Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This is an important Bill. I welcome this debate, as many Members of the House have done. We should not have shoehorned it into the last day of term, although I know why it was done that way.

I will raise three points, the first of which is a matter that Senator Kyne prompted me to raise. The Minister of State has been a member of local authority, as many of us in the House, including the Acting Chairperson, Senator Horkan, have been. I do not think Senators Gavan and McDowell have been. An issue is being raised by the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and its executive committee around the issue of councillors' gratuity payments. It seems that the arrangements have been altered without proper consultation or engagement with the AILG. I hope that as part of our discussion today, the Minister of State will take this issue back to the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, and the Ministers, Deputies Darragh O'Brien, Donohoe and Michael McGrath. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, will also address this issue. The issue of the gratuity payment arises in the context of how we value and treat our local authority members.

I welcome the allocation of funding in the Appropriation Bill. Senator Horkan and I are members of the transport committee. In that context, I welcome the earmarking by the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, of more than €90 million over the next two years to improve journey times on the Cork to Dublin railway line. It is money well spent as part of the overall transport budget by the Minister and by the Government. It will shorten the train journey from Cork to Dublin by eight to ten minutes. Ultimately, this will allow trains to hit speeds of 200 km/h on the track. That is important because if we are to move away from the car and dependency on the car, public transport is critical. The frequency of the service from Cork to Dublin is one point and a second point is the improvement in the customer experience that will result from a reduction in the journey time. I welcome the investment by the Government in the Cork to Dublin railway line.

I did not hear all of Senator McDowell’s contribution. I do not want to strike a discordant note in the last day of term.