Victor Boyhan
Agricultural Panel · Independent · Ireland
“It also mentions the agrifood sector and the importance of diversification in agriculture, the maritime sector, coastal communities and fishing communities in terms of rural policy.”
“I know from my engagement with both the Department and the Minister that over 900 submissions to the consultation process were received. No Member or parliamentarian will have had the opportunity to consider the anonymised version of these consultations, which contain many good suggestions in favour of the regulations and many concerns in…”
“I welcome the Minister and the official to the Seanad. This is particularly important Private Members' business. I thank Senators Collins and Tully for setting out the background and the rationale behind their Private Members' motion. I acknowledge the Minister's exceptional commitment to rural Ireland and his Ministry.”
“I am conscious of the Minister's public consultation, and I acknowledge it and thank them for it, in relation to the Our Rural Future work programme in 2025. In fairness to him, he did not stop at that. I received a further update when I requested it from his office very recently.”
“This will come about through that process. It is for the Minister to decide. Maybe he will do so tomorrow when the regulations are dealt with. However, when Senators are in this Chamber discussing these regulations tomorrow, they will have no sight of any constituent who made a submission. That is my first item.”
“I am pleased to see Senator Byrne in the Leader’s chair. I wish him well in that job. I also wish him well in his new position as Government Whip. There are three items I wish to discuss today. First is the exempt development regulations, which are being covered extensively in the media.”
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“We are here to add value to the Minister of State's Bill, to point out anomalies or weaknesses if we see them and to respectfully suggest improvements. That is the nature of our relationship. I note the points the Minister made about 16-year-olds and CAMHS. I agree that it is very frustrating. There is not a day goes by, either during the Order of Business or Commencement Matter debates, that someone does not raise CAMHS. The Minister of State will be familiar with the former Independent Senator Joan Freeman and the work she did with Pieta House. We were frustrated on this side of the House. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in government in some shape or form for many years, including during the period about which the Minister of State is now expressing concern in the context of CAMHS. We know all about it.”
“I welcome what the Minister of State said in response to Senators' opening remarks, but I want to be clear that I meant no criticism of her. I know she has spent four years on this. That was her opening gambit when she came in here today, and I respect and acknowledge it. However, this is a bicameral Parliament. We are in Seanad Éireann, which is a revising Chamber. Every time the former Taoiseach and Deputy Leo Varadkar came in here, he said that he was conscious that ours is a bicameral Parliament and that this House is a revising Chamber. He was somewhat critical of many Senators over the years, but he urged those in this House to use their powers and functions as set out in legislation and the Constitution.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that clarification. I was referring to the written briefing material in the context of being helpful. The Minister of State wants to engage. She is saying that some of these amendments have come from other entities and individuals, including the Ombudsman for Children, mental health advocates and stakeholders within the sector, which is great. Information in that regard is very helpful to know. Like many other Members, I would be much more supportive of and keen to back amendments that I knew carried the weight of broad stakeholder support. Any link in the information supplied to us in that context would be helpful to the Minister of State, to the process and to us in terms of the support we will give.”
“She has the advantage of having worked in this area for four years and of knowing where she wants to take this Bill. I hope we, and I certainly, can support her most of the way. It would be helpful, between now and the next time we sit, if she facilitated us by providing as much rationale and explanation as possible. This will help us understand the Bill and speed up the process. I am not referring to all 300 amendments, but to the first hundred or so that we will be dealing with in the next few weeks. I thank the Minister of State and wish her well.”
“To be clear, I am not suggesting the Minister of State present is saying this at all. I do not see it the way I have described. The Minister of State said the amendment is technical. I am not in the business of political point-scoring. She knows me and I know her but I am frank and passionate about this area. The Minister is making 300 amendments. That is a huge number and involves a huge amount of work. We are not going to get anywhere near amendment No. 300 this evening but it would be helpful if the Minister of Stated facilitated us with a briefing on many of the amendments as the Bill evolves. She is clearly working on them, which I accept and understand. I would like to believe the Minister of State will have an open mind on other amendments tabled.”
“I thank the Minister of State. At the outset, I wish her well with this legislation. She has said here that it has taken her four years. I accept that but many people have struggled will mental health issues for many years of their lives. The Minister of State and I know a lot about it, and many of those present do. I welcome the mental health advocates in the Gallery. I also welcome the Minister of State's staff. I hope we can work in a spirit of co-operation and understanding and that we will not have the situation we had with much legislation over my ten years here, whereby the relevant Minister came in, stood up and told us all the amendments were very technical and sort of implied that since they were all above our auld heads, we should move on, all kosher.”
“As someone who is from a minority community, I value the significant role the Irish State has given to minorities. Likewise, with the Ukrainian people, they must be supported to retain their language, culture and identify. They are proud of it, and rightly so, and they must be encouraged through diverse education and greater choices in education. There is a debate, questionnaire and survey on the diversity of education and all opportunities for inclusion and diversity in terms of tradition must be encouraged and supported. I will take this opportunity, particularly with the Ukrainian people, to speak about their educational and cultural needs. Other different groups should be welcomed. I know we welcome them but it is important they are supported, not just today but every day going forward.”
“They are highly articulate, bright and want to play a meaningful role. Some may return, while others may stay, as they are very welcome to do. They make an enormous contribution. Without singling out individuals, I acknowledge the significant contribution of the Ukrainian staff in our Parliament. That sends a clear signal that we are open for business and we are a diverse nation and country. The people from other cultures, traditions and countries who are here are all welcome. I extend a thousand welcomes to them. They are playing a very significant role in our parliamentary life, local government life and business life. I salute the Government and all who arranged President Zelenskyy's very successful trip. We must learn from it, engage more meaningfully and constructively and have greater integration and educational opportunities.”
“I join with others on remarking on today. What a momentous day for the people of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy and his wife, and, indeed, the Irish Government and this Parliament. These days do not happen without a lot of hard work. I thank the Ceann Comhairle's team in the Dáil and Cathaoirleach's team here. I was not In the Chamber but I heard the speeches and took time off to tune in. It was important to do that and to see the number of people there. I also pay tribute to the Clerk of the Seanad and his staff. It is important to do so. More importantly, I acknowledge the very significant role of the Ukrainian people in our parliamentary life and processes. I am familiar with many Ukrainians who are working in local government and who are happy and content here. They came here under various sets of circumstances.”
“The Minister is committed to focusing on getting things done. What I would like to hear in the short term, for the people of this region, is what options she is recommending, what options she is going to fund and what timelines are involved for delivery. This will be progress and action, which is the key ask here.”
“This is what the ask is. I would be interested to hear what the Minister is proposing or planning. When will she have a timeframe in terms of kickstarting the recommendations? I presume she will have talks internally with her own officials and with the Government as well. We need to know today or certainly in the next few weeks, and the people in this region want to know, what is happening. We have identified the problem and the weaknesses. We have acknowledged that people suffered. We acknowledged that patients and their safety were put at risk. We acknowledge that staff had to tolerate dreadful conditions. People were embarrassed. The medics and politicians who represent the region were embarrassed. Loads of parliamentary questions were asked and there were debates and motions. What do we need to do today? The heavy lifting is done.”
“There were not enough inpatient beds in the HSE mid-west region capable of treating the sickest patients who presented for urgent or emergency care. This is a summary of HIQA's own report to the Minister. HIQA recommended "immediate action and investment to address current risks to patient safety in the shortest time frame and safest way possible". That is the kernel of what the Minister is saying. Therefore, we now have to go back to the options. The time for deferral is over. There are three key options. What is HIQA saying about some conglomeration of option A or B? HIQA's view is that options A and B are most likely to increase the number of available inpatient beds of the required type in the shortest timeframe, addressing the immediate risk to patient safety. It acknowledges this risk. I suggest that this is the focus.”
“There are issues, let us be honest, about resources that have to be secured. There is planning. There is a whole range of issues as consultation with all stakeholders. It is also important to acknowledge that HIQA completed this extensive research. We know that there were 17 in-person meetings with the stakeholders and that there were 1,121 public consultation submissions. I have looked at some of the correspondence that supports all of this. We know that an expert advisory group was convened to consult the independent review. Of course, then we need to go back to the core issues here. What was the core recommendation? The core issue of this was that there were not enough inpatient beds. Keep it simple.”
“I studied some of its documentation relating to this report and it is important we acknowledge that independent thought process feeding into it. I thank all stakeholders engaged in the process. Let us now move on. Enough of the old history listen, let us look at the key asks today. We have three options. Option A talks about expanding. The three key issues are expand, extend and develop. Option A is to expand capacity at University Hospital Limerick, UHL, on the Dooradoyle site. Option B is to extend the UHL campus to comprise a new second site in close proximity under a shared governance and resourcing model. Option C is to develop a model three hospital in the HSE mid-west region, providing a second emergency department for the region. The Minister has to put in place timelines. Clearly we cannot wait.”
“Following completion of the review, the report ultimately landed on the Minister's desk and was published. Before I go into some key questions to ask or points I wish to raise with the Minister, it is important we acknowledge the many patients that suffered within this region. Their cases were articulated well in this House by a number of my colleagues. That is important. In addition, what the key health workers, medical workers, front-line workers or any workers or service supports and anybody within the health service in this region had to tolerate for years was totally unacceptable. It has taken so long, and it is a pity it has taken so long, but we are now clearly on a trajectory for something new, which is important. The Minister mentioned the ERSI.”
“I acknowledge the new Minister has clearly demonstrated a capacity to focus and a determination and emphasis on this particular issue, and on other issues. I acknowledge that and pay tribute to her for that. The terms of reference were, of course, developed following a request by the then Minister, Stephen Donnolly, for HIQA, as the independent health and social care regulator, to conduct this review. It is important to stress this review was conducted under section 8(1)(e) of the Health Act 2007. I understand the review sought an evaluation of evidence-based and key factors to inform decision-making around the design and delivery of urgent and emergency healthcare services, including the case for a secondary emergency department within the region.”
“I welcome the Minister to the House and thank her for giving her time. It is important that when we discuss this that we set the scene, because I am always conscious there are people outside of here looking in who will be looking at the Oireachtas report later on. We know HIQA publishes terms of reference. In a press release issued on 21 August 2024 the authority: "The HIQA has published its terms of reference for an independent statutory review to inform the delivery of safe quality urgent and emergency care in the mid-west region of Ireland." We also know that through an examination of Oireachtas parliamentary questions, hundreds and hundreds of questions, motions and matters of discussion were raised with various Ministers for health. We have had the parties in Government in some form or shape for many years.”
“Some of the Members should revisit that today, if possible. We have until tomorrow to submit amendments and we will have time to engage with the Minister next week. It is important that we use this House. We are a revising Chamber. We are not supposed to rubber-stamp all legislation that comes from the Government. We would be foolish to think that. It would not be right. We are a bicameral Parliament. Our function is to revise legislation. I hope we will see some amendments to this important legislation, the Mental Health Bill, which is tabled for debate in this House next week.”
“I understand the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, will be here and I look forward to engaging. I appeal to Members maybe listening in at committees this morning that if they can make it to Seanad Éireann to engage in this debate at 11.45 a.m., it would be worth participating and I hope many people will come. I will also flag something else. Mental Health Reform has been in touch with all of the Senators and TDs in these Houses on its key recommendations in respect of the Mental Health Bill. Tomorrow is the deadline for the first amendments in this House. Mental Health Reform has raised some very serious issues. It is a strong advocate. It is easy to tell an advocacy group that something is not consistent with our belief on mental health. I am reliably informed that the Minister will be proposing amendments to her own Bill in this House.”
“I raise two issues. First, I thank the Leader's office for arranging and facilitating statements on HIQA in relation to the review of HSE Mid West. I took the time to search how many times this issue was raised in the Seanad. It was raised loads of times. How many parliamentary questions were there in the Dáil? There were many of them. I encourage and hope that we will have good attendance this afternoon. There have been many demands for engagement and for statements from the Minister on this very important subject related to the mid-west and the various options this report is recommending. I will not go into too much detail but clearly there are options A, B and C set out in the executive summary of this report. We will have time to tease it out with the Minister.”
“Legislators. Someone said to me the other day that there is a lot of noise in Leinster House. Physical noise was not meant, but there is a lot of dialogue, talking, exchange of papers and ideas and exchanges about policy. However, when that is all watered down, what is critical to us as legislators is that Bills are signed into law to become Acts. This will be a legacy, driven by Senator Clonan. It will be Senator Clonan's legacy and that of his family, who took the courage, cited many examples and liaised with many advocacy groups so that at the end of the day we have a concise Bill that will, I hope, find its way to be signed into law. Let us see this as a turning point, marking the beginning of better space, better policy and better supports for people with disabilities. I commend Senator Clonan. Well done.”
“It is a day to give thanks to all sides including the Department officials. There is always the issue of resources, constraints and so on. I will just make one request. This legislation is now coming to its completion. Well done again to Senator Clonan. Let us not let it sit on the shelves to gather dust. Let us all sign up to a commitment to work with the Government to see incremental roll-out of the various passages and what is necessary to make this a living document that people can live with and be supported by. On this and the opposite side of the House, there is a willingness to progress this matter. I hope we can keep in touch with one another and prioritise the work. There will be incremental parts and difficulties from time to time because of various resources, but the commitment is here. What are we at the end of the day?”
“Not everyone with a disability has or can have that support for a variety of reasons. That is not to say there is not the support, or willingness of guardians or families to be there. I thank the Minister of State and the Government. As Senator Clonan said in his few words today, it was an emotional journey. There were many setbacks. There was highly charged engagement and dialogue. The Senator brought it through the Private Members' slot. I also thank my other colleagues who are always supportive of Senator Clonan for prioritising this as the most important piece of Private Members' business since we came into this Seanad. We stuck with it because we believed it was the right thing to do, but Senator Clonan led from the front. He convinced us and everyone else and everyone stayed the course with him. Today is the culmination of all that.”
“However, we can achieve a lot. A lot of politics and progress in policy can be achieved by sitting down and talking to a front-line Minister and explaining the difficulties we may have with a Bill. Senator Clonan persisted. I commend him on sharing. It is not easy to share one's personal circumstances in life because when we talk about ourselves, we are also talking about our families and they do not go into politics. Clearly, Senator Clonan's family was connected to this, including his son Eoghan who I know well, having met him on many occasions. Senator Clonan champions him and treats him as an equal, as he does all other people with disabilities. I have had the pleasure of being in his home and I have met Eoghan, Senator Clonan's lovely wife and family and seen the support they have.”
“I warmly welcome the Minister of State and thank her for being here. I also thank my colleague, Senator Clonan. What an achievement. How right he was to pursue what he believed was the right thing to do. He is an outstanding advocate for the disability sector. He is an outstanding advocate in this House for many things and I am terribly proud that he is on our benches in the Independent Group in the Seanad. Persistence and his firm belief in what he was doing convinced everyone in this House. There were difficulties. The nature of our Parliament is that we have the Government and the Opposition and it is important we have both - in a positive light - to shine on legislation. Legislation is not easy. It is particularly difficult when we have the might of a huge Government as we have had for two or three terms.”
“Before I call the Minister of State, I wish to welcome a few people to the Gallery who have come in. This is the second tranche from the Cistercian College Roscrea, who are guests of Senator Maria Byrne. They are very welcome. There are also guests of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and Senator Teresa Costello in the Gallery. They are very welcome, as are Ms Sharon Hynes and Ms McDonald. They are all very welcome and I hope they enjoy their stay here in the House.”
“Before I call the Senator to respond, I welcome to the Visitors Gallery a group of students from Cistercian College Roscrea, who are guests of Senator Maria Byrne. The guys are turned out amazingly well in their jackets and shirts. I also welcome Ms Marceline Coady and Mr. Seamus Hennessy. They are all very welcome. I hope they enjoy their stay.”
“I warmly welcome the Minister of State and congratulate her. I know she is already a Minister of State but she has been elevated to a Minister of State attending Cabinet. I wish her well tomorrow, which I think is her first day, but I may be wrong on that. I also welcome the guests of Senator Joe O’Reilly: Darragh Kiernan and Conor Madden. Conor is a Cavan GAA intercounty player, but I have been told both of them are distinguished GAA players. That is the strong endorsement that has come from Senator O'Reilly.”
“As the Minister told the committee last night, the governance side of this is critical because this industry will only survive if people have confidence in it and it has international integrity. We have to compete on the international stage. I wish the Minister well and he has my full support for this proposal.”
“I ask that, in the future, we might look at that. The Minister mentioned in his presentation last night and again today that, following a request from the Committee of Public Accounts, his Department had submitted an internal review of governance of the fund. Clearly, there may be issues we are not privy to now and we do not need to be privy to at this point. There is a process in place. It is in the hands of the Committee of Public Accounts but when possible, we should see a summary or an executive summary of that report to see if there are lessons from that or new recommendations. I ask the Minister to keep an open mind on these matters and put a strong emphasis on welfare and governance in his Department's letter on the parameters. It is a huge amount of money, regardless of what anyone thinks.”
“Of course, there is the international equestrian team and there are great things going on in the equestrian world generally, such as in eventing, cross-country, etc. When we talk about the Irish sport horse or race horse, people outside the industry see it all as being one collective. It is an amazing thing we can be so proud of in Ireland. I know the Minister is a champion of it and he comes from one of the greatest horse counties in the country, Kildare, and he represents it well. I acknowledge the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and the work it does. Its strategy is from 2024 to 2027. We keep a track on it - I certainly do - and it is making great progress. I thank the board. I take this opportunity to thank Ms Suzanne Eade, who heads up Horse Racing Ireland, for the important work she does and the management of Horse Sport Ireland.”
“The Minister explained all of that well last night. There has been a lot of damaging publicity for the horse industry and I like to talk about that in its broadest sense. Horse Sport Ireland does amazing work. There is the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, IHRB, and there is Horse Racing Ireland, HRI. I commend their work. In time, we might need to look at this whole fund again to see if we can include others. I will again make the case that there should be some money set aside in this fund - it may need new changes or to be tweaked through legislation - for Horse Sport Ireland, as it is a very important part of the equestrian world. The regulation around that is weak. That is not a criticism of HSI but there may need to be additional funding for it.”
“I welcome the Minister. What better man to know about racing than himself in the county that has Punchestown, Naas and the Curragh, all of which I have attended on many occasions? I support the fund. We had a long, reasonable debate last night. The Minister touched on a number of the issues, so I will not repeat them. They are on the record of the Oireachtas. Not everyone here may know it but the Department issues a letter of parameters every year about funding, which is very important. We discussed that last night at the joint Oireachtas committee on agriculture. It is important that the detail in those letters is continued because they set down the parameters, as the Minister said to us last night. We need greater emphasis on welfare. For those who are not directly involved, Horse Sport Ireland, HSI, does not get this funding.”
“It will be a much more impactful debate if people who have walked the journey and suffered are in with us for the dialogue. I ask that this now become a priority and secure support across these Houses, which I have no doubt will be the case.”
“As we heard today in the evidence, people are now presenting in their 30s and 40s, and many are dying. Cancer is a horrific illness which affects the entire family. It is an emotional drain on people. Today, we had a call from Pancreatic Cancer Ireland on this, the national designated day for pancreatic cancer. We have to respond because too often, we go into the audiovisual room or into briefings and hear a lot of talk. There is a lot of noise in politics. The association has made a request of us today and we need to respond. The most positive response we can make is to have a discussion on pancreatic cancer in the context of the bigger national strategy for cancer. I hope this happens soon. I intend, as I hope others do too, to fill these galleries with people who experienced cancer.”
“I will follow on from what Senator Wilson said because I was in the audiovisual room as well. I thank the representatives of Pancreatic Cancer Ireland and Senator Mark Duffy, who hosted today's event. We heard some very harrowing stories about personal experiences. We are now almost at the end of the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026. It is timely because before we engage on a new strategy, we need to do an analysis of the outgoing strategy, from 2017 to 2026, which ends next year. I ask that the Leader, in the near future, invite the Minister for Health to the House to discuss specifically the cancer strategy. We heard clearly today that people can get an early diagnosis with pancreatic cancer but, because there is a lack of a rapid pathway for diagnostics and treatment, their lives are cut terribly short.”
“I certainly could not do my work without it. It is an independent validated service that is full of integrity and assists us with accurate information. We talk about AI, false information and misinformation. This organisation serves us well and with distinction. If Members can spare few moments in their busy schedule before 1 p.m., I encourage them to visit the service in the coffee dock.”
“It was suggested all we can have at the end of all of this, as the Minister confirmed - I have his response in front of me – is to aspire to have a national planning statement by the end of 2026 under the current plan. I appeal to every Member who has a parliamentary party meeting today in Leinster House to raise this issue if they can. Everyone is genuinely concerned. We have to address rural housing, including one-off rural housing, as part of a suite of measures to address housing. We need all types of housing and we need to take every possible opportunity. I commend our colleagues. Our library and research team has a platform and issued an open invitation today from now until 1 p.m. I attended a session. A few attended and the service hoped more would come. It wants to engage with people about its enormous work and support for us.”
“We need her to come before the House quickly to discuss teacher shortages and why substitute teachers, special needs teachers and special classroom assistants are now supervising classrooms in the absence of teachers. That is a crisis. Education and children must be key priorities. I salute the INTO general secretary John Boyle and its president, Anne Horan, for their ongoing engagement with the Oireachtas. Senator Dee Ryan had a Commencement matter this morning on rural housing and I commend her on that. She raised the same issues I did and discussed others. She provided really good examples of how we could address rural housing.”
“When I turned the pages of the magazine, which we have all received, I noted the INTO discussed its significant concerns about staff shortages, in particular in special schools, DEIS schools, Irish-medium education and cited the crisis in teacher supply, in particular in Dublin which is an issue due to the cost of accommodation. The INTO, Irish Primary Principals' Network and Catholic Primary School Management Association conducted a survey which found that one in five schools could not fill posts. The problem was particularly acute in Dublin, and we know why. I want to wish Deputy Hildegarde Naughton well as the new Minister. I heard her on "Morning Ireland" today. She set out all sorts of ambitions and excitement.”
“It is like a spring day and I am just overcome by the promotion of Phibsborough. I will have to take a trip out there. I wish the Senator well in the by-election and I wish whoever follows in a Seanad by-election every success. It is great to see such a robust and positive contribution. I would not have an issue with any of it. I thank Senator Fitzpatrick. On a more serious note, I welcome the INTO. We are all familiar with its magazine. It also published a document, our children our future: supporting primary and special education.”
“That came as an email today. I encourage everyone to read it. It is a really important explanatory briefing note from the Minister. I acknowledge his follow-up and thank him for providing that note because it will be very beneficial for us as we work in our communities.”
“I have gone through every page of the plan and there is no light shone on rural housing. For rural TDs, Senators and councillors this has to be a major concern. I have received a lot of correspondence about it. All we are told is that some time in the future we will have a national planning statement. There is nothing more than that, just a national planning statement, despite five Ministers writing to me months and months in for the past ten years, telling us that there are draft rural housing guidelines in play and they do not exist. I ask that we have a debate on that. Finally, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was here last week when we discussed the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Bill. To his credit, he followed up and everyone will today have received the briefing note I requested on rural and local communities.”
“He was an exceptional politician and Minister and I want to be associated with good wishes. I wish him and his family well as he heads out to the US. I did so the other day but I want to call for a debate on Delivering Homes, Building Communities. It makes sense to have the two linked together. We cannot have community if we do not have homes and we cannot have homes if we do not have communities so the link is good but we need to drill down into it. I do not want to criticise this national plan for housing and building communities but we need to drill down to the core elements of it and the best way we can do that is in a constructive debate in these Houses. Therefore I ask the Leader to allow ample time for that. I want to reiterate my concern about rural housing.”
“First, I would like to be associated with the good wishes to Paschal Donohoe. He has been an exemplary Minister. He has led our finances in a very prudent way. I find him to be a very decent, supportive and encouraging politician. He was always a politician one could approach and he always followed up personally on correspondence or representations to him. I want to put that on the record. I could not say that about everybody but I can definitely say it about Paschal Donohoe and his interest. I mention his attention to detail in this House. As any of us who dealt with him in here through the many years will know, he always took copious notes, followed up, gave a commitment if he could not give an answer then and, within 24 hours, one would have a letter back from him.”
“Sometimes when there are objections or concerns they can be ameliorated to a certain extent when we explain the benefits, and it is benefit in kind. What are the benefits to our citizens? What are the benefits, particularly to our rural communities? This will impact on them, but it will impact on our urban communities as well. Everyone here would be very interested to see the benefits of this legislation. If he could, the Minister might provide a briefing note next week or whenever he gets time just to flesh out the scope and the benefits of all that, how and when it will come on stream and the opportunities to access it. I thank the Minister. He has my support.”
“It also refers to how the Bill will impact on SMEs and the ever-demanding and challenging areas around climate change, the just transition and all that goes with that. I was particularly interested in the reference to rural communities. The explanatory memorandum states that rural communities will benefit significantly from the requirements for investment and the upgrade to electricity, etc. It goes on to refer to the establishment of the local community benefit funds, which will be used for the sustainable, environmental, economic, social and cultural well-being of local committees. I welcome that. Could the Minister arrange for a briefing note on the scope of all of that and on how people in local communities can access the funding? That is the sort of buy-in that we need.”
“The note states that, pending enactment of the Bill, significant investment by the Government in the ESB to part-finance the delivery of the PR6 grid investment programme will continue to be overseen by officials from the Minister's Department. The Minister might touch on how he plans to do that. The note also states that the Department will ensure the equity investment and appropriate legal documentation are put in place. I presume all of that is in order. Page 2 of the explanatory memorandum for the Bill speaks of the importance of jobs, rural communities and competitiveness in industry, and the costs associated with all of that. I fully understand that and know where the Bill is coming from.”
“Let us see whether we can meet the stakeholders, including forestry representative bodies, and determine whether we can develop some sort of protocol or code to deal with cost. Forestry owners encounter huge costs and losses due to various storms. There are other challenges. Ash dieback is a major challenge. It has an impact on electricity wires. That is an important point. I ask the Minister to speak to his colleague about it. I thank the Department for providing a briefing note. It refers to the progress of the Bill, and it is to be hoped it will pass. A debate is scheduled for next Tuesday, which will be an hour and 15 minutes but may change if amendments are tabled, and we will know that before lunchtime tomorrow.”
“It is not just farmers who own land under substantial forestry; there are also investors. There are stakeholders. We need to get to the bottom of that. We need to determine who will cover the cost. Somebody suggested that the ESB will pass on the costs involved to the customer. I do not want to hear that when I see the profit margins of the ESB. I wish to acknowledge its excellent work. That is important. There is also concern about the imposition of maintenance obligations on landowners, and we need to know more about that. I am not sure whether the Minister is aware that there may be pending legislation or regulation in regard to this. The ESB is currently empowered to fell and clear when it relates to critical infrastructure. Let us not get too technical about this.”