Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Before I call on the Leader to outline the Order of Business, I welcome to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery the ambassador from Malta, H.E. Fiona-Jayne Formosa. Ambassador, you are most welcome to Seanad Éireann today as we mark your national day and celebrate Malta's independence in 1964. As we are both island nations on the periphery of Europe, we share a common ancestry in terms of struggles for independence, as well as a great love of history, language and culture, and a great friendship within the European Union. We thank you for your support for us during the Brexit negotiations, the outworkings of which are still going on. We appreciate the support in the past and currently and, of course, we would be very grateful for your ongoing support in that challenge. The links between Ireland and Malta go a long way back. I understand that when they were based in Malta, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers gave their jerseys to a local football team, Floriana FC, and the team wears the same colours today, while the local residents have the nickname tal-Irish. We have that historical connection and our long-standing connection within the European Union. We are very grateful for that and we wish you a very happy independence day.

I now invite the Leas-Chathaoirleach to welcome the ambassador.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I am grateful for the opportunity to welcome the ambassador and her team. It was a pleasure to chat with her earlier and to hear about Malta and a few things that we have in common in terms of manufacturing and other industry. Tourism is such a big, important issue to both our countries. and also I know from speaking to her that Malta has a population of about 500,000 people, which, as she pointed out, is a zero less than what we have in terms of five million people. The delegation is very welcome here today. It is very important that we mark all European independence days and work alongside our ambassadors for the good of both countries. There are so many direct flights between our countries and so many people go there on holidays. The Leader said that he was in Malta on his holidays in the past two or three years. It is about how we can work together for the good of both countries. I hope the ambassador enjoys her visit.