinn, a local garda in our area. I will leave it there because Senator Flaherty covered it well. I would like to speak about mental health this week. The issue of mental health certainly hit our areas of Drumlish and the wider area of Newtown Forbes in the past number of weeks. It has hit a student population who are devastated at the loss of a number of their friends. I hope that as w…

The MEPs are very welcome. As a small rural farmer from north Longford, I totally agree with the sentiments Mr. Mullooly expressed earlier. We have to protect the farming community at all costs. Food security has to be number one when it comes to the next CAP. That is certain. The responsibility for defining an "active farmer" should continue to rest with the member state and, therefore, it should continue to rest with Ireland. We should define "active farmer" ourselves. I would not like us to lose that. We have a …

No school-----

What is going on here today is detrimental. We have farmers in this country. That is detrimental. That is absolutely criminal. That is detrimental to our beef sector. Our beef farmers are suffering at this minute in time where beef has fallen every day by 27 cent per kilo and we have a MEP coming into this Chamber. That is detrimental. That is disgusting.

No way.

Withdraw that statement.

There is absolutely no evidence of that whatsoever.

Hundreds of people working in the school lunches sector-----