I now call on the Deputy Leader to outline the business of the day.

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I will move a motion for an expression of sympathy by the House at the end of the Order of Business. The Order of Business is No. 1, the Mental Health Bill 2024 - Committee Stage (Resumed), to be taken at 12.30 p.m. and to adjourn at 3 p.m., if not previously concluded.

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, I would like to offer our sympathies and condolences to the wife and family of Gerard Lynch. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Overnight there have been welcome developments. This House should welcome the announcement from President Trump that he is pulling back from his planned 10% tariffs on eight European countries. Also, most importantly, he is pulling back from his threat to Greenland. Greenland is an independent state and its sovereignty and independence must be guaranteed. It is welcome news and we should send our good wishes to the Taoiseach on behalf of our country. His position has been steadfast. He has asserted that we should work through the European Union, that we should ensure European unity in our response to the US and use our diplomatic channels to deal with all geopolitical and trade issues. These are welcome developments. It is an evolving situation. It is always changing. What is most important is that we work consistently with our partners to assert the values of independence and freedom.

This week, there was a very significant announcement for active travel around the country. Over €350 million will be spent on improving greenways and routes for active travel and this is very welcome. I want to particularly welcome the allocation of almost €36 million to Dublin City Council. The council will use these funds to further extend the Royal Canal Greenway in my own constituency. It runs from the Liffey all the way to the west, running through from the IFSC, up through Newcomen Bridge and Phibsborough and now we have funding to continue it. That is really great news. The Grand Canal, Clontarf and the Liffey cycleway will all benefit. These are really important investments, not just for the city, but also for urban areas. Active travel connects communities and makes it safer for us all to get out of our cars and to cycle, walk and run. This is a really important development, and I wish all the projects well.

Finally, I want to welcome the €1 billion announcement from Government for the housing activation office, HAS. It has not got much coverage. The silence has been somewhat deafening, actually. I do not know if that is because it is €1 billion being given to help activate the delivery of housing in the immediate short term for local authorities and the Land Development Agency, LDA. This is only part of €11 billion the State is spending this year on housing alone, which is a very significant investment. However, I think about all the noise made about other elements and no noise made about this, so I want every one of the 31 local authorities in our country to know there is an extra €1 billion there. People need to know that if they have a piece of land that is zoned for housing, has planning permission on it, and it needs a water or other utility connection or a road they should make their application. It is open and the deadline is in February for applications.

I want to say a few words on the passing of Gerard Lynch, our former Kerry county councillor and town councillor, former TD and former Senator from Listowel, my home town. Gerard Lynch served in the Dáil from 1969 to 1977 and later in the Seanad from 1977 to 1981. Across those years, Gerard gave steady, committed service to the people of North Kerry and indeed to the country as a whole. Gerard Lynch was known - as the Leas-Chathaoirleach nicely put it - for his decency, fairness and genuine commitment to public service.

He brought the values of rural Kerry and rural north Kerry into national life, as well as his honesty, hard work and understanding of the people he represented. His focus was never on headlines; it was on helping people and improving life in his own community. He stood up for farmers, small businesses and local families, and he carried the concerns of north Kerry with him every day he served.

Outside of politics, Gerard was a neighbour and a community man, someone who gave his time generously and contributed quietly to the life of Listowel and the surrounding parishes. His loss will be felt by many and I offer my sincere sympathies to his family - his wife, Margo, and his children, Mary, Geraldine, Seamus, Paddy, Catherine, Ann, Norma, Bernadette, Mags and, indeed, his late son John. I offer my sincere sympathies to Gerard's family, his Fine Gael family and all who mourn him.

On behalf of the Independent Group, I express our condolences to the Lynch family on the passing of Gerard. May he rest in peace.

There is something that needs to be dispelled. We constantly hear the Zelenskyy visit to Ireland was extremely successful, there was nothing to worry about and everything went perfectly. Everything did not go perfectly. It was a lucky day in that nothing went wrong. We had foreign police - French, Northern Irish and Portuguese police - looking after the man's security. It was not our own Garda Síochána or Defence Forces. It is outrageous to suggest everything went well. At the end of the day, Zelenskyy came and it was a wonderful visit to Leinster House. It was good that Ireland stood up and welcomed him into the country but it was by no means a perfect visit. There were drones in the Irish Sea which may have put his life in peril. We must remember he is probably the number one target in the world from the Russian perspective. They would like nothing better than to take him out. Let us be honest about it.

I move on to yesterday's debate on defence. I commend the Deputy Leader. The speech she gave was 100% on the nail, all but for the tiny bit at the end about a swimming pool in the Curragh, County Kildare.

Which we got last night, actually.

In fairness to her, the speech the Deputy Leader gave was fantastic.

In a recent survey of 6,500 members of the Defence Forces, 58 respondents said they had been subjected to some form of sexual harassment and 40 said they had suffered a sexual assault. We do not know whether the 58 and the 40 are all part of the same group or not.

There is something we need to put on the record, and I think the Deputy Leader will agree with me here. Any form of sexual harassment or bullying in any organisation is totally unacceptable and those involved in it need to be called out, identified and removed from the organisation. However, the only organisation in this country that has had that lens put on it is the Defence Forces. I wonder how much sexual harassment there is in the HSE, the Prison Service, the fire service and the ambulance service? How much bullying is there? I come from a teaching background and bullying was a massive problem in teaching. We are demonising the most loyal citizens of the State. Let us have a survey of all the other State organisations and quantify the issue of sexual harassment, sexual abuse and bullying in the workplace. Let us be honest and open about it. I think the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Deputy Leader will agree with that.

I want to acknowledge the achievement and work carried out by my two colleagues, MEPs Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion, on getting the Mercosur trade deal referred to the European Court of Justice. I was disappointed that four Irish MEPs voted against that move.

As we have spoken about here, Mercosur is not a good deal for Ireland. It is not a good deal for our farmers or for rural Ireland. This is not over. Just because it has been referred to the court, it does not mean it will not go through. The deal could be implemented on a provisional basis by the European Commission. It will need member state backing to do that, more than likely. The Government needs to do what it did not do last time. It needs to pull the finger out - excuse the expression - to get on to other European countries and get a blocking minority. We cannot have this deal go through. It will be detrimental to rural Ireland, our farmers and other European countries. For the health of our people, we need to know what is coming into the country and what we are consuming. We need to have this deal stopped. I ask for the Government and Minister for agriculture to do what they did not do last time and build a blocking minority.

While I am on the subject of Brazilian beef, it is shocking to hear of the chair of Bord Bia. While in a State position to promote Irish food, alcohol and drink, he was at the same time promoting Brazilian beef in his own company. It is absolutely shocking. I cannot wait to see what happens at Bord Bia's meeting today. If he does not step down, I would expect the Minister for agriculture to step in and demand he does.

Hear, hear. Well said.

I welcome pupils from Mercy school in Kilbeggan. I hope they enjoy their visit to Leinster House. As is tradition here, they get no homework for the rest of the day.