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Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 16 Feb 2022

Vol. 282 No. 13

Planning and Development (Solar Panels for Public Buildings, Schools, Homes and Other Premises) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage

SECTION 1
Question proposed: "That section 1 stand part of the Bill."

The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is very welcome. As he knows, it was some time in the middle of last year when we considered Second Stage. I felt the legislation should have progressed by this stage so I hope the Minister of State will assure us today that everything in our Bill will be implemented in the Government’s own regulations. I look forward to his comments on that.

Thanks to the Cathaoirleach, we had Ms Mary Robinson in with us yesterday. It seems like a week ago at this stage.

It is a long day.

She spoke very inspiringly about the need to use this Chamber to deal with the issues of the day. As she sees it, the number one issue is the climate crisis. We can use this Chamber on a cross-party basis to highlight the things we can all do in our lives to implement the changes required. Ms Robinson, like many of us, identified that the messages are not necessarily trickling down to every place where they are needed. While we have passed a climate Act, how much do people in our community feel that they can really make a difference? This Bill is critical in that jigsaw.

Can the Minister of State imagine solar panels on all our schools, community buildings, churches and farms, with local people doing the work and with the involvement of children, community groups and towns? That would make everybody buy into the fact that we need climate action. Not only that, it would put money in people's pockets. A school is not operating throughout the summer, yet if it had solar panels installed it could sell energy back to the grid, make money for itself and see the fruits of its labour.

We are aware that the microgeneration scheme is on its way very shortly. This Bill would ensure that when it is delivered, all our communities could benefit straight away.

Having recently had solar panel installers in my house, they wanted to know when the Government was going to deliver on taking away the regulations on commercial and community buildings, because it is quite arbitrary. I have spoken to many Senators who have tried in their own communities to support groups, schools and community centres, which I have also done, in trying to get solar panels up and running about this. Many people do not realise until they go through the process that people can get solar panels on their homes, but when it comes to schools, any solar panel array has to go through planning. This also applies to farms and community buildings. It does not make sense for a country that professes to be a leader when it comes to climate action. There is significant red tape and cost involved. If there is some change in the middle of the application whereby a solar array should have been placed in a different place, the applicant has to go back to the start and look for planning permission all over again, which is what happened to the school I was involved with. The problem, as I am sure the Minister of State will be well aware, is that all development, unless specifically exempted under section 4 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, or Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2002, requires planning permission. This includes solar panels. This legislation goes back to 2000. The question must be asked, and I am sure will also be asked by Friends of the Earth Ireland: why is it taking so long? When we introduced the Bill last year we had the Minister of State's assurances that it would have moved.

Not only do the issues relate to community buildings, they also relate to the size of solar arrays on houses. Assuming we had larger roofs, which in my case I do not, it would be possible to have larger solar panels. This is what we need to get to so that everybody buys into this.

The Minister of State will have an opportunity to reply and we are all really looking forward to what he will say. We are anticipating that it will be good news. I am aware that concerns have been raised regarding glint and glare around airports. In other countries, they simply fence off that area. These are small areas and this is done on a very strategic basis. For God's sake, we do not have that many airports in the country. Although some might say that we need more in some parts of the country and we need to keep them open in others. It is not rocket science. Obviously, we need to do a strategic environmental assessment, but we do not need to be going to the nth degree. I will let the Minister of State reply on that and tell us what we need from his perspective. I thank him and no doubt I will talk about this again.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Minister of State, Deputy Burke, as teacht isteach inniu. It is good to see him in the House to take this Committee Stage. This is a very important Bill. Even though it is quite a short Bill, it is very important. As the Green Party spokesperson on rural development and as somebody who has worked with schools for 14 years trying to help them to be greener, this day has been a long time coming. I look forward to hearing about the progress that the Minister of State has for us on this Bill, and when we can see it come to fruition. The Green Party has been fighting for this for an awful long time. It is really good to see the Bill reach Committee Stage. It is definitely now time to dot the i's and cross the t's and bring it home.

The Bill will specifically allow people to be exempt from planning permission for solar panel installation, which will extend to public buildings and schools. It removes the restriction that limits the area of solar panels allowed on a roof to 50%. This means that a solar installation of almost any size could be installed on a building. It increases the allowable size of a freestanding, ground-mounted area up to 100 m², from 25 m², and it increases the allowable height from ground level of freestanding solar arrays from 2 m to 4 m. This is a no-brainer for our country. We have a climate emergency and we have huge increases in electricity bills. This needs to happen yesterday.

There are 137,500 farms in the country, the majority of which have at least one shed roof suitable for solar. Our family farm at home has photovoltaic tiles on the shed roof. One young farmer raised an issue with me recently when I met with Macra na Feirme representatives. He thought that they might be too heavy for sheds, and that a farmer might need to build a special shed. In case people are worried about that, the technology has come a long way. First, it has reduced in price by approximately 90% over the past ten years. Photovoltaic panels are lighter than ever before, and they can be bolted on within a couple of hours. I have seen this done first-hand. For the farmers of Ireland, for the schools of Ireland, for the community halls all over the country, the 4,000 schools and 2 million homes, this needs to happen as soon as possible.

I believe that the Minister of State has progressed the legislation and I really look forward to him proceeding with it. Not only will it enable people to create their own energy, the dairy farmers have huge electricity bills running the dairy and milking machines. This really has to be prioritised within the Department, so that we can see this pushed ahead now and not delayed any further. We introduced this on First Stage almost one year ago. We thought that would be it and that we were nearly there. People were harassing us and asking where the Bill was that we promised them. It looks like we have not been pushing for it but we have been shouting about it for ages. We have it in the programme for Government, we have committed to it as a coalition, and we said that we would conclude the review of the current planning exemptions related to solar panels. We said that we would expand and incentivise microgeneration, including rooftop solar energy, and we said that we would develop a solar energy strategy for rooftop and ground-based photovoltaics. Photovoltaic solar panels are the newest form of solar panels we have. Some people used to have a water solar heaters, whereby one had columns of water in the solar panel which were heated by the sun. This photovoltaic technology is a game changer because it makes electricity and does not actually need lots of sunshine. It just needs daylight. It is very important that we put the power and the energy back into the people's hands at grassroots level who want to do their bit and reduce their bills. God knows farmers are struggling enough at the moment with all of the rising costs, including for diesel and nitrates.

While I recognise that the Minister of State has lots of priorities, I urge him to do his level best to prioritise this Bill and move it forward. I thank my colleague, Senator Pauline O'Reilly, for her work on this, and the members of the Department who have worked hard on this. I believe that we are ready to go and I really hope we can do this. I have had several meetings with the Irish Farmers Association, which would also like to see this progress.

The Minister of State is very welcome here today to deal with this vital legislation. I commend my Green Party colleagues on taking it forward. Senator Garvey has been pushing the merits of this very step on me for some months now, and I am fully in agreement with her. It is excellent legislation. The Fianna Fáil Party is very much in agreement with the principles of the legislation. It is absolutely imperative that we now take these steps in our efforts to become a much greener society. At a time farming is being asked to step up, here is a win-win situation for the Government and for farming across the State. There was a lot of investment by the Government around 2007 and 2008 in farming to improve the regulation and operation of farms and there was investment in farm sheds and slurry pits. A lot of that investment was done to a very high standard. The number of farms, even small farms, across the country that benefited from that gives us the opportunity to build on our electricity network through having the ability to put panels on these sheds, which are of a very high standard and are absolutely capable of taking solar panels. As Senator Garvey explained, the panels are not heavy anymore. It is imperative that the work starts and that the roll-out of the meters also happens.

Moreover, while this may not apply directly to the Minister of State but more so to his colleague in government, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, it is imperative that there is an incentive to farmers for the use of solar farming. The threshold of 50 acres or thereabouts is currently too high and needs to be reviewed. If we in government are to be real about this, those thresholds need to be reviewed to ensure that solar farming becomes a much more inclusive way of creating energy in the State. I believe that those small steps can go a long way to us meeting our targets.

My last point is on the use of roof space and the fact that panels can currently only use 50% of roof space.

There is a lot of waste attached to that. There is at least another 25% in most cases that can and should be used. I hope the Minister of State can build that into the legislation we are debating.

Does anyone else wish to speak to section 1? There is no rota; Senators must indicate.

I am sorry; I indicated that I wanted to speak. I think it was sent through that I was speaking on this Bill. Was it not confirmed?

I have a long list of speakers and most of them are not here. Anybody who wishes to speak must indicate.

Okay. I prepared so much. It is not often I get to support the Green Party colleagues. I want to commend them. This is an important Bill on which the Minister of State can act very swiftly. I support it as it will allow for an immediate exemption from planning permission for solar panels on schools. It will also provide for the removal of other restrictions on solar panels from the planning regulations for homes and businesses. There is a growing demand for the installation of solar panels on homes, schools, community buildings, farmhouses and businesses across Ireland. There is potential for economic benefit for citizens and communities from the installation of solar panels, including a reduction in electricity bills and income generated from selling surplus renewable electricity. Planning permission is currently required for all solar panel installations on educational and community buildings. As a result, communities and schools have generally not invested in solar panels, given the considerable time, effort and money associated with obtaining planning permissions. This Bill removes that cumbersome task.

Regulations also require planning permission for any solar panel installation on homes or businesses that exceed a small size and area. I support the measures providing for the deletion of that restriction on the area covered by the solar panel on homes, businesses, light industry buildings, public buildings, schools and agricultural buildings. The amendment of Schedule 2 removes the restrictions applicable to light industrial buildings, removing the 50 sq. m threshold. In terms of enabling industry to participate in energy transition, the Bill confirms that the removal of this specific planning restriction applies to larger commercial buildings, which is welcome.

My only cautionary note would be on the disposal of solar panels and how we deal with that. Under EU law, producers are required to ensure their solar panels are recycled properly. In 2018, the first EU solar recycling plant opened in Rousset in France. Globally, the vast majority of dead solar panels end up in landfills where valuable metals and materials inside them are lost. Even when solar panels are recycled, these materials are rarely recovered. Instead, recyclers typically remove the aluminium frame holding the panel together, strip the copper wiring off the back and shred the panel, creating a solar hash that is sold as crushed glass. We need to develop new bespoke solar recycling methods to ensure the silver and silicone as well as the tin and lead in the panels can be reused.

While less than half a million tonnes of solar waste existed globally in 2016, the International Renewable Energy Agency has predicted that by 2030 that figure could rise to 8 million tonnes. By 2050, we could be throwing out 6 million tonnes of dead solar panels every year, nearly as many as we are installing. Some 78 million tonnes of panels will have reached the end of their lifetime. That is a staggering amount, undoubtedly, and it does not even begin to paint the whole picture. Those predictions are premised upon customers keeping their panels in place for the entirety of their 30-year life cycle when we know and the data will tell us that some of them will only last 15 to 20 years. They do not account for the possibility of widespread early replacement as a result of increased efficiency of later models. Last year, the Harvard Business Review publishing model, which predicts up to 50 times more solar waste than predicted by Arena, stated that the solar production boom has left its recycling infrastructure in the dust. It is all very well and good to throw these panels up on every flat surface in the country but if we do not invest in the recycling technology necessary to process them, we are kicking the problem down the road for future generations. Investment in a recycling solution for these panels might be a way forward. That is the issue in respect of the recycling of defunct solar panels which will emerge here in ten to 15 years' time.

Friends of the Earth has obviously been very keen to push the Bill forward. It has done some very good work on the issue. It highlights that the Minister of State and the Minister in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage unexpectedly raised an entirely new issue in 2020 regarding the potential of glint and glare at airports from solar panels and noted the need for yet further research over the course of this year before any changes regarding permission can be made. This is despite Dublin Airport already having a major solar panel installation in place since 2019. In 2021, the Department noted it intended to produce some form of interim planning regulations for solar panels in quarter 1 of 2021, which would work around potential aviation issues. In March, this was changed to quarter 2 of 2021. In April, the Minister noted revised regulations for solar panel exemptions would be submitted shortly to the Oireachtas for approval. However, in June it was noted that a strategic environmental assessment was now necessary which would take four to five months. I am wondering where we stand with that. This deliberate delay - perhaps it has not been delayed further - or deprioritising of this issue must not be allowed to continue. The Government should introduce an immediate amendment to the planning legislation for solar panels to proceed with only limited updates on these amendments. That is what Friends of the Earth is recommending.

I fully support this legislation. I have an issue with the recycling of solar panels but I am sure the Minister of State is able to address that.

We are speaking to section 1. As we are on Committee Stage, I ask Members to stick to the amendments. Senator O'Loughlin is next.

It is a great pleasure to speak again on this very worthy Bill. I spoke on Second Stage also. When we think of solar energy and the impact of having solar panels on our schools, what greater lesson and leadership can we give our young people, who are very often leaders in this area? It is a strong statement in any community when we see public buildings with solar panels, be they schools, Garda barracks, community centres or council offices. It is to be welcomed.

I agree, of course, with the principle of planning permission. We need strong regulatory powers around planning. However, quite often there is too much red tape and bureaucracy. The regulations are very cumbersome. It is an excellent idea proposed in the Bill by the Green Party to ensure that planning permission is not needed for solar panels, starting with public buildings in particular, but including schools and some business premises. Among the largest expenditure items that school boards of management have to pay are electricity bills. There would be a real boon in that respect also.

The Government needs to look at the possibility of providing grants that would follow this legislation to enable schools to have solar panels. They should be mandatory for any new public buildings or schools built in the future. The fact that a new special educational needs, SEN, classroom is now mandatory in all school buildings is wonderful but we need to follow that with solar panels. Solar panels could give rise to a wealth of new employment and industry. We know there will be a wealth of new jobs for young people, those who are in school now or starting first year in September, by the time they finish school or college. They will be in jobs we have not thought or dreamed about at this point. The current drive towards apprenticeships within higher education means there is no reason we cannot have plenty of new jobs and positions in this whole area of retrofitting, solar panels and so on.

The retrofitting scheme announced last week is very important for areas that have been impacted by the move away from fossil fuels and carbon industries, including my home county of Kildare. The emphasis on just transition and retrofitting should also be put on other areas such as solar energy.

I welcome and support this Bill. I commend my colleagues in the Green Party on supporting it. The Bill and other associated measures will also support Irish communities that wish to take part in Ireland's renewable energy transition. There are over 500 sustainable energy communities across Ireland supported in a network through SEAI. To refer to the previous speaker, there are three ways of recycling solar panels. I need not go into it as I have no doubt that the Minister of State will. There certainly are ways, as there should be, of recycling solar panels.

I welcome the Minister of State. I will not take up too much time as I am anticipating his reply, which we all await. I thank my Green Party colleagues for bringing forward this important Bill. My colleague, Senator Moynihan, spoke at length about our support of the Bill on Second Stage.

Senator Pauline O'Reilly spoke about the comments of the former President, Ms Mary Robinson. They were important comments and are apt for this debate today and the fact that we are on Committee Stage. We have heard the words "action now" and "crisis" previously, but this is an attempt by my Green Party colleagues to introduce something practical for our communities, schools and, most importantly, the agricultural community. It is an important Bill and an important step forward. I look forward to supporting it. As I said previously, the cost of insurance, the cost of diesel and so forth for communities, community buildings and the farming community are rising but here is something we can give back to them. Most importantly, I look forward to a positive reply from the Minister of State.

I am conscious that this is the Senator's Bill. In the first instance, the Government is supporting it. We have no issue with the Senator's right to bring the Bill forward, but we believe that secondary legislation is the most appropriate mechanism to deliver this vital change. I listened to the Senators articulate their points of view on the benefits of this exemption and I fully agree with them. It has to be done, and we are doing it as quickly as we can. However, that does not give me, or anyone else for that matter, the right to evade or ignore the environmental thresholds that we have to go through.

In line with the relevant directive, we must have a strategic environmental assessment, SEA. We have done that. We engaged further through that with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and his Department and it has been said clearly that we need a number of exemptions and exclusion zones. These exemptions will cover over 90% of the country. We need exclusion zones around airports. That necessitates going through an appropriate assessment, AA, which is currently working its way through the process. We have to go through the habitats directive in terms of an ecological assessment of what we are doing here. In the meantime, the SEA had to go through the tender process. That has concluded and, hopefully, the appropriate assessment will be finished shortly. Then it has to go to public consultation in line with the Aarhus Convention. There are significant environmental thresholds to go through before we can deliver this in a proper manner. One can quote Friends of the Earth and other organisations, but if I were to ignore environmental thresholds for another piece of public infrastructure, people would not be long in telling me I was doing something wrong.

This is a key, appropriate change and exemption that is badly needed in society and badly needed for schoolchildren so they can grow up in a culture where they can see we are being responsible and delivering a change and transition in our economy from the ground up, but it takes time. Unfortunately, swiftness and environmental thresholds do not always align. One has to go through the process set down in European directives and SEAs, and quite rightly because we have to see any impacts or unintended consequences they may throw up. That takes time. I appreciate that it can be frustrating, but we are working as hard as we can. We expect to have it concluded within a few months. Consultants have now been appointed through the SEA process. We are waiting for the ecological study to be returned, which we do not expect to take too long. However, we still have to go through that process. Obviously, with that we have to get a positive resolution from both Houses of the Oireachtas, and we do not anticipate any issue with that. We have to hear the submissions and what people have to say as well through that process. It takes time, so I plead with people. There is no issue with the Bill going through the House. That is quite right to keep the pressure on the topic. At the same time, however, the proper and appropriate mechanism is through secondary legislation, and that is the process in which we are engaging.

Nobody is suggesting not going through proper environmental measures, but this all comes down to when does one start the process. We were under the impression that this was going to start much earlier. To be fair to us, there must be a recognition of that. We have given a lot of time to the Department in order to make this progress. An SEA is not an extremely arduous thing to do. We are not talking about measures that might require an integrated energy plan, for example. That is not the level of environmental scrutiny that is necessary here. I had hoped that it would have been done by the end of last year. Regarding the assurance the Minister of State is giving, he says it will be done in months, but I would like to know how many months. My understanding is that the public consultation would take eight weeks.

It is four weeks.

That is even better. There is an AA for two weeks and then there is a four-week period after that. Is that correct?

We are awaiting the ecological assessment as well. A lot of these things can-----

I am sorry, a Chathaoirligh, for having this little chat.

We are awaiting the ecological assessment, but once we get that we will move on it.

Does the Minister of State wish to intervene?

No, it is okay. Once we get those back we will move on it, but it takes time. As frustrating and as important a piece that it is, it takes times.

Does the Minister of State have a time for when that report will come back?

I cannot give an exact time, but it is rated very urgent by the Department. Second, we had that bilateral engagement with the Department of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. The Irish Aviation Authority has raised the issue of glint and glare. It obviously requires an exemption exclusion zone because 90% of the country will be covered. To do that and carry out that mechanism, it must go through that threshold. That only emanated over last year from those negotiations. Many individuals probably thought it would be more straightforward to do, but once we went through the process it threw up that it was necessary to go through more mechanisms. We just have to do that. Unfortunately, they all cannot run side by side all the time.

I wish to clarify something. I appreciate that everything has to be done properly and in the context of ecological constraints and so forth. Most of this is going on existing sheds, so there is just the issue of the on-the-ground stuff. The glare issue has come up in the UK and that has been covered, so it is not as if we have to reinvent the wheel in that regard. To clarify, we are waiting for the ecology report to come back and we do not know when that is due. Have we to wait for that to come back before starting the public consultation? If that is the case, how long will the public consultation be? After the public consultation is finished, what is the timeline then? We are being asked these questions all the time, so I am putting them to the Minister of State.

In the first instance, we have to wait until the ecological assessment is back. We have appointed the consultants so we can immediately commence the SEA then. There is a four-week consultation period built into that. Once that happens we will come straight to the Houses of the Oireachtas with them. We will act very quickly on this. The Senator says the UK has done this previously. This is a very different country and we have different environmental impacts.

The issue with anti-glare is the same in every airport in the world.

It is the environment surrounding it; it is totally different. One has to go through the thresholds. I cannot just say that the UK did this so I do not have to do it. We have to do these things.

I am not saying we should be dismissive because it has been done in the UK. It is just that the glare issue-----

We have to go through it.

Yes, I understand that. I thank the Minister of State for the timeline. It gives us more of an inkling.

I wish to make a brief comment. I thank the Minister of State for the information he has given us today. I believe the issue of glint and glare was raised on Second Stage, so it is not a new thing since then. In any case, it is very good news today and we appreciate it. We look forward to progress within the next couple of months.

These are very important changes that we are seeking to introduce. This will play a critical role in us being able to achieve our climate targets. I share the frustration the Minister of State clearly has in terms of the time it takes to get things done.

In fairness, we probably are moving at the pace allowable under the process. For other projects - I do not want to mention roads - such as house building, a process has to be gone through. Appeals can be made to An Bord Pleanála and there can be judicial reviews. It can be very frustrating. We, as politicians on the ground, want to see quicker actions. In fairness to the civil servants, they too want to see quicker action on it.

It is welcome that we have a definitive timeline in for the process, including the SEA, the AA and the habitats directive that we have to go through to get this over the line. The most important thing is to be able to have microgeneration such that rural communities are able to chip in and be part of the national effort. That is what we are collectively trying to do as a Government. Do I wish we could do it more quickly? Absolutely. I wish the Minister of State well in overcoming any hurdles that may exist.

I wish to support my fellow Green Party Senators and also welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I thank him for giving us updates from time to time. I assure him that his words are recorded on the transcript, photocopied and sent out to dozens of people who are hanging onto every word he says regarding when this will actually happen. I welcome his reaffirmation in that regard today and his commitment. I recognise it is a complex challenge.

At the heart of the Bill are the words "exempt developments". With exemptions come due diligence. I accept all that. I also accept, as do all present, that harnessing solar energy is a key response to the energy crisis. To have such draconian restrictions in respect of the roofs of private dwellings, farms and schools makes no sense and, therefore, I am glad the Government is recommitting to this and it will happen as soon as feasibly possible. The Bill will go some way to redressing and tackling the climate crisis.

We are entering a new era. It is like a solar revolution that is akin to the industrial revolution. It is so important in this new and modern time that we bring people with us and everyone feels a sense of ownership and buy-in and embraces it. I do not want communities to tolerate it; I want them to embrace it, if it is done properly. Consultation will be at the heart of that, apart from in the context of the exempt developments we are discussing. It is so important that there are no reversals or a prolonged period of uncertainty with matters caught up in the courts. It might well be that the non-exempt developments of large-scale solar will pass planning, but if we do not have Government policy guidelines in respect of placement, volume, categorisation of land usage, which we do not at the moment, that will cause issues. Without drilling down too deeply, if the Supreme Court or any of the superior courts got their teeth into it, I am not sure where that would leave us. While it is critical that there are no reversals and that we embrace this, I do not want this revolution to be stymied in the absence of Government policy on those important matters coming down the road in respect of large-scale solar energy. I hope the Minister of State takes that on board. He may be able to indicate that guidelines are coming down the line, because they are in place in other countries from which we can take a lead. There is a need to put some order on it.

It should be a happy revolution. To have a happy revolution, order, certainty and ground rules must be at the heart of it. If that is not the case, it will prove counterproductive, could get lost in the courts and will end up going the same way as previous attempts, such as the ten years lost on wind energy. Solar energy is clean and green and to be embraced, but I emphasise that it must be done properly. I appreciate the diligence of the Minister of State in respect of the exempt developments, but the non-exempt ones are coming down the tracks speedily. It is so important that there be guidance and a direction from the Government in respect of what people can expect and know about those larger-scale developments.

I remind Senators that we are on Committee Stage and dealing with section 1. I have allowed latitude but that latitude is over. I ask Members to stick to the section.

It is fair to say that things take longer when a fire is not lit under an issue or the Government. There is a fire under every one of us; the planet is on fire and people are impatient for change because they have been calling for it for so long. The Minister of State can come in and say the Government has started this, probably with thanks to the Green Party and the programme for Government, but communities, activists and my party have been calling for this for many years. The Bill is important and I will not delay it any further. I refer to the Government being able to do this by regulation. We just want to see it done so that schools can avail of the opportunity to lower their contribution costs, reduce their electricity bills, heat water and sell their excess energy back to the grid. These are all issues that I raised and were discussed on Second Stage. It is important that people are lighting a fire and being impatient with the Government on this because doing so moves the issue on. We respect that there are procedures the Government has to follow but it is important that we light a fire under the Government to do its job.

I do not have anything further to add. We are all aligned. I will not delay the Bill. The contribution of Senator Martin was very apt. We are all in agreement.

Question put and agreed to.
Sections 2 to 5, inclusive, agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment.

When is it proposed to take next Stage?

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Report Stage ordered for Tuesday, 22 February 2022.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 4.19 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ag 5.32 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 4.19 p.m. and resumed at 5.32 p.m.
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