We remember the Senator's brother fondly. He was a good man. I call Senator Currie. I have used gender here, Senator Cummins.

That is fine. Ladies first.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and Senator Cummins. I want to raise yesterday's news that increases in road tolls will go ahead on 1 January. I appreciate the delay from the start of 2023 and the fact that the Government subsidised the companies involved in public private partnerships, PPPs, since June, although I have other questions as to how these PPPs work.

I want to talk about the M50 and the eFlow barrier-free toll operated by Transport Infrastructure Ireland. I acknowledge that the toll revenue goes towards the upkeep and the renewal of the national road network but the toll bridge, as it is known on the M50, is the only place where a toll is actually charged. As far as I can see there has been no consideration of the impact these charges are going to have on the communities of Lucan, Castleknock, Clonsilla and the Strawberry Beds, where one can see people avoiding the tolls and the effect this has on congestion. This can been seen more at weekends, when people have more time. There is going to be a significant increase of 20 cent for cars and €2.50 per journey if you have a tag. It will be €3.10 for a video account and €3.70 each way if you do not. For other categories of vehicles, there will be an increase of between 30 cent and 40 cent. Let us remember that when it comes to electric vehicle discounts, these are also going.

The Economic an Social Research Institute says that the user pays. With regard to Castleknock and Lucan, however, we probably pay the most and have not seen any mitigation in the context of the impact the congestion to which I refer has on our communities.

What is the plan? Places like Lucan village, the Strawberry Beds and Clonsilla cannot just continue to take; there has to be some give.

I support the comments of my colleague Senator Lombard on the issues around the knackeries dispute. It is a big challenge throughout rural Ireland at the moment. It urgently needs to be addressed.

I have raised the large-scale sports infrastructure fund on the Order of Business and during a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, a couple of weeks ago in this Chamber. This morning's announcement that €3.3 million is being allocated from the fund to the Waterford GAA county board for the redevelopment of Walsh Park is really positive. In all of my engagements I asked for organisations that drove on with such projects - in the case of the Waterford county board, it cut its cloth to its measure and delivered phase 1 of the Walsh Park redevelopment - not to be penalised for going ahead with projects. Thankfully, that is the position the Government took up. The allocation of €3.3 million means the county board will be able to proceed with phase 2. That is right and proper because there are other organisations that have not proceeded with any of their projects for a variety of reasons. Those that actually went on with their developments need to be encouraged. What could be done with funding in 2020, when the initial €3.7 million was provided, was very different from what can be achieved in 2023. However, the Waterford county board is to be commended on delivering phase 1 . We look forward to seeing progress on phase 2 with the allocation of €3.3 million.