Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome Senator Leyden's granddaughter, whom I know has had her interest in the work of the Seanad sparked recently. However, I will let Senator Leyden elaborate on that.

I welcome the appointment of Professor Geoffrey Shannon to the District Court. His contribution will be a tremendous addition to the work of that court, particularly in respect of family law. He will be sorely missed as special rapporteur for child protection in his role as chairman of the Adoption Authority of Ireland. He has given pro bonoadvice to countless NGOs across Ireland. We will miss him greatly but he is joining the District Court at a critical time. His appointment is an inspired choice, and I very much welcome it.

I noted the launch yesterday by the ISPCC of its special helpline for children who are homeless. I congratulate the society on this but I am extremely saddened that it has to resort to this to ensure homeless children will be able to contact Santa Claus to ensure he will know where they are on Christmas Day. We must all ask what more we can do when we see the increasing number of families, including children, who are finding themselves homeless because of any of the myriad reasons we have discussed here in the House. I really hope we do not need the special helpline and that it will not be needed this time next year.

I congratulate the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, on the launch of his White Paper on a carbon-free Ireland. I was at the launch, where I met a tremendous youth ambassador, Ms Aisling O'Boyle. I encourage everybody to look at her speech. If one needs a compelling reason to secure climate justice in Ireland, she will convince one. I commend her on her speech at the launch this morning. She certainly convinced me and re-engaged me on the need for us to do more.