Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I congratulate him on his reappointment to Cabinet. There are many challenges ahead. We wish him well on this side of the House concerning those challenges. As he rightly pointed out, we have a new team of Ministers who have unmatched vision and ambition regarding the challenges ahead for our country and what we need to do to reach to them. We have a good mix of experience, talent, knowledge and vision to meet those many challenges. We are conscious of the challenges with a population that has increased by 20% over the past generation. There are also increased numbers in the Dáil so it makes sense that with those increased numbers and the challenges, we extend the number of Ministers of State to reflect this.

There is a very broad range of areas, including better and more efficient delivery of public service and investment, which is what we want to see. We want to see critical infrastructure delivered. It is very clear we need more oversight and more accountability. I was pleased when I saw the renewed focus on issues such as disability, mental health, AI, and the digital economy when this Government was formed. It makes absolute sense to the Fianna Fáil team here that we need to have Ministers of State to have oversight of these issues.

I am aware the Minister mentioned specifically the areas of asylum and migration, the marine and older people, and that we need to have a focused approach on them. Only this morning on the Order of Business I spoke about a situation in my own county of Kildare where, very sadly and unfortunately, residents of the Eyre Powell Hotel direct provision centre were given less than 24 hours to leave. This included 36 children, five of whom are doing State exams, and people who were volunteering with local community groups. Because we did not have a line Minister in place, it was difficult to try to get action and communication, which resulted in us going around all the houses. It is important these Ministers of State are in place to be able to deal with those situations. I was struck by the Minister’s speech when he spoke about key things. The Minister talked about cross-cutting and requiring cross-departmental responses. Far too often we have seen really important issues slip between Departments. That cross-departmental response is hugely important. The Minister also spoke about promoting action and ensuring policy implementation. This is hugely important. I have no doubt that with the legislation in front of us and with the proposals the Minister is making on behalf of the Government, we will be able to take on these tasks in a more cohesive and a more focused direction. Fianna Fáil supports this legislation.

I will now hand over to Senator Casey and then Senator Rabbitte will conclude for our group. I thank the Cathaoirleach.