Cuirim fáilte ar ais roimh an Aire Stáit. I will focus on housing. My county of Clare is a mainly rural county. We have Ennis, Shannon and Kilrush, and that is about it when it comes to towns. There is great stuff being done on housing. It is really good in urban areas but my concern is that a lot of the activity through the Land Development Agency is not relevant in my county. Good work is being done in Clare. We have reached our targets on social housing. However, cost-rental and affordable provision is just not …

That is why I came back.

I move: “That Seanad Éireann: recognises that: - guidance counsellors play a crucial role in the personal/social, educational and vocational development of every student in our secondary school system; - guidance counsellors are important in supporting students’ mental health, wellbeing and forging pathways out of poverty; - students who are experiencing mental health issues are often reluctant to seek help from public health services and studies have found that guidance counsellors are often the only professionals…

But-----

I acknowledge the presence of the vice president of the IGC, Ms Catriona Rodgers, who takes on the role voluntarily and does not get paid. She has been stellar in her work with me. I hear all the time from two friends I grew up with who have been guidance counsellors for 25 years, but Ms Rodgers still managed to educate me much further than I was previously on the whole challenge around guidance counselling. I also acknowledge that I had a meeting earlier with the Minister. Senator Gallagher and I sat down with Ms …

I congratulate the Minister on this important work. I used to teach maths and physics but I also taught civil, social and political education. When I was teaching fair trade, I would draw a banana on the board and slice it up with the smallest slice going to the grower of the bananas. You could do that now with a steak or a litre of milk. This Bill may help to deal with that. For far too long, the people who do the most work have got the least money out of it. I welcome the Bill in general. The introduction of the …

I welcome Ms Demetriou. It is great to see a woman in her post. I will not go any further on the gender thing, but if you cannot see it, you cannot be it. I am glad, therefore, that the females of Cyprus and beyond can see her, a woman, in this position. It is not only inspiring for women but also for men. This is also important. It is not only women who are inspired. We can inspire men as well when we take on roles that have traditionally been men's. I wish to speak about climate action, climate change and biodive…

Inniu tá mé ag iarraidh labhairt faoi ábhar sláinte. I want to speak today about health and how prevention is better than cure. Yesterday was world Multiple Sclerosis Day. We had an amazing group of people into the House, including doctors and people who live with MS. One of the big takeaways for me was the need for neurophysiotherapists, not just for people with MS but also for people with Parkinson's, stroke victims and those who are neurodivergent. As Senator O'Loughlin said, 14% of people in Ireland are neurodi…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Three years ago, there was nothing happening in this area. With this new coalition Government, we have in the past three years expedited offshore wind to a level that was never even envisioned by any Opposition parties. There were not even policies on it. As soon as we addressed the issue, people immediately asked why we had not done work on it already. We have to do it and we have to do it right. We had no maritime protected areas as such before this. We had no MARA. There was no…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. He pushed for this legislation as soon as he became Minister. As we know, there are huge issues with the backlog in processing qualifications. The last thing we want is more bureaucracy stopping people coming in from the UK. Hats off to the Minister for driving the Bill forward. He had good support from his staff, but sometimes it takes a Minister to drive an issue. It is amazing what can be achieved when people put their mind to it. I take this opportunity to acknowledge that today i…

Go raibh maith agat. I stand humbled in front of our guest. I very much appreciate the work of Rev. Good. A deep moral, ethical and spiritual sense can have a major impact on people and I appreciate Rev. Good for that reason. Sometimes, we forget it is not all about the head. There is also the heart, and he definitely played his part in bringing that deeper social and spiritual aspect to the process. I really appreciate that. It is great to have him in the House.

Can I speak to the Bill in general? Is that okay?

Okay. I will come back in in a minute. Amendment agreed to.

This is a really important part of the Bill. The TII has often made decisions on the speed limits for certain types of road, but it is important, as we heard the Minister say, that if local authorities have an issue with the limit that is set that it can be looked at and changed. I have put up many photos of where there is an 80 km/h speed limit right on a bend or one where there is an 80 km/h sign and right underneath it a sign warning people to slow down because there are children at play. In my village of Inagh,…

Now.

I want to say a few words about the ongoing issue in Clare, namely, the fish kill in a river. There is a public meeting about it tomorrow night in the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon. There is an ongoing investigation, thanks to Inland Fisheries Ireland and its dedicated staff. The people want results and answers. We have to set a precedent because it was a crime against nature. Thousands of fish of every variety, including salmon, trout and even eels, were killed, which means otters and herons are not coming back up the…

Is oth liom a rá gur seachtain an-bhrónach í an tseachtain seo. River Inagh has been killed stone dead. Thanks to a big dump into our river, we have thousands of dead fish, insects, eels and so forth. I spoke on the news about it but that does not really make a difference because that will not clean up the river. What has happened in River Inagh could happen anywhere. I urge the support of the entire Houses of the Oireachtas to make sure we never see this happening again. The only way we can prevent that from happe…

I am here today to discuss a Commencement matter I raised three years ago. Here we are again. I will keep bringing it up. It concerns raw sewage going into our waterways and seas all over Ireland. I know we cannot fix anything overnight but I will keep asking about this. At least four places in Clare are affected. I do not want to name them because that would be bad publicity for these beautiful places. The Inagh river flows through my village down to the sea in Lahinch. After heavy rainfall, I could send the Minis…

That is very positive. That is a big jump from 2029 to 2025. I cannot wait to tell the people of north Clare who have been volunteering to try to clean the beaches and do the water testing, some of whom have gotten sick themselves, including my friend's child who got kidney failure and nearly died. That is, therefore, really positive. Uisce Éireann has to up its game when it comes to citizens and engagement because people never know what is going on. People from Milltown Malbay are always losing their water and the…

Dia is Muire don uachtarán agus fearaim céad míle fáilte roimhe agus dá chlann ar an lá stairiúil, bródúil seo. Comhghairdeas leis. It is great to have a big GAA family in the Chamber. The visitors in the Gallery nearly have a team among themselves. I grew up playing camogie and I am a better and happier person as a result. It toughens you up. You have to work as a team and get over things. You do not sweat the bruises; you move on and keep your eye on the prize. As well as being hugely important in my own life, th…