Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Order of Business as outlined.

I wish to speak about the memory of the late David Hill, whose funeral service is today. He died at the rugby match between the Irish and Scottish parliamentary teams on 19 March. I will be watching the service online, where it is available if anyone would like to watch it at 1.30 p.m. Some Members have been able to travel to the service. Unfortunately, I was not able to because I have a long-standing engagement here, but I wish to remember him and think of his family, friends and colleagues on this sad day. His committal to a crematorium will take place this afternoon.

I acknowledge the departure of the Portuguese ambassador, Mr. Miguel de Almeida e Sousa, who is leaving on Sunday. He has been a great friend to Ireland since his arrival in October 2017 and I acknowledge his great commitment to the Irish-Portuguese relationship.

I wish to join in the theme of Senator Keogan's suggestion of a whole day on Ukraine and the issues involved in Ukrainians coming to Ireland, how we accommodate them and how we bring them into our school system, health system and so on.

If anything, the past six weeks have shown us how dependent we are on fossil fuels generally. We have all been talking about this issue for a long time, but perhaps there has been a lack of urgency about it. Perhaps we could have a green day or a green week to discuss how we will try to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, be it through retrofitting, electric vehicles or wind farms, how we will deal with agricultural emissions and all of the various other issues in a holistic way. In this House, we tend to spend half a day, an hour here or there or two hours on another day discussing these matters, but we need to put an emphasis on how we go forward and do everything we can – recycling, reducing, upcycling and so on – to reduce our consumption.

I wish to pay tribute to all of the staff of the Houses as we go on the Easter break. I wish a happy Easter to Members, staff and everyone who helps us in performing our roles.