Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I agree with all the sentiments expressed about the retention of coastguard services at Malin Head and Valentia. It is a victory for the people who were finally able to present the facts and prove that the knowledge does not always stem from the one location. It is disappointing that this issue had to be dealt with at all because we believed the earlier reports were adequate. The most recent report turned out to be factually incorrect. I welcome that people got a chance to correct the record and that the Minister took the right action on this occasion for the people of Valentia and Malin Head.

I thank the Leader for facilitating the conversation in this House. The meetings of the joint committee were very important. I thank the Minister and his officials for meeting me and many other public representatives on the issue. We knew we had a strong case but it was a matter of being facilitated in that respect.

On what is one of the 16 days of international recognition of the problem of domestic violence, I ask the Leader for a discussion on that issue because the cost of domestic violence to the Irish economy, and we are talking about the many costs to the economy, is estimated to be €2.2 billion a year. On one of the 16 days of awareness of the problem, from 25 November to 10 December, an issue that is such a major cost to the economy is worthy of debate to determine if we can reduce that figure.

Recent reports in England dealt with children being abused in homes and the need for the advocacy of foster care. We talk about domestic violence as it pertains to either the male or female, although the problem generally affects females, but we must also consider the children of those families.

The Leader might ask the Minister for Education and Science to talk to his counterpart, the Minister for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg Empey, about the fact that Northern colleges are considering increasing university fees. That will have major implications for students from Border areas attending colleges in the North and trying to make ends meet. It is against the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement that rather than having ease of transfer across frontiers to facilitate students getting educated, it is becoming more difficult.

I disagree with Senator O'Toole. He raised the important issue of the withdrawal of funding for the Irish colleges but whether he meant it or not, it came across that he was undermining the money given to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.