Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Members who contributed to the Order of Business today. I extend a happy St. Brigid's Day to all Members. Pretty much every Member who spoke this morning acknowledged the day. This is the first year that we will have our new bank holiday, which is great. It is one of the positive things following the pandemic that we were able to do for our citizens, to get that extra day off for people.

At the beginning of the Order of Business this morning, Senator Murphy spoke about home vacancies, which is a particular challenge in some counties. The Senator referred to Roscommon, Mayo, and other counties. It may be 10% or 12% in some areas, and we must try to address this. The Senator rightly acknowledged some of the really good schemes that have been announced by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, such as the Croí Cónaithe scheme to try to tackle vacancies. Money has also been announced very recently for the local authorities to apply to purchase by compulsory purchase order buildings in town centres to get them back into use for retail, for offices and, very importantly, for residential as well. There is a lot of work happening. The Senator is correct to point out that the Government's housing plan is starting to work. It is turning the tide and numbers are going in the right direction. Anyone who suggests that it can happen very quickly or overnight is not being true to the realities of the challenges that have had to be faced, and especially in the past number of years.

Senators Boyhan and O'Sullivan commended the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, on his decision not to accept recommendations for applications for membership of State boards under his Department where there is not at least 40% female candidates. This is to try to redress the imbalance that is there. This is very good. Senator Boyhan also acknowledged that the Minister, and his two junior ministers, the Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon, are in Offaly today at a women in agriculture conference, which will also address the issue. I wish the Ministers well in that regard.

Senator Boylan spoke on an issue to do with the CRU and the rebate or subsidy that is coming to households. I am not completely up to speed with all of the details raised by the Senator this morning but I acknowledge the work by the Senator and her office in bringing that issue to the fore. It is great to see that the refund is being processed.

Senator Carrigy spoke this morning about the communications Bill, which I dealt with yesterday. We are working on that. There is a proposed schedule to have all Stages of the Bill completed by the end of February, and we will expedite that. We will look to get agreement from all groups. There will be a group leaders' meeting later today. We will look to accelerate the passage of that Bill so we can make the payroll for the postmasters for the month of March. I believe there is agreement across the House to do that, and it should not be a major difficulty.

Senator Hoey spoke on migrants and refugees. The Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, will be in the House on 15 February to discuss that issue. There will be an opportunity for Senators to raise their concerns during that debate.

Senator Blaney spoke about the legacy Bill, the Bill of Rights and the protocol Bill currently making their way through the legislative process in the UK. On a number of occasions the Senator has outlined the severe negative impact the passing of that legislation would have on the families and on the Good Friday Agreement.

Senator Clonan spoke about a new book by Karina Molloy, entitled A Woman in Defence, which looks at the culture and the challenges for women in our Defence Forces, which at this point are well articulated and well documented. We will request a debate with the Minister for Defence at the earliest opportunity.

Senator Davitt spoke about the issue of the pension back payments due to some 44,000 pensioners. About €1,500, or possibly more, is due to each pensioner. The Senator has asked for some assistance in getting answers as to why there is a delay. I will get in touch with the relevant Department to try to get some answers for the Senator on that issue.

As she did previously, Senator Sherlock spoke about the job losses being experienced in the tech sector currently. We will request a debate with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, around job losses in the tech sector in particular. I believe that PayPal has today announced some job losses. I believe there is a restructuring or resizing of the tech sector that had expanded very quickly during the pandemic and is now consolidating a little bit. I do not believe there is cause for huge concern and we will still find there will be great opportunities from the tech sector.We are, of course, home to many of the large tech companies. The Senator also requested a debate on Palestine with the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Senators Maria Byrne and Gavan spoke about the shortage of school places for 24 students in Limerick. The Minister, Deputy Foley, will be in the Chamber on 15 February. The debate that had been requested was on teacher shortages, but we will request to expand that debate to include school places, which will be an opportunity to raise the Limerick issue directly with the Minister. I can only imagine it is a very difficult situation for those children to be in. It should not happen. There should be a school place for every child. I assume the Department will work tirelessly to resolve the issue as soon as possible for those kids.

Senator O'Sullivan spoke about community employment, CE, schemes and their importance. He is right that they are part of the social fabric of rural Ireland and many jobs would not get done if we did not have CE schemes. There are particular challenges in getting people to go on schemes now. There are ,many other job opportunities and the scheme must compete with them. Anything we can do to remove barriers that prevent people joining the scheme would be very worthwhile. CE participants should be allowed to remain on if they so wish because we just cannot get replacements. We can debate the CE scheme as soon as possible.

I take the point Senator O'Sullivan made about the age restriction whereby participation on State boards is capped at 70 years of age. I agree with him that people beyond the age of 70 have as much to offer if not more sometimes because of experience and life experience. Seventy years seems quite an arbitrary cut-off age, which is not a fair way to assess any person or human being.

Senator Mullen spoke about today being St. Brigid's Day. He drew our attention to the historic St. Brigid as opposed to the one who has been discussed more recently sometimes. I take on board the point he raised.

Senator Mullen raised a particular issue concerning media coverage of the migrant situation. He suggested that perhaps the coverage is not always to the standard that one would expect from some of our national media outlets. I also take on board his comment in that regard.

Senator McGahon mentioned flexible travel tickets. I suggest that he raises this issue directly in a Commencement matter with the Minister, because he asked quite a specific question, to see where that is at and how we can progress the issue. I appreciate he raised the matter in the previous term.

Senators Gallagher and Conway spoke about the fact that the temporary business energy support scheme has been extended. Senator Gallagher spoke about some businesses not being aware that they can apply because the uptake is not as high as it could be and there is still money to be drawn down. He made the same point about the rental credit whereby many people who could apply have not done so. He suggested that we spread the word and create more awareness of the schemes.

Senator Ahearn spoke about childcare and the fact that childcare providers are educators. He raised a particular issue around childminders and the plan to regularise the area to some extent. It will probably take some time to do that because, for different reasons, people may not want to enter into a set system. However, a lot of work is done in the sector that is not part of the remit of the Department and is not recognised. Substantial reform is occurring in childcare and we have done a lot of work in reducing the cost for parents. People can see that in their childcare bills this year and it has been a huge help, but there is a long way to go on that yet. The Senator is right that it is important we recognise that, because the early years for a child are so formative and important, we must invest and regulate the sector properly.

Senator Conway spoke about the temporary business energy support scheme. He raised a particular issue concerning non-metered gas and that businesses in this case were not permitted to apply. I suggest to the Senator that he tables a Commencement matter to the Minister for Finance on the topic because it is quite a specific question. If that does not yield results, I ask the Senator to come back to me and we will try to get further answers.

Senator Craughwell raised an issue concerning Jadotville, as he has done previously. He also raised the issue of a request to the Chief of Staff to go back over the past 100 years to ascertain those who may be due recognition but who have not yet been recognised.

Senator Dolan spoke about the active travel announcement that was made this morning, which was great to see. It is significant that many of those projects - I believe the Senator said half - are outside of the big urban areas and in rural areas. My county of Mayo received €4.5 million. That will be put to very good use on cycleways, walkways and encouraging people to get out of their cars. People will only get out of their cars if they have a safe way to travel to and from where they want to go and it is great to see that money being spent in that way. The bigger picture is that such a scheme helps emissions reductions, greener initiatives and cleaner environments. It was a good news story this morning and a good way to finish the Order of Business.