Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator O'Brien mentioned the question of the communion allowance and, as has been pointed out by Senator Kelly, who was a community welfare officer himself, the payment was never a grant per se. People who found themselves in dire need could apply to the local community welfare officer for assistance with clothing costs and so forth and can still do so. Government funding has been streamlined and the amounts allocated will, no doubt, be reduced. While I have no information on the matter of school principals instructing parents on this issue, I think it is very unlikely that any Department would ask school principals to become involved in the way suggested by Senator O'Brien. However, if the Senator has further information, I would certainly be prepared to pursue it.

On the question of the survey on school patronage, I find it difficult to accept that there is no correlation between the PPS numbers and the people who responded to the survey. I find it difficult to accept that this is not checked and that if somebody gives my PPS number but not my name, this would not be discovered. I presume such checks are done and that the PPS number would be checked against the person's name. Otherwise, the survey is flawed and I would accept that.

Senator O'Brien also mentioned that we will have a Private Member's motion from Fianna Fáil on policing next week and I welcome that debate. A number of Senators have commented today on the whole question of policing, the closure of Garda stations and so on. We will have the opportunity to discuss these issues in a two hour debate next week.

Senator Bacik also referred to school patronage, which we debated in this House last May. A total of 12 Members took part in that debate and, if necessary, we can have another debate on the issue some time in the near future. Senator O'Donnell spoke passionately about the sale of the national lottery and Coillte, matters which were also raised by other Senators. May I remind Senator O'Donnell that on 23 May 2012, she tabled a Private Member's motion on the sale of the national lottery. We had a two hour debate and the issue got a good airing at that time. Regarding Coillte, we also had a debate in the House in April last year on the sale of State assets and only 12 Members participated. However, if Members feel we should have a further debate, we can arrange it with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, who was here for the debate last year. Senators sometimes forget that matters have been discussed previously. We cannot keep coming back to the same subjects every few months.

I totally accept Senator Barrett's comments on the need for a properly regulated health insurance sector and that is definitely an issue to which we should return. Senator White raised the issue of policing and made specific reference to the relationship between the PSNI and the Garda Síochána. The two forces now have an excellent relationship, better than at any time in the past. I attended Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe's funeral yesterday and was delighted to see the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Chief Constable of the PSNI, the British ambassador and the Minister for Justice in Northern Ireland in attendance. It showed the solidarity that exists and that is necessary between both police forces on this island.