I welcome the Minister of State. I also welcome the opportunity to engage in the Second Stage debate on the Bill. As Senator Glynn said, the legislation is very welcome because it is long overdue, as most of us would accept. Both of the Minister’s immediate predecessors in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and [...]

I welcome the Minister of State and the opportunity to discuss this motion on a new Council standing committee on internal security, COSI. The shift within the provisions of the Lisbon treaty to a much more genuinely European or Community approach to justice and home affairs, as opposed to the more traditional inter-governmental approach, was [...]

I welcome the Minister and I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate on the timely Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services and Electronic Communications Infrastructure) Bill 2009. Senator Quinn mentioned some of the changes in the field. It is important for legislation to keep pace with the changes that are happening. The premium rate [...]

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran. I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak about this important issue, particularly at a time when an international summit on climate change is taking place in Copenhagen. When I listened to the contributions of Senators, I was encouraged to hear they are convinced about the [...]

I welcome the Minister of State. As a former psychologist and someone who managed a project for young people who had had their first serious experience of mental health difficulties, including psychosis, I also welcome the opportunity to conclude my reply to the Second Stage debate on the Mental Health (Involuntary Procedures) (Amendment) Bill 2008. [...]

I welcome this opportunity to make a statement on the recent flooding. I feel very passionately about flooding because in my eight years as a member of Wicklow County Council some of the most difficult planning situations I had to deal with or be involved with were cases in which flood plains were being zoned. [...]

I welcome the Minister and the opportunity to debate the Courts and Court Officers Bill 2009. Like Senator Walsh, I must admit to feeling at a slight disadvantage. I am not a legal practitioner and thus am not on the receiving end of some of Senator Walsh’s criticisms, but I have been a litigant once [...]

I welcome the Minister of State and the opportunity to debate the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009. This is very important legislation of which the Green Party, particularly the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, can be very proud. If I have any regret it is that the Bill is [...]

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the opportunity to engage in the Second Stage debate on the European Union Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to give domestic effect to the provisions of the Lisbon treaty. Before I refer to the provisions of the Bill I welcome the [...]

I welcome the Minister to the House and am glad to have the opportunity to discuss the Twenty-Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill. I hope the Minister will forgive me when I say there is a slight sense of déjà vu about this because we sat here before the last Lisbon referendum [...]