Order of Business
The Leader set out the day's business, and Senator O'Loughlin briefly welcomed the Order of Business while praising St. Brigid's Day events in Kildare.
The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on inland and marine fisheries, to be taken at 4.45 p.m. and to conclude at 6.15 p.m., with the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, those of group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes, those of any other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply; No. 2, motion regarding the proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of a proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the agreement between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation on the transfer of passenger name record data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime, to be taken at 6.30 p.m. without debate; No. 3, motion regarding proposed approval by Seanad Éireann of a proposal for a Council decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the agreement between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation on the transfer of passenger name record data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 2, without debate; and No. 4, Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill 2026 - Order for Second Stage and Second Stage, to be taken on conclusion of No. 3 and to conclude after two hours, if not previously concluded, with the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, those of group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes, those any other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply.
Comment on this
I support the Order of Business. It has been wonderful to see so many Brigid events around the country, particularly in Kildare. I congratulate Kildare County Council, Solas Bhride, Into Kildare and the dean of St. Brigid's Cathedral, Kildare, for all the wonderful events that were hosted, despite the bad weather, across County Kildare. They were a pleasure to attend, particularly the inaugural Spirit of Kildare Awards ceremony, which was the brainchild of Mayor Carmel Kelly. That was held on Sunday night. Several awards were made. All were noteworthy, particularly that given to Sr. Rita Minehan. Together with Sr. Phil and Sr. Mary, she has done wonderful work in the spirit of Brigid at Solas Bhride and by reaching out.
Despite all the bad weather, there was a lot of light and hope over the weekend until last night, when we heard the sad and tragic news of the passing of Vivian Carroll. He was a wonderful community man and businessman in the town of Newbridge. Like myself, he was from Rathangan. He learned his trade as a barman in the Silken Thomas in Kildare and his ambition was always to have his own pub. He owned two very fine places in Newbridge, namely Judge Roy Beans and Harrigan's. Vivian lived with his wife, Breda, and four children in Kildangan. He was a leader in every community he was involved with. He was kind. He was the best of us. He was a good person but, sadly, the light and hope in his life left him yesterday evening. To say that we, as a community, are absolutely distraught would be an understatement. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. We always need to have hope and to be able to reach out to the Samaritans or whoever we can, because there has to be a better way.
I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on bringing Grace's law to Cabinet in recent days.
A number of us about the tragic passing of Grace Lynch last week and people indicated that they wanted something to be done. This just shows that where there is a will and support, things can happen. It was good to hear the Minister talking about that matter this morning. Since 2023, over 1,000 scramblers have been taken off the road. It is not that nothing was happening, but it is important that stringent laws are put in place to seize scramblers and to make our roads safer.