Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I join with the Cathaoirleach in welcoming the ambassador and I wish all of the Romanian people here well on their national day.

The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding Planning and Development Act 2024 (Modification) Regulations 2025 - referral to committee, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business without debate; No. 2, motion regarding the proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of an extension to the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 for a further period of six months, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 1 without debate; No. 3, motion regarding the proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Union support for internal security for the period from 2028 to 2034; No. 4, motion regarding a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Union support for asylum, migration and integration for the period from 2028 to 2034; No. 5, motion regarding a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the justice programme for the period 2028 to 2034 and repealing Regulation (EU) 2021/693; No. 6, motion regarding a recommendation for a Council decision authorising the opening of negotiations for an agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Korea on the transfer of passenger name record data from the EU to the Republic of Korea for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to conclude at 2.15 p.m., if not previously concluded and the motions to be discussed together, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes each, time may be shared, and the Minister to be given not less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 7, Private Members' business, Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023 – Report and Final Stages, to be taken at 2.30 p.m. and to adjourn at 4.30 p.m., if not previously concluded; No. 8, Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2025 – Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 4.30 p.m.; and No. 59, motion 2 regarding the fishing industry, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 8 and to conclude after two hours, if not previously concluded.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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We all know community pharmacies are incredibly important in our communities, villages, towns and cities. Last week, there was a competition to find the best community pharmacy. I am absolutely delighted that Shane Ryan’s pharmacy in Rathangan, County Kildare was the national winner. That was of no surprise to me because Shane and his team are absolutely fantastic.The minute you walk in the door, you get an incredible welcome. That welcome, that service and that friendliness means so much to everybody in the area. It is something I witness every time I go to the local shops. As we are approaching Christmas, it is hugely important that we shop Irish and shop local. I had the opportunity over the weekend to do that. I give a big shout out to Cameron and Andrea in The White Stuff. Their service was second to none, which is something I find among the young people working in my county of Kildare and throughout the country.

I also want to mention the Kildare child poverty profile. Kildare was one of four counties selected to do such a profile as part of a pilot scheme. The profile was launched last Friday and there are very important learnings within it. For example, 77,000 people in Kildare - about 31% of our total population - are in economic hardship. When we look at that in the context of other areas, we see that the number in question is bigger than the total population of each of counties Longford, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo, Monaghan and Carlow. Surely that should set off alarm bells. Kildare is a county that is perceived to be wealthy and doing well. Therefore, the cost of rent, housing and everything else is as high as it is in Dublin. There are many concerns about children who are neurodivergent. As we know, the services in CHO 7 are not up to the national standard. It is important that we have a debate in this House about the four different areas chosen for the poverty profile. I ask the Leader to seek such a debate.

Women's Aid which has launched a very important new online tool around domestic violence to help to equip the friends and family of those who they may feel are suffering domestic violence and who do not know how to have that conversation with them. While we are in this period of the elimination of violence against women, I thank Women's Aid for what it is doing and highlight it. I encourage those who feel they may have somebody in their circle who is going through domestic violence to equip themselves about how to have those very difficult conversations.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I rise today to pass a vote of sympathy to the family of the late Donal Carey, a former Minister of State with responsibility for the arts and the Gaeltacht. He served in that position for two years. He also served as a Senator for a year from 1981 to 1982. He was elected in 1982 to Dáil Éireann, where he served until 2002. He was replaced by his son Joe, who took his place in the Dáil in 2007. Joe was a Member of the Dáil until very recently. Donal was a great character of a man and was very knowledgeable. He was certainly a great support to all, especially to people as they entered politics. He will be remembered by so many. I pass a vote of sympathy to our former colleague Joe and his siblings Leonora and Donal junior. Donal was at home with them all the time and he lived with Leonora. He will be missed by many people. He was a strong contributor and supporter. He represented the constituency of Clare very well over the years. May he rest in peace.

Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)
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Last Friday, Tiglin, the men's centre in Ashford, had a great event where we marked a milestone which deserves recognition in this House. We celebrated a partnership with South East Technological University, SETU, which was an education project for the past three years that was put together by the former Minister for higher education, Deputy Harris. It was a celebration of lives transformed not only through education but also through education when it is pinned with recovery. Last Friday's event was attended by the Minister, Deputy James Lawless; Dr. Helen Murphy from SETU; and Dr. Victoria Brownlee from the Higher Education Authority. We witnessed many people sharing their stories on how education directly impacted their recovery journey. When education meets recovery and meets people where they are at, it makes a huge difference and gives them tools to build a better future. In just three years, more than 315 people came through the SETU Tiglin programme. For many of them, it was their first qualification ever. Some of them managed to get a master's degree during that time. It shows again that addiction does not define the individual. You can see the potential and it shines through. This initiative is a blueprint to scale for socially impactful education. It shows what lifelong learning can look like when it is in action. It is breaking cycles of disadvantage, marginalisation and vulnerability, and restoring dignity and hope. I give a huge shout-out to the team at Tiglin, to the team at SETU under Professor Veronica Campbell for their vision and commitment, and to the Minister for higher education for being there to support it. I hope he will continue to support it going forward. If we are serious about tackling addiction, homelessness and social exclusion, education has to be at the very heart of our response.

I also want to mention infrastructure. I know it has been raised before, but I must mention the queues faced by thousands of people as they commute to Dublin on the N7, which I travel on. It is also happening around Galway. The N7 is a vital artery connecting Dublin with the midlands and the south, but it has become a bottleneck of absolute frustration. Many people are spending more time in their cars on the N7 than at the dinner table with their families. It is not just an inconvenience; it is a matter of national competitiveness and quality of life. We need urgent investment in road upgrades, we need intelligent traffic management and we need to expand public transport. The N7 cannot remain the bottleneck that it is. It has to be restored as a functional route. We have made inroads into road infrastructure but the population is increasing so there is a need to do much more.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Last week, the Minister for agriculture published the results of the consultation on surgical artificial insemination. This is, as was highlighted, a barbaric practice of which most people are unaware. It is an absolutely sickening practice. The consultation opened on 18 June 2024 and closed at the end of July of that year. There were 606 submissions, with 99% of all submissions being against surgical artificial insemination. I reiterate that 99% of all submissions wanted to ban this practice, with just two people saying it is okay. Even though the Minister has known about the results of the consultation - 99% of submissions want to ban it - for 14 months, he has sat on his hands and allowed the practice of surgical artificial insemination to continue. This is really hard for me to understand. The Government talks about the welfare of greyhounds, but there is zero evidence that it cares about greyhounds, or dogs in general for that matter. I would like to know when the ban is going to be introduced. There is clearly next to zero support among the Irish public. You have to ask yourself why the Minister will not ban this practice now. It is clear that the only requirement demanded of the greyhound industry is that the €20 million in funding it receives every year is spent. There is no accountability or expectation of be value for money. This is obvious when comparing what is achieved by Irish local rescues versus the industry rehoming costs. The industry's much-lauded traceability system is a sham.Unless every single greyhound residing in a registered greyhound premises is included in the traceability system, it is not fit for purpose. We have seen where Irish-born greyhounds brought back to Ireland for breeding are not captured in the system, yet the pups they produce are. Imagine if the bovine traceability system were this ineffectual. It would never be tolerated. Yet when it comes to greyhounds, we turn a blind eye.

The Minister is saying the findings will be part of a legislative process. This will mean more delays, and possibly years of delays, before this barbaric practice would be banned. It cannot be allowed to happen. In 2024, 5% of all greyhounds died on the track or shortly afterwards. That is a shameful stain on the Government’s policy in terms of dog and animal welfare policy. In 2024, 6,000 Irish greyhounds were exported to England to keep the gambling industry going there and to keep it alive. Let us not pretend that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael care about dog welfare. All the evidence shows they do not care about dog and greyhound welfare.

Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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I raise the urgent situation at Marymount National School in Drogheda in County Louth. It was built in 1969, more than half a century ago, and is now not fit for purpose. The building is in a really shocking state. A teacher sent me photographs yesterday. The classrooms are so cold and damp that condensation runs down the windows, gathering on sills and the floors. Children are actually getting wet at their desks and wearing coats indoors just to learn. The school is also terribly overcrowded. It has a higher incidence than usual of children with special needs.

For years, the school has been promised a new building. In July 2022, the Department confirmed a project for 24 classrooms and ancillary accommodation. In October 2024, it was listed among active projects under the capital programme. In April this year, the Minister’s own reply stated that the project was at an advanced stage, at the tender stage, and would come in under Project Ireland 2040. Yet, nothing appears to have changed on the ground. Staff and parents are asking when construction will actually begin and when the children will actually move into a warm, safe, habitable and modern building. These conditions are unacceptable in 2025.

I ask today for a clear and urgent update from the new Minister for education. I would like to know if the project has gone to tender and, if so, when the work will commence and what is the expected completion date. This has gone on for a long time. The community, the students and the staff, in particular, are suffering. They have waited long enough. They deserve certainty and definitely delivery as soon as possible.

Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael)
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In my constituency, there is a lovely little village called Rathmolyon. It has a population of about 1,700 people. Five years ago, a brand-new housing development of 16 houses, called the Ringfort Estate, was begun. I will read some words taken directly from one of the couples looking for their forever home there:

It has been more than five years since we put our booking deposit down on a home in the Ringfort development in Rathmolyon. At the time, it felt like the start of a new chapter and a chance to put down roots in our own community, raise our children and finally have a place to call our own. Instead, we have spent the better part of six years trapped in limbo, paying rent, storing furniture and living with a constant sense of uncertainty and frustration. We were never warned that the project would be in jeopardy. We believed, as any buyer would, that the developer was doing everything in his power to deliver our homes. We paid our full deposit, signed our contracts and were told to expect completion within 18 months, but that never happened. In early 2023, we were told that each buyer would need to pay a lot more to make the project viable. Within five months, receivers were appointed. We, along with four other remaining buyers, tried to stay positive. We negotiated, waited and compromised, even agreeing to pay an additional sum each to help move things along. By late 2024, every house on the site was structurally complete. The utilities were connected and all that remained was the final road surfacing and landscaping works. We have been left to fight for something that should have been straightforward. Our contracts are binding, our payments are made and the homes are built. The financial and emotional toll has been immense.

This is not just a story about one development. It is a reflection of how broken a system can be that allows ordinary people to put their deposit down on a home, contractually agree the price of their home, do everything right and still lose. What protections are currently available to home buyers in insolvency situations, such as the five contracted purchasers in the Ringfort development in Rathmolyon who have been waiting five years for completion despite having valid contracts for sale? This situation is absolutely desperate. Can you imagine forking out all that money, knowing your house is standing there and you cannot get your keys? Will the Leader ask the Minister for housing and the Minister for enterprise to look at this project to identify a way these people can get their homes and to protect other people who may be about to pay their deposits today on homes from going through a situation like this?

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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I attended that launch last week in Tiglin with Senator McCarthy. I was blown away with the work that is actually done in Tiglin, not just in that area but throughout this country. We are in the Ha'penny Bridge, so to speak, in relation to the work Senator McCarthy does daily with people who are on the margins in this country. I commend him on the work he does every single day.

I wish to address the motion that will be before us to extend Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021 yet again. This Act was brought in during Covid as an emergency measure to allow outdoor seating for a licensed premises. Five years later, we are still leaning on emergency legislation and this recurring debate is beginning to feel like Groundhog Day. This is not good governance. The Government has once more abandoned legislation for outdoor dining. This is the third time we have been here. We were first promised the sale of alcohol Bill, a major reform that never materialised. The intoxicating liquor Bill 2024 was then announced with great fanfare and was quietly dropped. Now, we are told the criminal law and civil law (miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2025 will finally put these measures on a permanent footing. The Cabinet approved this in May, yet here we are, kicking the can down the road for another six months.

Let us not forget that back in 2021, the Government pumped millions into outdoor dining infrastructure through the outdoor dining enhancement scheme. Businesses received grants of up to €4,000, and €9 million was spent on permanent weatherproof structures in towns and cities. Five years later, after all that investment, we are still relying on emergency legislation instead of giving businesses the certainty they deserve. For the record, I fully support our hospitality sector and the right to provide outdoor dining and drinking. This is why I will not oppose the extension today. I will not punish businesses for the Government’s failure to legislate properly. Let me be clear, though. This is a reluctant agreement and it comes with a demand for action. I do not want this Groundhog Day to keep repeating. I believe I speak for everyone when I say the next time I want to be debating this issue as permanent legislation and not an eternally repeating extension.

Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I highlight the issue we are being bombarded with at the moment on every media outlet, including on television and radio, the fact that we have Black Friday on Friday, and the devastating effect this is having on our local rural communities and our local rural retail outlets. Some of the statistics on online shopping are startling and actually frightening. It has been proven that 85% of Internet users do shop online and 40% of those purchases are made outside the EU. A really startling figure is that over €12 million of low level parcels are entering the EU from China every day.

Like many people here, I had my local GAA club AGM on Sunday night. We received our financial report and a list of all the sponsors and supports we had within our local community. Not one Chinese company was listed on it. It is the poor local retailers and traders, and sole traders, who are trying to survive, who are putting their hands in their pockets to support not only the GAA but every other worthy cause within the community.

As I said, we are being bombarded at the moment with advertising. There are plenty of Irish retailers, outlets and suppliers who will sell to people online. We need to support them. The Government needs to counteract the Black Friday campaigns with a shop local and support Ireland campaign at this time of the year. A lot of people will do their Christmas shopping on Friday online and purchase goods from places as far afield as China. This will continue until we put up a stand. It is affecting rural Ireland in particular, but also urban Ireland. The urban outlets and high streets are really suffering the consequences. People need to be aware that some of these outlets are now using Ireland in their advertising to give the impression they are Irish outlets, when they are far from that. The Government needs to lead a strong campaign on this issue. We need to collectively support our own.

Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
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I ask that the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW, give an update on Bridge Street in Killybegs in County Donegal.The street was flooded in November 2024 and the devastating scenes were seen worldwide. People on Bridge Street lost everything that day. Businesses closed and never reopened. We are coming up to the one-year anniversary. Over the weekend, with the heavy rain warning and heavy rain in Donegal, residents rang me about what has happened. They say very little has been done. They do not see any emergency measures being taken. They feel left behind and neglected. I ask for an update from the Minister on what is happening with Bridge Street, what has been done and what will be done in the future so these people can go to bed at night and be reassured the river is not going to come into their houses once more. This was the second time it happened. It can never happen again.

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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First, I object to Senator Andrews's statement on dog welfare, insulting dog breeders and the people involved in the greyhound industry in this country. It is the most regulated industry in Ireland. The greyhound owners and everyone involved in the industry love their pets more than anything else.

Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Hear, hear.

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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This was debated last week and Senator Andrews still comes in this afternoon and hurls a lot of stuff at the greyhound industry. I want that to be put to bed.

Today we are on about rural activity and I wish to speak about investment in rural transport, in particular Local Link and demand-responsive transport services in Kerry. These services are lifelines for people across rural Ireland, including rural Kerry, where I come from, including the older person needing to reach his or her GP, the student getting to college and the worker who depends on a reliable bus to get to his or her job. They connect people to opportunity, community and essential services but in too many cases there simply is not enough coverage. Some communities see one bus per day; others see none at all. Families in these areas are forced to run a second car, not out of choice but out of necessity. Effectively, they are punished for living in a rural area. This is not fair or sustainable.

I will mention one area in north Kerry. Abbeydorney has an active retirement group, which meets every week. Unfortunately, the Local Link service cannot run the service every week; it runs it twice per month. That is letting down a community that would attend this hub every week but the funding seems not to be there. I call on the Minister to come to the Seanad and debate this and to secure funding that ensures everyone in rural Ireland can get on this transport system.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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I will follow on from something Senator Kennelly touched on. I read in my local paper, The Anglo-Celt, a story about a man fined for giving people lifts home in a rural part of County Monaghan. He was brought to court for it. Two undercover guards took a lift with him. Is this really the biggest issue facing us? The real crime is the desolation of our rural areas. Two pubs are closing for good each week in this country. In many parishes, particularly the very rural parish I come from in County Cavan, the social life is the local pub and the social scene is a huge part of the community. Those pubs are closing because of the lack of availability of transport for people, particularly older people who would like to take a drink but cannot drive.

As a result of that, I tried to help a man interested in taking part in the local area hackney pilot scheme. The scheme is strangled by restrictions. There was huge difficulty in qualifying, the operational zone was tiny and there was limited financial support. In the end, we did not meet the criteria so could not apply. I have looked into that scheme since and found that only two people were successful. If the Government is really interested in supporting rural communities with schemes, it should make them accessible and not overly bureaucratic. The scheme is being reviewed and we are still waiting for the review. I ask the Minister to review the scheme and come in here for statements on it.

Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I am proud to be from County Wexford. We have 260 km of golden coasts but, unfortunately, in an era of climate change that is bringing difficulties for residents living along the coast. Some 211 km of that 260 km are at risk of coastal erosion. Last Friday with local councillor Frank Staples, I visited Ballyhealy, an area now suffering from at least 1 m per year disappearing into the sea. In recent storms that has been exacerbated and up to 5 m of Wexford coastline has disappeared into the sea. Within 200 m of our coast, there are 4,355 properties. All of these are at risk of disappearing into the sea in the next ten to 15 years. Unless there is direct action in places like Ballyhealy, the result will be the loss of businesses, agricultural land and residents. The residents in the area are terrified their homes will disappear into the sea. I call for an urgent debate on our national coastal erosion strategy with the Minister and for proper resources to be put in place. Up the road from this location, there was successful rock armour protection in Seaview, Kilmore, but the problem has worsened further upstream where it is not protected. We need to get to grips with this issue before it is too late.

Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to highlight a wonderful venture launched yesterday, namely the collaboration of the Shannon Foynes Port Company with Associated British Ports and BrestPort. Associated British Ports runs the ports across the UK and BrestPort handles the ports across France. They have combined to establish an alliance of ports to handle floating offshore wind. It is hoped the alliance will be able to share best practice and experience and promote learning and the rapid adoption of floating offshore wind across Europe and the world.

Shannon Foynes Port Company CEO Pat Keating has been one of the strongest and earliest advocates for floating offshore wind on the west coast. Since I first met him in 2018, he has been highlighting and trying to draw Government attention to the many natural resources on our west coast, including the deep channel in the Shannon Estuary, the existing port that has the potential to be expanded, the connectivity through Moneypoint and Tarbert into the grid and the high winds on our Atlantic west coast, which others around the world would compare to oil fields. They say Ireland is the Saudi Arabia of wind. I commend Pat Keating, the Shannon Foynes Port Company and the other port companies that have joined forces and announced this collaboration, which we hope will help expedite the adoption of floating offshore wind across Europe.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I express my sympathy and condolences to the Carey family on the passing of former Minister, Deputy and Senator, Donal Carey. Donal served the people of Clare with distinction. He was a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas for a long time and a Minister in rural development. I would say he was the first Minister for rural development. That was back in the rainbow coalition Government between December 1994 and 1997, when a lot of significant work was done to prepare rural Ireland for what we experience today.Donal was a great man and an assiduous constituency worker. A lot of people in Clare benefited from his service over the years. It is a very sad day for County Clare. I offer my condolences to our former colleague Joe Carey, his sister Leonora and his brother Donal Óg on the passing of their father. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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We join with the Senator in expressing our sympathies to the family and friends of the former Minister of State and Deputy.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I was very disappointed to learn that the talks aimed at finding a resolution to the dispute over pensions for school secretaries and caretakers have broken down. As we all know in this House, school secretaries and caretakers are a vital component of our school system without whom it simply would not function. It is disappointing that school secretaries and caretakers had to go on strike initially. We all met them on the picket line. It is disappointing that it appears that those talks appear to have now come to the end of the road for now. I appeal to the Minister for education to re-engage with our school secretaries and caretakers because the last thing they want to do is to be back on the picket line come January, and the last thing we want is for them to have to do that. All disputes come to an end eventually. We seem to have been talking about school secretaries and caretakers for an awfully long time. They have genuine and legitimate aims and aspirations that every effort should be made to meet. I ask that the Minister re-engage with the school secretaries and caretakers to try to find a resolution to this problem.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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Last week, I spoke about companies that are holding up to 200 taxi plates and renting them out at a cost of between €100 and €200 per week. There will be a major taxi drivers' strike in Dublin tomorrow. It will finish out on Merrion Square. Why? We have all become familiar with the various companies we can use to get a taxi. One of those companies has introduced a new way of dealing with drivers. A case in point was given to me today. The company in question quoted €66 for a taxi trip from Cabinteely in Dublin to Dublin Airport, which is about right. It then put out a message to taxi drivers that it was prepared to offer a driver €30 to do the trip. They are ripping off taxi drivers.

We brought in deregulation to encourage competition and now competition is being undermined in two areas, one of which is single owners owning multiple plates and renting them out. The second is the introduction of a new system on the part of one of these call companies. I understand that the system these companies are using in the UK is such that when you ring for a taxi, you get a quote for, say, £25. The company then puts out a message to drivers saying there is a trip from A to B and offers £10, and if there are no takers, it might increase it to £10.50. Eventually, the company gets a taxi driver who will go for maybe £12 and pockets the rest. I hope that is not going to be allowed in this country. Taxis are expensive. We have all used them and we use them all the time because we have to. To think the fee is not going into the hands of the family man or woman driving the car is, for me that is anti-competitive. I will be writing to the competition authority today to see if it is prepared to look into it. We should have a debate in this Chamber on the whole issue of transport.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Before I call the Leader to respond to the Order of Business, I welcome the guests of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, to the Gallery. I believe there are guests from the United States here as well.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank all Senators for their contributions. Senator O'Loughlin raised the issue of community pharmacies and the importance of shopping locally. Senator Pal Daly also raised this matter in relation to Black Friday. The concerns are that foreign multinationals are availing of supports from Irish consumers when there are local businesses that need to be supported. I fully agree in relation to the proper marketing and adjudication of Irish businesses in that regard. As Senator Daly said, local businesses support their local GAA clubs and different clubs and should be supported as well.

Senator O'Loughlin also raised issues in relation to Kildare's child poverty profile. I will request a debate with the Minister, Deputy Foley, in that regard. The Senator also commended the work of Women's Aid and its new online tool in relation to domestic violence.

Senators Maria Byrne and Martin Conway raised the passing of Donal Carey. May he rest in peace. Our sympathies go to Joe, Leonara and Donal Jnr. As has been said, Donal was a consummate constituency politician, a former Minister of State, a TD and a Senator. He was involved in programmes relating to rural Ireland back when he was a Minister of State during the rainbow coalition. Our thoughts go to his family and friends in County Clare and across the country.

Senator McCarthy raised the great work of Tiglin and the South East Technological University in supporting those with addiction and those who fall into homelessness in terms of education and how that can transform lives. I agree with that. The Senator also raised issues relating to road infrastructure and the queues that are being faced on the routes to Dublin. The population is growing, as are the number of cars on the road. We need continued investment in road infrastructure and also in public transport to enhance rail and bus services, whether they are BusConnects services or bus lanes across the country to support commuters on the way to Dublin.

Senator Andrews raised the issue of surgical AI. As Senator Kennelly pointed out, there was a debate last Thursday. Senator Andrews said the Minister sat on his hands for 14 months. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, took over in January or February and has not had that long in the role. However, he said that he has told his officials that he wants this report to be published as soon as possible and indicated it will happen this year. He gave that commitment here in person last week when we had a debate on the greyhound fund and I take his word on that.

Senator Comyn raised the needs of Marymount National School in Drogheda and her concerns about the safety of children. She also asked for an update. I suggest that she put down a Commencement debate on this matter. I know the capital plan for the next five years has been agreed within education. I understand a list of schools will be published in relation to that. I hope that Marymount is on that, but if the Senator puts down a Commencement debate on the matter, she might get a more up-to-date answer.

Senator Nelson Murray raised Rathmoylon. I lived near there once upon a time, out the Longwood Road. I used to pronounce it differently but I was corrected in that regard, in line with how the Senator said it. She talked about Ringfort development and raised concerns about first-time buyers being asked for additional money. Again, I am not sure where I can go with that, but I will certainly raise it with the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins. Perhaps the Senator can put down a Commencement matter on that and on the wider issue of people being impacted in relation to additional money being sought for developments. It is something that could raise its head in other parts of the country as well.

Senator Keogan raised the extension of the outdoor seating regulations. While I accept her point, I do not know the exact medium-term plans on that, but I will raise it with it the Minister. I know that this goes to committee and comes back. I am sure it has been discussed at committee, but I will find out and see what the long-term plan is on that.

Senator Boyle raised the issue of flooding in Bridge Street in Killybegs. I ask him to put down a Commencement matter on this matter. I know work was done at the time on supports for businesses, but I remember from the pictures that it was quite a severe flood at the time, nearly a year ago. The Senator might put down a Commencement matter with the Minister of State, Deputy Moran.

Senator Kennelly called for investment in rural transport. He mentioned the case of Abbeydorney. He made a valid point. I will raise the matter with the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and ask him to come in to talk about LocalLink and rural roads as well. The Senator may want to put down a Commencement matter on the specific case, but I will engage the Minister of State on the matter. Senator Sarah O'Reilly raised issues regarding rural Ireland, the importance of pubs and making local schemes accessible. I agree. I will investigate the matters she has raised and see what plans there might be for those schemes.

Senator Cathal Byrne raised Wexford, the disappearance of the coastline and the possible impact for landowners in the first instance but also homeowners who may see their properties under threat. I will ask for a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Moran. On the specific case of Wexford, the Senator might put down a Commencement debate.

Senator Dee Ryan raised an agreement between Shannon Foynes Port, ports in the UK and BrestPort in France in relation to floating offshore wind and suggested sharing experiences. That would certainly seem to be of benefit. In regard to proposals there, I know there has been some work on floating wind turbines and I can see that would be of benefit to those areas where there are objections to that whole idea.

Senator Gallagher raised the issue of pensions for school secretaries and caretakers, who went on strike, and the collapse in the talks. I am sure the Minister for education, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, will be re-engaging with those. I will certainly seek an update on that matter for the Senator.

Senator Craughwell raised worrying issues regarding the taxi sector and concerns about people being charged €30 while taxi operators are being offered much less by the industry or by owners. That is a worrying issue with regard to taxi pricing because the consumer, at the end of the day, pays a significant amount of money for taxi journeys. You would like to think that money is going to those who drive the taxis and their families. I will certainly request a debate on matters relating to the taxi industry.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Deputy Noel McCarthy to the Gallery. I thank him for coming with his guest to Seanad Éireann today.