Thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. I join you in welcoming the distinguished guests of the Cathaoirleach to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery. I see friends there. I have certainly been at many functions with them and I thank them for that. I hope they have a successful day. I am calling for a debate on open government data and the freedom of information Act. I do so in the context of exempted development. I will quickly take the House through a number of points. On 29 July 2025, submissions opened for the public co…

I welcome the Minister of State and his family. I also particularly welcome Deputy Charles Ward for his sterling work on this. I acknowledge Councillors Joy Beard, Denis McGee, Ali Farren and Tomás Seán Devine of the 100% Redress party. This is a registered political party that was activated by its advocacy work for people on the ground. We must not forget that. We live in a democracy. These people have a mandate from the people in their community that they represent. I work closely with them from time to time as i…

I welcome the Minister and thank him and his team for coming here. I acknowledge the very important work that is the school hot meals scheme. As I was coming up the stairs to the House, I was reminded of a great Kerrywoman, who was the principal of a school in north County Dublin. She asked me to come into the school. This school had been through great difficulties. It was under the patronage of the Catholic Diocese of Dublin and was eventually divided into two schools because the numbers were so large. It was befo…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, for coming to take it. It is an area she is passionate about and fiercely committed to. I join in welcoming our guest from Kerala. It is great to have people from other jurisdictions and representative groups. That is very much part of the spirit of our Parliament, one that is diverse and inclusive, and that engages and welcomes. I therefore wish Mr. Oommen great Irish hospitality and welcome him to the Oirea…

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive response. It is important that we track but also that we tell the good news. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I ask her to convey my thanks to the Minister, Deputy Foley. One thing I thought about as the Minister of State was speaking is that we have heard a lot about this budget in recent times, and Government policy's targeting approach, where we target the need most. Targeted services and development opportunities, as part of the family r…

It is good to see Senator Duffy in the role of Acting Leader. It is the first time he has been in this position for the Order of Business. Well done. I want to raise the issue of horticulture and the amount of fruit and vegetables imported last year. A bulletin issued last night by agriland.ie had an article with a headline stating that the latest trade figures show that Ireland imported almost €2 billion worth of fruit and vegetables in 2025. This is in the context of the number of local horticultural producers co…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with this important matter of energy and fuel costs. I also thank the officials from the Department who are here today. It is timely to have this discussion. At the outset, I want to say that protecting agriculture, forestry, horticulture and farm viability will be the centre of my contribution to the debate on energy and fuel costs. Without a viable agricultural sector, food security, rural employment and the resilience of local economies will be in dee…

As Members are dealing with the Order of Business for today at present, I wish to address some concerns. I listened to my colleague, Senator Clonan, who expressed concern about an additional few minutes for statements on citizenship, a really important aspect of our work. I thank the Minister of State for making himself available. I know it is the Minister of State who is due here this afternoon, not the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, as were that the case, we might have a different scenario. However, we have to dea…

No. I suggest pragmatism and that the Deputy Leader reflect as to what is appropriate and have a chat with the Leader's office. I understand the dynamics. I am not 100% sure about the Minister's availability, but we are talking about five or ten minutes, not 30 minutes.

I appreciate that.

I wish the Taoiseach, and indeed the Minister, Deputy McEntee well in New York. I was thinking of that this morning and of the significance in terms of our migration and immigration policy, our history of forced emigration, how families were forced to leave here, and the reception they may have received in Liverpool, London, Boston, Manhattan or New York. Then I thought what a difference. We would have seen, or people would have known and reported sightings in London at guesthouses of certain signs. A father and hi…

I am pleased to see Senator Byrne in the Leader’s chair. I wish him well in that job. I also wish him well in his new position as Government Whip. There are three items I wish to discuss today. First is the exempt development regulations, which are being covered extensively in the media. We know the committee met last night to discuss these regulations and they are before the Dáil today. We expect they will be before the Seanad tomorrow. There is much talk about these exempt development regulations. They have gone …

I welcome the Minister and the official to the Seanad. This is particularly important Private Members' business. I thank Senators Collins and Tully for setting out the background and the rationale behind their Private Members' motion. I acknowledge the Minister's exceptional commitment to rural Ireland and his Ministry. It is an amazing Ministry and I acknowledge the significant work the former Ministers, Heather Humphreys and Michael Ring, did in this area. It is a very special Ministry. There is not a day that st…

I welcome the Canadian ambassador to the Upper House in this bicameral Parliament of ours. I particular welcome his delegation here. Canada is a beacon of light in many regards and the Irish people and Government very much value the very special relationship with Canada. I wish the delegation the very best of luck and every success in its visit to the Oireachtas. I will raise one issue with the Deputy Leader. We have exactly 949 city and county councillors in our country. Every week or two weeks I am up here on my …

I wish the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, well and wish him a speedy recovery. I thank him for his input on this work. He has championed rural communities. He represents a constituency that has both urban and rural areas. The significance of the post offices is known to us all. Any of us who has contacts with post offices, be they urban or rural, knows the importance of them. They are an important point of contact. Most people who run post offices have been long established there. Many of them run them in combination …

I welcome the Minister of State and his team of staff to the House. I will take up on some of the points that Senator Higgins has made. I want to touch on them. I am conscious we are under a lot of time pressure. We are in the last week before the summer recess. There is an eagerness to complete a number of pieces of legislation over the next two days. Mindful of all of that, we are talking about section 3, amendment No. 1 in the name of Senator Higgins, and she has touched on a few issues in relation to the vacant…

This is the first reference to the Planning Regulator so it is an opportune time to mention a few issues of concern in this area. I acknowledged during the last session when we were dealing with this Bill the important and significant work of the Planning Regulator. I acknowledge the Office of the Planning Regulator, rather than the individual, and its support for sitting county councillors. It runs many workshops of engagement, which is critical. I have said time and again that councillors are not engineers, plann…

No.

I will not come back in because it would not be appropriate. I will just say that I understood that it was already completed. In light of all these very intelligent Senators here making further contributions I am not suggesting it is to be tweaked further. I do not think so. I think we just need to get the Minister to publish it.

I wish to speak on the section. I am using this as an opportunity, as I did with the earlier section. This the first mention of An Coimisiún Pleanála and I want to use this as an opportunity to highlight a number of issues relating to An Coimisiún Pleanála. It has come along a pretty rocky road. The Minister of State and I know, as do a number of Senators who served, particularly Senator Flaherty, on the housing committee, about the long and protracted discussions we had about An Coimisiún Pleanála. There were a lo…