I call the Leader to outline the Order of Business.

The Order of Business is No. 1, Planning and Development Bill 2023 - Report Stage (resumed) and Final Stage, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 5.45 p.m. by the putting of one question from the Chair, which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Government; and No. 2, Gambling Regulation Bill 2022 - Committee Stage, to be taken at 7 p.m. and to adjourn at 9 p.m., if not previously concluded.

I welcome the students from Loreto Secondary School, Balbriggan. They are very welcome to the Seanad. I call Senator O’Loughlin.

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. On behalf of the people of Kildare, can I say how pleased we are to have had €8.3 million in sports grants awarded to the county late last night? It is really important news. Our sports centres and volunteers are the lifeblood of our community. On behalf of those who may have been disappointed at being invalidated for reasons that could be rectified, I ask for a speedy appeals process for those that are deserving of those grants.

I also raise the remediation scheme for apartments that were built during the Celtic tiger times. We have been waiting for a remediation scheme for quite some time. I note and welcome that details of the scheme were brought to the Cabinet very recently for approval. It is expected that legislation will give force to the scheme later this year, hopefully within the next few weeks and months. I have a concern regarding what is proposed in that houses with defects are excluded from the scheme. Many of us remember a situation that happened in Newbridge, in the constituency in which I live, in 2015. At the time, six houses in Millfield Manor went ablaze and burned to the ground. There were people living in them. Thankfully, this happened during the day and nobody was injured or hurt. However, the owners have been left in limbo completely in respect of this scheme. I have been calling for it ever since then and was very disappointed when I saw that redress was going to be designed solely for apartments and duplexes and not for houses. There is no clear logic to this. Many houses that are highly deficient in fire safety measures are not included. I call for them to be included and for the legislation be amended.

I also raise the issue of the upcoming Hallowe'en season. Now is the time to talk about it, not the week of Hallowe'en, as now is the time when people travel over the Border to buy fireworks which are clearly illegal in the Republic. This causes many problems for older people, for example, for people who live with autism and for animals. I was recently contacted by a constituent whose dog had a stroke last year and who has had to pay resulting medical bills of €4,500. Now is the time to plead with people to please not buy fireworks and bangers. They are illegal. I ask that this be policed appropriately.

I call Senator Lombard.

I acknowledge what is on the Order of Business this morning. It is really important that we have a debate this afternoon about gambling. That is necessary legislation and I look forward to contributing to it. Every time you go out to the pub, you meet people who talk about the addictions they have. It is wonderful that we are making good progress with this legislation.

I also wish to acknowledge the amount of money given out in sports capital grants. It is quite a significant sum of money. A total of €5 million was given to west Cork last week. The people of Cork South-West benefited from Belgooly to Castletownbere.

One of the clubs in Cork South-West that I particularly want to highlight is Bandon Athletic Club. It received a considerable allocation of more than €404,000. This is a thriving athletics club and community which takes in not alone Bandon, but the entire hinterland around it. It is great to think that Bandon got the recognition it deserves with such an allocation. With investments of that kind, athletics can move forward and take up its rightful place as one of the most popular sports in Ireland. In many ways, athletics has not been looked on as it should have been. It is the biggest sport there, with people of all ages and genders involved. It is a very important sport. It is great that athletics received such money and I wish to acknowledge that. I wish Bandon Athletic Club the best of luck. It is one of the most thriving sports clubs that we have in west Cork.

On our return to the House, I wish to raise Israel’s escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

I highlight to the House that in the past 36 hours, Israel has launched three separate waves of airstrikes across south Lebanon, deep into the Beqaa Valley, and striking targets in Beirut, in Dahieh province, which is a suburb. In that period, Israel has slaughtered more than 500 people. As of this morning, I think it is in excess of 600 civilians, including 100 women and more than 50 children. This is the femicide and the infanticide that was wrought upon Gaza, writ large again in Lebanon.

Let me be very clear, the pager attack, when we get past the technological aspects and its perceived ingenuity, was simply improvised explosive devices dispersed across a large part of the population and detonated simultaneously. That falls within the definition of a terrorist attack. Netanyahu has signalled very clearly, that in his impending assault on Lebanon, he has abandoned the rules-based order and the laws of armed conflict. He is telling the Lebanese that what he did in Gaza he will do in Lebanon, throughout their country. In the last 36 hours, that figure of 600 people killed matches exactly - to use the appalling calculus of Netanyahu and those who enable him - the casualty rate of Gaza, which has led to the deaths of more than 40,000 people. What a figure. Imagine, 40,000 people butchered.

In discussions with a previous Israeli ambassador, she said to me that the Israelis never retaliated against Germany for what the Nazis did and in fact Israel built up relations with the German Government. This was the first country Israel established formal relations with but Israelis are able to distinguish between Germans and the Nazis. However, Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and others in his cabinet, who describe Palestinians as "human animals", refuse to distinguish between Palestinians, Gazans and Hamas and they refuse now to distinguish between ordinary Lebanese civilians and Hezbollah. There will be an invasion, mark my words, between now and 7 October, the anniversary of the despicable, genocidal attack by Hamas on Israel. In the middle of that we have hundreds of Irish troops. I ask the House to think of the men and women who are serving in south Lebanon. They are now de facto human shields in the villages and towns that are being targeted in this indiscriminate manner by Israel. I also think of their families at the moment. It is a particularly worrying time for them.