Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I dtosach báire, ba mhaith liom fáilte ar ais a chur roimh Jody Blake. Ní raibh mé anseo inné agus tá sé iontach í a fheiceáil ar ais. It is great to see her back here in full health.

Ba mhaith liom tacú leis an Seanadóir O'Donovan maidir leis an díospóireacht ar chúrsaí iascaireachta. Tá géarchéim ann faoi láthair agus tá sé an-tábhachtach go mbeadh an plé sin againn.

Many people are mentioning various issues regarding the North, including legacy issues. That is right and it is important we debate it and do so in a rational manner. There are arguments both for and against, on both sides, on those issues. To refer to something I have not mentioned for a while, on a number of occasions I said that one of the ways to address this is to invite the First Minister and Deputy First Minister from the North to address the House. Drew Nelson from the Orange Order came to address the House and Members considered that a positive move. I appreciate there have been difficulties getting a reply from the offices concerned, but perhaps it is something we should follow up on again. From our perspective we will do what we can to encourage the Ministers to come to the House. It would be important in light of a number of things that have happened in the recent past, such as different addresses by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on certain occasions and the Haass talks, and in light of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. It would be a very important debate.

Last July, we sought a debate on vision health in Ireland on foot of a presentation we were given. More than 220,000 people in Ireland are blind or visually impaired, despite 75% of the blindness being preventable. It is estimated that by 2020 the State will be spending €2.5 billion per year in this area. It is an issue that affects many people and families and is costing our health services a great deal, yet it is quite curable in many cases. A focused debate on vision health in Ireland would be very useful at this juncture.