The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding the arrangements for the sitting of the House on Thursday, 15 December, to be taken on the conclusion of the Order of Business, without debate; No. 2, motion regarding the proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of the Council decision regarding the extension of the period referred to in Article 552(11) of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement during which the United Kingdom may derogate from the obligation to delete name record data of passengers after their departure from the United Kingdom, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 1, without debate; No. 3, motion regarding orders of reference of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 2, without debate; No. 4, Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 - Second Stage, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to adjourn at 2.15 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the opening contribution of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes, all other Senators not to exceed four minutes, and the Minister to be given not less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 5, motion regarding the recommendation of appointment of ordinary members to the board of the Electoral Commission, An Coimisiún Toghcháin, to be taken at 2.15 p.m., and to conclude after 75 minutes, if not previously concluded, with the opening contribution of the Minister not to exceed seven minutes, all Senators not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to be given not less than seven minutes to reply to the debate; No. 6, statements on the recent travel disruption at Dublin Airport and continuous planning for the coming weeks, to be taken at 3.30 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 5, whichever is the later, and to conclude after one hour, if not previously concluded, with the opening contribution of the Minister not to exceed six minutes, all Senators not to exceed six minutes, time can be shared, and the Minister to be given not less than six minutes to reply to the debate; No. 7, National Tourism Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 [Certified Money Bill] - Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 4.30 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 6, whichever is the later, and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 15 minutes by the putting of one question from the Chair which shall, with regard to recommendations, include only those set down or accepted by the Government; No. 8, Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2022 – all Stages, to be taken at 4.45 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 7, whichever is the later, and to conclude after one hour, if not previously concluded, with the opening contribution of the Minister not to exceed eight minutes, all Senators not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to be given not less than eight minutes to reply to the debate, with Committee and Remaining Stages to be taken immediately thereafter; No. 9 Tailte Éireann Bill 2022 – Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 6 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 8, whichever is the later, and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 30 minutes by the putting of one question from the Chair which shall, with regard to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Government; and No. 10, Private Members' business, Animal Health and Welfare (Dogs) Bill 2022 – Second Stage, to be taken at 6.30 p.m. or on the conclusion of No. 9, whichever is the later, with the time allocated for the debate not to exceed two hours

I support the Acting Leader with regard to the Order of Business. I will speak about towns, villages and rural regeneration, an issue that is important to all politicians, especially councillors in every local authority region. We have seen another big investment by the Government today. The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, has made an investment in excess of €27 million in the town and village programme up and down the country. It is good to see that a long-vacant building in Ballinasloe is to be repurposed as a hub and €500,000 will be allocated for the redesign of Arigna, County Roscommon, a little village well known to many which was once a great mining place and where there is now a fantastic mining museum. There is much good news in Galway, Roscommon and every other county today.

Some towns and villages are just not making the mark, however. I do not know whether it is because the local community cannot agree on a project or whether greater engagement is needed with the Department. The town and village programme is a fantastic scheme. It is doing something we have all talked about for years in that it is regenerating towns, bringing more people into them and getting rid of vacancy by repurposing vacant buildings. It would be a travesty if a minority of towns and villages were left behind. We need the communities in towns and villages to come to an agreement on what they would like to be developed in their area. If the Department needs to reach out more to those towns and villages, let it do so because it is very important we use this scheme to its potential and ensure every community gets a share of the moneys available to repurpose its town or village.

Before I conclude, I wish to refer to something that is upsetting to everybody, whether they live somewhere urban or somewhere rural. I am cognisant of the fact that we have schoolchildren from Malahide here. However, anybody listening to "Morning Ireland" yesterday could not help but be touched by the story of John Healy from Moneygall, which is on the Tipperary-Offaly border. He spoke about the appalling damage done to his sheep flock. Some 50 of his young sheep - I think they might have been hoggets - were killed. He told the story of heading to work and getting a call from his mother. She told him one of the lambs was in the back garden, which is quite a ways from where the sheep should have been. He rang his two teenage sons and asked them to go up to the field not far from the house to see if the sheep were okay. His sons called him back crying uncontrollably because they discovered that 50 of the sheep had been killed by marauding dogs. Senator Boylan has a Bill relating to dogs on the Order Paper. There was another attack in Kildare. This happens every single year. It must be stopped, both for reasons of animal welfare and because of the heartbreak it brings to the farmers who look after their sheep and lambs. We must do something. I do not have a magic answer, but we must do whatever needs to be done. If we have to ban certain types of dog, then we should do so. I appeal to people who have dogs to ensure that they know where they are and that they are under control.