Joe Conway
Cultural and Educational Panel · Independent · Ireland
“I move amendment No. 73: In page 41, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “Report on the protection of whistleblowers 63. The Minister shall within 12 months of the commencement of this Act lay a report detailing how whistleblowers who expose information related to artificial intelligence technologies can receive enhanced pro…”
“I want to be associated with the congratulatory remarks for Senator Byrne. I want to put on the record of the House the decorous and sincere apology given on behalf of the State by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, and attested to by the other party leaders, to the victims of the Kenneally abuse in Waterford.”
“Yesterday, I had a meeting in Leinster House with a visually impaired artist and a namesake of mine, Emilie Conway from Mayo. She was the recipient of an Arts Council open competition bursary, which she was delighted to get. She thought it would make a big change to her life. It did, but it also had a downside.”
“Chuala mé níos túisce ar maidin an Teachta Moynihan ag labhairt ar an raidió faoi chás na e-scooters agus an méid oibre atá déanta ag An Garda Síochána chun iad a bhaint de na sráideanna agus stop a chur leis an dainséar. It was a point very well made by Deputy Moynihan.”
“When we come back after the recess, we should have a comprehensive debate in this House with the Minister where we can ventilate our concerns about various road safety matters. I do not want to labour the point, but we can see that things are not getting better in relation to road safety.”
“Senator McCarthy talked about what happened at London recently. It is happening at airports all over the world. The resilience factor and regional airports are very important. There has to be a plan B if the big airport goes down. That is self-evident. I am happy to indicate those items that are of concern to me.”
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“Beidh comhaltaí boird agus ionadaithe áitiúla ar na coistí sin ó réigiún an tuaiscirt, réigiún an iarthair agus an oirthir, agus réigiún an deiscirt. I gcás nach mbeidh aon duine tofa chun údarás áitiúil i dtoghlimistéar ina bhfuil ceantar Ghaeltachta, d'fhéadfadh an t-údarás áitiúil duine a ainmniú nach comhalta den údarás áitiúil sin é nó í ach ar duine é nó í a mheasann an t-údarás áitiúil a bheith oiriúnach chun ionadaíocht a dhéanamh dó ar an gcoiste réigiúnach. Beidh an duine a ainmneofar ina chónaitheoir nó ina cónaitheoir i gceantar Gaeltachta atá laistigh de dhlínse an údaráis áitiúla lena mbaineann. Glacann ár ngrúpa leis na riachtanais seo ina n-iomláine. Anois, labhróidh mé faoi chás na tithíochta. I nGaeltacht na Rinne sna nDéise, tá acraí talaimh i seilbh an údaráis. B'fhéidir go bhfaca an tAire iad sin ar a chuairt.”
“Ag díriú anois ar an mBille atá idir lámha againn inniu, agus táim ag labhairt ar son chomhaltaí uile ár ngrúpa istigh anseo, ar an gcéad dul síos, déanfaidh mé tagairt do dhéanamh suas an bhoird nua atá molta. Táim cinnte go mbeidh nasc níos láidre ann idir pobail agus obair an bhoird. Leis an mBille, déantar foráil go mbunóidh an t-údarás trí choiste réigiúnach a bheidh comhchosúil leis na coistí a bhíodh ann roimh 2012 ach beidh sainchúraimí beagán éagsúla acu. Beidh comhaltaí a ainmneoidh údaráis áitiúla ar na coistí réigiúnacha mar aon le comhaltaí uile an údaráis. Ní foláir do na coistí réigiúnacha a bheith ábalta a léiriú go bhfuil an leibhéal inniúlachta i nGaeilge acu gur gá chun a bhfeidhmeanna a chomhlíonadh.”
“Cuirim fáilte Uí Cheallaigh roimh an Aire as a bheith anseo inniu. Nuair a bhuail mé bleid ar an Aire i dTrá Mhór le déanaí, bhí fíor-dhea-ghiúmar air agus é ag spaisteoireacht timpeall gairdíní Lafcadio Hearn agus ag anáil na síochána a bhíonn thart timpeall na háite galánta sin. Leagfaidh mé béim air seo: beidh fáilte ar leith roimhe aon am gur mian leis teacht chuig an mbaile mór sin, Trá Mhór. In ainneoin an cháis nach bhfuil an baile mór sin faoi chúram an údaráis, tabharfaidh sé sásamh don Aire a chloisteáil go bhfuil borradh láidir i measc an daonra ansin agus neart oibre maith á déanamh i nGaelscoil Philib Barún idir daltaí, oidí agus tuismitheoirí.”
“In the few seconds I have left, I want to draw attention to the Seanad Independent Group's growing concern about guillotining legislation in the House. We had a meeting this morning. We are very exercised by it. For a revising legislative House to be repeatedly guillotining proposed legislation is not good enough. It is an interregnum at the moment but when the new Leader is finally confirmed, we will be asking for a meeting so we can iron out this unsatisfactory situation.”
“Most concerning is the apparent absence of a clear and transparent Government response to escalating safety concerns. For that reason, I ask the Deputy Leader to request that the Minister for justice come to the House as a matter of urgency to outline what risk assessments have been conducted, what engagement has taken place with An Garda Síochána and what steps the Government intends to take to ensure the safety of all involved. We have the legacy of Amsterdam, Cyprus and Athens. We have the logo of eff the Arabs and the chant of no children left in Gaza. This is indicative of many supporters who are members or reserve members of the IDF and trained battle combatants, and who would not be welcomed by civilised football supporters.”
“We have seen evidence of how strongly this issue is resonating in practice, including protests at recent matches and growing public mobilisation. That should serve as a warning sign. There is a risk of disorder, disruption and significant security challenges arising if this game proceeds as planned. Even setting aside the wider political and humanitarian issues powerfully articulated by colleagues across the House, the safety dimension demands urgent and serious attention. While there has been some suggestion that fixtures may be moved to a neutral venue, that does not resolve the broader issue. It does not eliminate risk or address the strength of public feeling. It may simply shift the burden elsewhere while carrying significant logistical and financial implications.”
“I raise the proposed Ireland-Israel fixture and call on the Deputy Leader to arrange for the Minister for justice to come before the House to address serious and growing safety concerns. This issue was highlighted on Tuesday last by Senator Clonan and many other Senators. The potential implications for public safety for supporters, players and staff are becoming impossible to ignore. There is clear and mounting public concern. Polling and representative voices within the game indicate a significant majority of Irish supporters do not believe this fixture should proceed. Alongside that, trade union representatives have already raised serious safety concerns for workers, players and officials, pointing to the duty of care that must be upheld.”
“I seem to remember it anyway. Senator McDowell mentioned the GDPR provisions of that. We are into a bit of a farrago here, and it is certainly not alleviating my confusion. I am more confused. The Minister of State might be able to elucidate.”
“It reminded me of the political scene in the UK about 30 or 40 years ago, when we routinely had a chap called Screaming Lord Sutch contesting every by-election that came up under the guise of his party, which was known then as the Monster Raving Loony Party. I can see that Senator Robbie Gallagher enjoyed that one. The census thing just seems to be a complete hare, as far I am concerned, because I do not think it is applicable or workable for the Garda. We are talking fundamentally about Garda powers. We are supposed to be making the job of gardaí easier or more effective or more efficient as a policing force. Do I remember correctly that when the PPS cards were coming in about 20 years ago there was a frightful controversy about whether people would be putting social welfare records on them? Does anybody remember that?”
“Senator Ruane said she was becoming confused at this stage. I think it may be down to the lateness of the night. I am fairly confused myself at this stage because I am not too sure whether we are talking about targeting and recording ethnicity or religion. Then the census was raised as a bit of a hare. That was really peculiar because I think relying on the census for information would put the Garda into a very invidious position, down to the fact of how things are recorded on the census. A nephew of mine caused an absolute barney with a census enumerator when he insisted on recording his religion as Jedi.”
“That means joining an alliance and playing our cognisant part in that alliance. It is going to cost, and it is going to call for us to make a seismic shift in our strategic thinking over the coming ten years.”
“However, there comes a time when we have to look at the bigger question, which is that we have to maintain in this country and in Europe the values that are dear to us. There will come a time when we have to make difficult choices. We will have to align with people that it would have been foreign for us to do so in times past. I would love to be in a position to support Senator Stephenson's Bill and all that it stands for because it is so humanely intentioned. It is so cogent in its appeal for the defence of the defenceless in the Middle East. However, I am speaking as an Irishman who does not believe in neutrality and who does believe in standing up for ourselves. As I often remind the House, I am in my eight decade. I have seen a lot going on and I know that the time is fast coming when we are going to have to stand up for ourselves.”
“I have said this here time and again: it does not go down awfully well but the idea of adhering to a policy of neutrality is strategically myopic and is not fit for purpose in this day and age. Whether we like it or not, these flights are going to continue, be they going outside Irish airspace or not. Tramore is on the extreme south coast. It will not take a great reconfiguration of the navigation lanes for those planes to go outside and down off the south coast. It would only be a matter of ten minutes of a divergence. I can understand how well-intentioned this Bill is and I can understand the awful slaying that is going on in the Middle East at the moment. None of us can countenance that.”
“We have to wise up to our responsibilities as members of the European Union. We have to begin to look towards a contribution to defence and towards the idea of not piggybacking on other people's defence statements. The Government has great challenges from the pragmatic point of view because we are dealing with a time when we have a very tenuous and unpredictable regime in the United States. Whether we like it or not, we are inextricably and economically bound up with the United States and its economy, its goodwill and all of the things that go along with that. This idea that we should be adhering to neutrality was fine 80 or 90 years ago when Mr. de Valera was taking on Mr. Churchill on the airwaves and all that entailed.”
“The stealth of those planes and their frequency since 7 October leads me to surmise that they are carrying probably the most offensive weapons in existence. Like everybody here, I am not happy about the fact that they are going through our airspace. We hear a lot of mention about how it compromises our neutrality and the rest. For the past 15 or so years, I have been thinking about this long and hard and I came to the conclusion a few years back, mainly since the second invasion of Ukraine, that our concept of neutrality was long redundant. It does not suit the state of affairs in the world because our life in what is generically called the West is under threat from bad actors in the world that we all know too much of. We have to wise up to the fact that our society and values are being eaten away by bad actors in the world.”
“In the boarding school that I went to as a teenager, the favourite book for last study was an atlas. It was so favoured because underneath it you could hide your war comic. The people who read war comics as teenagers ended up in later life being aircraft geeks. As an aircraft geek living in Tramore, I can now recognise the distinctive drone of a C-130 as it goes across in the early hours of the morning, usually under cover of darkness. I immediately go to my phone and look at the Flightradar24 app, and I find that the C-130 has come from either Bangor in Maine or Halifax in Nova Scotia and is heading for Brise Norton in Oxfordshire, I think, or Germany, or going on to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.”
“It is great to see there is some leniency coming into that because we will lose our schools. As Senator Kennelly said, there will be the decimation of the GAA and other things that are very much part of the rich rural landscape and environment we have. These changes are very welcomed by me and, I sense, by the rest of the House. It is a serious wedge made in that difficulty that we have had over the years with the Planning Regulator, the lack of consistency and all of those daft things that impacted on our lives as councillors trying to get something that was reasonable. Back in the day, we used to talk in the ranganna Gaeilge about banú na tuaithe. We had the same thing in Scotland between 1750 and 1850 where the clearances took place. Effectively, we were engineering our own clearances. We were not using the landlords to do it at all.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, my Déise colleague, is just gone out the door. Knowing him for many years, he has always been a very proactive public representative. I am not a bit surprised that he engineered and drove these changes. I welcome them. Well done to him and his team in the Custom House. This morning, as Senator Scahill mentioned, we were over with the INTO. It signalled to us a great demise of local schools. The numbers are quite frightening. Only this week one was flagged in Waterford, Knockmahon, in the vicinity of Bunmahon. A lot of that is concomitant with the rigours of the planning system. Everybody here who has been a councillor, and maybe indeed many who have not, will have found that there are difficulties in this business of building on the land, on the holding.”
“Taking all of those things into consideration, the reassurances of the Minister in relation to other sections of the Bill do give safeguards against this, so I would not be minded to support the amendment.”
“I will make a brief intervention here. I have some sympathy with Senator Ruane as regards the collateral damage that can be done to people with the possible misuse of this section 43C(1). I have great sympathy with what the Minister said as well. Sometimes these things are done in error or done through no fault and there is no malice in what has been done. Over countless decades past I have looked at situations where members of the Garda Síochána have been brought through the courts. Their career is effectively destroyed and their families decimated in morale and emotion because vexatious prosecutions were taken against members of the Garda.”
“Will we have access to the databases of so-called bad actors on the other side of Europe? Will the Minister enlighten us as to where the bank of image data that will be used will come from? I thank the Minister for enduring my really profound ignorance on this subject, but it is becoming more and more entertaining by the minute.”
“I might be the only person in this House who suffers from a condition called parliamentary masochism. I dragged myself away from committee room 4 where we had harpists performing reels and came up here to be entertained by the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) (Amendment) Bill 2025. I came in at a very good time because I am addled by the biometric identification and biometric analysis and I am finding it curiously entertaining and informative. I ask the Minister if he could throw some light on an aspect of it. He was talking about biometric identification. This is a process, I gather, whereby gardaí will be able to look at a database of images, presumably facial images, from wherever. I was wondering where these images will come from. Will they be Europol images or from Interpol?”
“I thank the Minister of State. As I mentioned, the school was opened in 1798, the year of the 1798 Rising. Over the two and a quarter centuries it has seen significant historical events in Waterford and Ireland, most noticeably the transition with Independence from a Quaker school to being a supplier of education to the south east, while also keeping very close to the Quaker tradition of industry, hard work and respect for human dignity and human rights. As well as that, it is an architectural gem in the south east. Whereas the Newtown School board of management members look with great pride on their history, they would love to look with confidence to the future. That cannot be attained without the support of the Minister of State and his colleagues. What he said here this morning gives a ray of hope. I thank him for that.”
“This would result in avoidable expenditure on buildings that are ultimately intended to be replaced, placing additional financial and operational pressure on the school and indeed on the taxpayer. I am asking for movement on the Newtown School. I ask that the Department of Education and Youth prioritises the Newtown School development project, that it approves progression to tender and construction without undue further delay and authorises urgent emergency works to address immediate health and safety concerns that are manifest. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply and of course, in due course, his support.”
“Professional fees on the main building project alone are approximately €1.315 million including VAT. It is, therefore, not at an early stage. It is a long-developed and approved project that now requires immediate Department of education authorisation to progress to tender and construction. The school is now under increasing pressure due to the deteriorating condition of its existing buildings, urgent health and safety concerns and the serious risk that any further delay by the Department of Education and Youth could undermine the viability of the overall development project. In particular, the Penn, Webster and Glynn classroom buildings, which are scheduled for demolition as part of the proposed new extension, may require substantial external and internal upgrade works if the project is delayed further.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Newtown School, over two and a quarter centuries old, has served Waterford and the wider region for nearly 228 years, rooted in a strong Quaker tradition of inclusive, rounded and child-centred education. The school entered the free education scheme in 2014, and, at the request of the Department of Education at the time, agreed to expand to accommodate 600 students with the necessary accommodation and infrastructure to be delivered through the Department of Education's ADAPT 2018 capital programme. This project has been in progress for over a decade, as I have said, and now reaches stage 2b detailed design. It has secured the key statutory approval required to move forward. Significant public money has already been invested.”
“Those of us who have a titter of wit at all look at the court system in Ireland as the last-chance saloon. Politicians of all parties and none have gone to the courts to their great detriment and financial loss. If that is writ large in the context of the State, the whole fact of those multimillion-euro, and possibly multibillion-euro, awards that could be made against the State in relation to fundamental legislation and progressive legislation, there is a chilling effect. It is a sort of Big Brother-like prospect. That is why I strongly support amendment No. 4.”
“Even though the EU investment court system, ICS, is designed to avoid the worst abuses of the investor-state dispute settlement, ISDS, the critics in this House and the Lower House have warned that the mere possibility of investor claims could discourage ambitious regulation, especially and critically in areas such as climate policy, public health, labour protections and digital regulation. Those concerns were explicitly raised by Opposition Deputies, who argued that the investor courts "have a massive potential to undermine social and environmental regulations". That matters because Government Departments may become far more cautious down the road when drafting laws if they fear triggering multimillion-euro claims. Even if the State ultimately wins, it is the fear factor that impels all of us.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber again. At what we might call the dénouement of the Bill in the later stages of the evening, I will have a few more things to say. Right now, I will confine myself to a short comment on amendment No. 4 and the proposed new section 25A(3)(c), which refers to something that would "materially impair the capacity of the State to legislate or regulate in the public interest". That is a critical part of the amendment.”
“Just like President Nixon and Mrs. Thatcher were the enablers of the South African regime in the 1970s, Israel will be enabled by people who see self-interest in the Middle East and stand rigidly by it. That is profoundly depressing. At the same time, we saw the Israeli embassy here being closed down, and we know how famously thin-skinned the governments of Israel are in light of that. Some people might say that was gesture politics but it is very important that we do such things, including those set out in the motion, because they get under the skin of the Israeli Government. Such measures do not go very far but I really encourage them because they have an effect on public opinion and on Government opinion in Israel.”
“The white minority held all the aces and all the armaments and were convinced that their security was going to come out of the barrel of a gun. Of course, because of the luminary, visionary Mandela and the tide of events, that all changed. I am reading Roy Jenkins's biography of William Ewart Gladstone at the moment. It is hard to understand that a man who was called an old brute by his sovereign, Queen Victoria, could be so liberally disposed towards the Irish question. That was probably to his own great political detriment. It means in our case that Gladstone was hugely instrumental in the independence drive in Ireland as well. I do not think we should be depressed by what we see, but we should be depressed about what we see as the enablers of Israel. Probably the greatest enabler of Israel is the current President of the United States.”
“I am delighted to see this motion and fully support it. For my small part, I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, to the Chamber again. Those of us who are occasionally privileged to read a more moderate publication from Israel, the reasonably liberal daily paper Haaretz , are aware of the public opinion that exists in the State of Israel among what we might call the ordinary people. The ordinary people by and large are more consumed with security than they are about rights and long-term effects. Fifty years ago, outside the gates of these Houses you would have had people protesting against the apartheid regime in South Africa. I was one of those soldiers outside the gates at the time. We were all depressed because we could see no possible solution to apartheid.”
“I was struck by the people in the education and training board last Friday. They were very anxious that the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science would come and see at close quarters the great work that is being done there and I know that he would enjoy such a visit. I am asking if the Deputy Leader could use her good offices and those of her colleagues to impress upon the Minister how anxious we are to meet him down there. He will be given a right good Déise and Bargy welcome.”
“For many, it means the chance to pursue higher-level skills in areas aligned with Wexford and Waterford's growing economy and presents important opportunities for lifelong learning. In Waterford, the education and training board is developing a proposal for the consolidation of further education and training at College Street on the site of the current SETU campus. SETU is due to vacate the buildings at College Street in 2029-30, at which point the education and training board will establish a further education and training college there. The education and training board learners, who are currently across a multiple number of programmes and buildings in Waterford city, will then have quality facilities on a campus that can cater for a modern, succinct further education and training program.”
“With the development of the tertiary education strategy, there is an exciting opportunity for learners across the south east to benefit from closer partnership between the education and training board and South East Technological University, SETU. Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board and SETU are together developing a business case for the establishment of a tertiary campus in Wexford town. It will be the first campus of its kind in Ireland, presenting exciting and long-overdue opportunities for learners across the region. It promises greater access to specialised programmes, stronger links with local industries and a vibrant hub where students can collaborate, innovate and build careers rooted in their community.”
“Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board is also a significant employer in the south east with over 1,800 staff and in excess of 28,000 students and adult learners. Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board delivers many further education and training programs across Waterford and Wexford, from apprenticeships and industry training programs to English language and adult literacy. The first national tertiary education strategy will be launched shortly by the Government. The term "tertiary education" refers to any formal education that occurs after the completion of second-level education. It is an umbrella term that covers both higher education and further education and training.”
“Last Friday, I was privileged to meet Councillor Lola O'Sullivan and Dr. Karina Daly, the chair and chief executive of Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board. This education and training board aims to be the leader of learning through the delivery of high-quality, inclusive and innovative education and training services in the south east. Its educational and training provision includes a community national school in Wexford; a community special school in Gorey; 12 second-level schools, four of which are in Waterford; a stand-alone post-leaving certificate college called Waterford College of Further Education; a range of training centres and further education centres and services; outdoor training; youth work services; and music generation.”
“Did he? How about that. There are all the warm testimonies. I was looking at the figures for the latest year available, which is 2019, and out of the 127 students there were in Kildalton in that year, 13 were female. The piece of information that I read was a great improvement on the position five years previously, when there were only two. Therefore, the trends are definitely in the right direction. Long may it continue that way. I thank Senator Boyhan for the great motion. I was proud to co-sign it. I am looking to forward to hearing the Minister's response on this worthy topic.”
“It is a mark of great of courage on those women farmers who, though they do not have any choice in it, if the Minister will pardon the expression, man or woman up to it and make a great job of bringing up their families and preserving the farm. I have noticed - and I noticed in her case - that they often farm with a greater sensitivity to nature and animals as well. That is probably just part of their nature. That is something I wanted to point out. The other aspect I want to advert to is that down near me in Tramore there is an agricultural college called Kildalton. Senator Clifford-Lee will know it well. It is near the Senator's ancestry.”
“She was thrown into rearing a family and all the complexities of bringing up a family but also all the complexity that she was completely foreign to in relation to farming including husbandry, vets, accounts, the CAP and trying to make sense of it. Of course, there was trying to get staff who would work and then the inevitable, which happens on occasions, that women in those vulnerable situations can meet fairly unscrupulous people who can take advantage of their naivety. Anyway, as a House we should think of those women. It still goes on, sometimes at a very tender age and sometimes much more latterly, in people's existence.”
“Every Senator referred to their own background and their closeness to farming and the Minister will indulge me if I mention that the cohort of women I am talking about is the women who are thrown into farming because of the death of a husband or partner. This happened to a sister of mine when she was all of 33, with four small girls, the youngest being two and the oldest being eight. Her husband died in the sports complex in Longford playing a five-a-side football match at the age of 36. She was a nurse by profession. It is kind of ironic that hers was predominantly female profession at the time and her husband was a farmer.”
“Molaim an Aire as a bheith chomh sciobtha agus a bhí sé. The Minister was very quickly back among us. It is lovely to see him here as well. I compliment Senator Boyhan on this thought-provoking motion. I was happy to co-sign it. I acknowledge all the work that he does on behalf of farming, horticulture and fisheries. The Senator is a great colleague and many people have attested to that. I ask the House to spare a thought for women who, through the cruel hand of fate, are designated to be farmers. It happens to more than a handful of women every year. The debate tonight was enriched by a lot of personal testimony.”
“There is one paragraph that I was very pleased to see. It states that chief executives of local authorities must submit their reports to the elected members of those authorities and seek their views and that the elected members may decide to attach recommendations that must be included in the report to the board. If what I have just stated is wrong, I stand open to correction. Like Senator Boyhan, I was involved in local government. Local authority members should be consulted. If they are not, then náire ar an Rialtas.”
“The 2025 figures list Ireland as the fourth wealthiest country in the world per capita . If that is the case, why does it not feel like it a lot of the time? Admittedly, it does not come within the ambit of this legislation, but we have a housing crisis. I drive up the M7 and M9 every week. These interconnected motorways are a God's gift to people in the south east, but the road surface means that they do no longer feel like modern motorways. By and large, I am minded to support this legislation without discussing it in any great detail with my Independent colleagues. I am looking forward to seeing the significance and cogency of the amendments that will be put forward. I will give them due thought and consideration. We would all agree that infrastructural development in this country needs impetus and needs to be the subject of vigilance.”
“That is going to allow for the divide between rural Ireland and urban areas in which there is obvious prosperity to develop further. Another thing that I worry about is the short-term nature of the election cycles in the country. There are four or five years, if we are lucky, between elections. That gives rise to some degree of short-termism in decision-making. I hope that is not something which will have a mal-effect on the proposed legislation, because, as I think we would all agree, meileann muilte Dé go mall; things grind slowly with our infrastructure. That is not to our credit. I would love to see the legislation, as is the intention, speed up the delivery of things. A few moments ago, I took the opportunity to look at the per capita figures for wealthy nations.”
“I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. I have not been in his company since the opening of the New Ross greenway, when he and I were both blown away by the gush of lovely Gaeilge that came out of the mouth of the imam. It was marvellous to realise how multicultural and inclusive our country is when we had such lovely Gaeilge being uttered in our presence by the imam of, I presume, New Ross. I am looking at the, in many ways, very inspiring legislation before us. In the early days of this Seanad, we had a very good debate on planned regional expansion that would give a balance to the development of the country and ensure that development does not just happen in big urban areas. The one fear that I have is that the significant infrastructural developments will be centred around Dublin - the capital city - and other major conurbations.”
“We have in Waterford a beautiful house that was taken over by Waterford City and County Council called Mount Congreve House and Gardens. It does not run cheap. Is the Minister of State amenable to discussing this with the chief executive? Maybe there could be partnership and support. I do not think the council has the facility to continually bail it out every year. It takes a while for this to build up a head of steam and an acceptance among the population. Will the Minister of State contact the chief executive, Seán McKeown, in Waterford City and County Council and have a word about Mount Congreve House and Gardens?”
“Albans are Anglican but I think both the Church of Ireland and the Catholic dioceses - God knows they are cash-strapped enough at this stage - would be happy to engage with the Minister of State on providing their buildings for apprenticeships and courses of that nature. Everybody would be winning out of it, both the participants and the churches, which have flagging numbers and diminishing resources. The Government would symbiotically get a great kickback from such things. Are those things thought about or in existence? I do not know about them if they are. On a personal note, I thank the Minister of State for his great response to the recent flooding in Passage East. He came down on a Sunday morning and engaged with the people there and it was deeply appreciated. I thank him on their behalf.”
“I just want to advert to a couple of things that Senator McCarthy mentioned. I refer to the fast-disappearing traditional crafts that we have around the country. For instance, thatching, wheelwrighting, boatbuilding and steam-bending, the Minister of State knows them far better than I do. The list is long. It is the case that the people who can do them are disappearing or that it is very difficult to find places where the skills are being continued. Can the Minister of indicate if we are looking to the historic environment division in the North of Ireland to maybe enhance provision on both sides of the Border? Across the water, there is an extremely imaginative scheme that we could replicate here. It involves what are called cathedral workshops. The cathedrals of Canterbury, Chichester and St.”
“Malachy's and who went on to have a distinguished football career in Northern Ireland and across the water for Nottingham Forest and several other teams. Having played nearly 500 senior games and 64 internationals, he is a credit to us and to himself. He only saw red on two occasions. The concise message is that resourceful, disciplined and, indeed, handsome men in their 70s should never be underestimated.”