Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senators Clonan and Dooley. It is important that we have that debate with the Minister for Justice because, as has been said by both Members, people are dying on our streets and communities are being left behind. We need to have that debate with the Minister as early in the new year as possible.

I also want to welcome the announcement from the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, under the shared island initiative, of a €7.6 million investment in tourism and marketing initiatives, which will include connecting the Wild Atlantic Way and the Causeway Coastal Route. The Leader will know, because I have raised it with her numerous times, that this is something I have been advocating for over a number of years. It is my firm belief, whether it is in crime prevention, community safety, our fantastic tourism offering across the island, our sporting endeavours or any issue, Ireland works best when we work together.

An announcement was also made yesterday of €2 million for cross-Border Irish language and Ulster Scots initiatives. When the Committee on the Irish Language, Gaeltacht and the Irish-speaking Community visited Belfast a number of weeks ago, we heard a keen interest from the groups we met across the city that they wanted to do more on an all-island basis. The Cathaoirleach will know the interconnectedness of the Irish-speaking community and they really want to tap into that. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come in the future. Sinn Féin published its Explore More tourism document last year, which set out our plan for tourism, including extending globally recognised brands such as the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East in order that we can help to create jobs, rebuild our economy and put money back in people's pockets. I say all this fully conscious of Tourism Ireland's role and remit to promote the island internationally as one tourism destination and conscious of the fact that we have no equivalent Minister in the North. That is yet another reason the Democratic Unionist Party should get back to work and stop blocking the opportunities that initiatives like this present to people. Even that unfortunate reality should not stop the local authorities, particularly those along the north coast and through the east, coming together with tourism promotion agencies to tap into the opportunity offered by this.

As indicated by my colleague, Senator Boylan, last week in her contribution on Thursday's Order of Business, we will be opposing today's Order of Business because of the nature of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill 2022 that is before us this week. The committee had not concluded pre-legislative scrutiny of it and there are a number of serious concerns with this Bill. I appreciate the Leader's work in this regard and she did her best for us but for the reasons Senator Boylan outlined last week, this warranted much more time, attention and respect to Members to be able to contribute and make input to this Bill going forward.