Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail)

I join Senators Paul Coghlan and Martin Conway in congratulating the students from Davis College in Mallow who were the overall winners of the Young Social Innovators competition, the finals of which were held yesterday in Citywest which were attended by thousands of young people from all over the country. The Davis College students' project was on missing persons. They have called for a national missing persons day when friends and the families of missing persons can remember their loved ones who have gone missing. It is interesting to note that more than 4,000 people go missing in Ireland every year. I commend the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality which this morning will launch a report on missing persons. I look forward to its recommendations being considered. I support the students from Mallow in their call for a national day of commemoration and propose to the Deputy Leader that an all-party motion in support of the students' call go from the Seanad to the Minister. Colleagues in the Dáil might do the same.

I also commend the Cavan Youthreach students who reached the final of the Young Social Innovators competition with their project on the dangers of alcohol, a topic that has also been raised this morning. On Tuesday last I was honoured to attend the presentation in the Mansion House of the ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The event was attended by hundreds of young people from all over the country. Again, a Cavan Youthreach project was highly commended. It was called Trash for Trees and involved the sale of old clothes for recycling and using the money to plant trees. Excellent work is being done by young people throughout the length and breadth of the country.