Before I call on Senator Andrews to speak, I welcome him back. It is good to see him here safe and sound. I look forward to his contribution.

I thank everybody for their good wishes. It is nice to be back. The surroundings are a lot nicer than I have been used to for the last month or so.

On 1 October, Israel kidnapped citizens of 44 nations from international waters.

They were on a humanitarian mission, a non-violent peaceful mission. Despite kidnapping 44 citizens from 44 nations, Israel faces no consequences. It is remarkable that it has been allowed to act with impunity in committing countless war crimes, genocide and man-made famine. It has also dismantled the international rules that have applied for many decades. Its act of piracy against the Global Sumud Flotilla was just another example in the very long list of international crimes. As I said, it was a non-violent humanitarian mission looking to bring in baby formula and medicines. We had baby formula on our boat.

I am very thankful for all the support we received while we were in an Israeli prison. In particular I thank Irish Sport for Palestine which was really supportive to me and the group. On a daily basis it holds Israel to account in terms of sport. I also thank the ambassador to Israel, Sonya McGuinness, who was fantastic. I thank Evan Cunningham in Israel who came into the prison to meet us and was very reassuring. I know they are working under very challenging conditions. They were very reassuring and professional. I also thank our ambassador to Greece, Ciara O'Floinn, and Leah Palleschi who were unbelievably kind, supportive, reassuring and professional. I thank Mary Lou McDonald, our party leader and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire for their support from start to finish. Their support meant so much to family and friends. I also acknowledge the Minister, Simon Harris, for the empathy he showed to us. His calls were very much appreciated and very kind. I acknowledge the Department of foreign affairs which did so much to help the Irish delegation when we were released. We are forever grateful for their assistance.

Being part of the flotilla was a huge privilege and I met many amazing and inspiring individuals. It is now more important than ever to keep the momentum going, to keep protesting and to keep our eyes on Gaza and Palestine. We need to keep supporting justice for Palestinians. On the recent deal between Israel and Hamas, any respite that Palestinians get is welcome. It will be welcome to see all hostages released. I sincerely hope that the deal will bring justice. Obviously, peace is the objective and it is really important that we get peace. However, without justice there will be no peace. Palestinians have not had any justice for decades. We need to see Palestinians get justice. If there is a real justice, this deal will work. It remains to be seen whether justice will be built into this deal. If there is no justice, there will be no peace in the long run.

I thank Senator Andrews for his courageous journey. He walked his talk. It is great to see him back. Clearly, a few days away from home grub is good for the old diet; he is looking well. I ask him to mind himself. It was a huge undertaking. I think I speak for most people in this House in saying he can be assured of our support. It is traumatic. There will be days of unwinding. There will be recurring nightmares of the horrific issues he has seen and encountered. He is brave and courageous. I am proud that he is one of our colleagues in the Seanad. He not only brought a light to the issue, but he brought a light to himself and to the Upper House, something I am very proud of.

I am going around with the IFA budget 2026 document. One would think it is a bible. Everyone stops and asks what I am doing with it; the budget is over. I want to acknowledge and thank the IFA. While I have had many differences with it from time to time, it put enormous work into its pre-budget submission. Its representatives engaged and spoke to many of us about issues. I want to highlight one issue that it has highlighted today which is that tillage funding falls short of political commitments. It is not about a blame game, but we have a serious crisis in tillage. The IFA has worked hard to highlight that and highlight the economic benefits to our rural communities, to the wider community and to the international community, and the challenges around it. The budget announcement of €50 million for tillage growers was short of the €65 million it sought. Can we have a debate about tillage? Tillage is critical to this country. There are many other crops we should be looking at. Premier wheat for use in distilleries has been mentioned. I call for a serious debate on the tillage sector. I acknowledge the enormous work the IFA did in its pre-budget submission. All is not over and we will have other opportunities for it to continue to engage with us. That is part of the democratic process. I wish it well.

I also warmly welcome our colleague Senator Andrews back. I commend him on what was a truly heroic effort on his part to shine a light on the issue. In due course, I am sure we will hear some of the haunting stories. I join my two colleagues in wishing him well in the upcoming days. I wish him and his family well with his transition back to Irish life.

I would like a debate on the property owned by the State, specifically agencies like the OPW and local authorities. In my county there are a lot of vacant properties owned by various elements of the State, including CIÉ, Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann and the OPW. I can think of three buildings in a town in Clare that are boarded up and could be used for something more productive than they are being used for at the moment, which is nothing. The Department of housing needs to do a deep dive in collaboration with other Departments and agencies to do an inventory of the number of buildings in State ownership that are derelict or vacant and to see what can be done to bring them into use specifically for housing. Not enough is being done in that space to identify properties. I can give specific examples in my county and I am sure my colleagues here can give examples of buildings they are aware of that have lain vacant for decades.

Coupled with that, we need another layer when it comes to the State agencies, specifically local authorities, purchasing properties. While I fully understand and accept that the CEO of a local authority has to have autonomy from elected members when purchasing property, there needs to be another layer of accountability. I am looking for a debate on accountability for local authority CEOs when purchasing property. On another day, I will allude to why I am raising that particular issue.

I start by welcoming my colleague Senator Andrews back. I am glad he is back. As they would say in Cork, fair play to you, boy, for what you did.

I wish to raise the issue of farm safety. Already this year there have been 16 confirmed deaths following accidents on farmyards and in fields, and obviously others could be added to that list. This number is higher than the figure for the whole of 2024 and so obviously there is a problem there. Nine out of those 16 were people over the age of 65. Decisions taken with regard to machinery, livestock and heights have led to these people's deaths. I would like the Minister to come to the House to explain his plans to highlight safe procedures in agriculture.

I would like a debate on Iran. We are in election mode. The way we deal with elections here and the way they are dealt with in Iran are very different. I visited Iran with a delegation from this House and I can say that the people are just like us. They drink coffee, laugh, joke and enjoy life, but if you come the wrong side of the regime, they hang you. In 14 months, 1,850 people have been hanged. The way they hang them is horrendous. They put a noose around your neck and they lift you up and allow you to strangulate rather than a drop hang, so it is not just hanging, it is absolute brutality. They are hanging up to nine people per day so we need to establish what Ireland's position on this brutal regime is. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on that if he can.

I read today is that Singapore has organised that small and medium-sized industries will have free cybersecurity protection for a year. What are we doing about cyber protection within the SME sector? In the next short period, small and medium-sized industries in this country will be responsible for adherence to the EU Cyber Resilience Act, the NIS2 directive, the Digital Operational Resilience Act, DORA, and the GDPR. There is so much coming through. Board members can be struck off for life for failing to meet their requirements and organisations can be fined. Imagine being a manufacturing company today. You have to manufacture goods that will be cyber-resilient for life. That means re-engineering and redesigning. It involves where you are getting your chips from if it is based on chip technology. We have CCTV in this House. I do not know if it is still provided by Huawei. If it is, where did the chips come from and who is watching us? Watch the watchers, that is why I say, so I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on that if he can.