Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the HSE's statement last Thursday evening on the new alcohol policy it is drawing up. It is looking to ensure there will be no links between the alcohol industry and any HSE funding or policies or any of the organisations it funds. This vindicates the position I have taken, and I hope the Department of Education and Skills and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, will consider introducing a similar policy.

I welcome the Supreme Court's decision last Friday on the appeals on the children's rights referendum. I attended the court to listen as it adjudicated. Eight hundred and ninety-five days after the referendum, we at last heard that the Supreme Court had dismissed both appeals. It was all over in a matter of minutes. When will the adoption legislation related to the children's rights referendum come forward? I am very conscious that approximately 2,000 children in long-term foster care have not been able to be adopted because of the delay. I am eager that we do not delay further, given that the right to be adopted is extinguished when a child turns 18. It is urgent legislation.

I was also delighted to address the seminar held by the children and youth organisations which came together yesterday to campaign for a "Yes" vote in the upcoming referendum. These organisations campaign every day throughout the year on a wide range of children's rights and welfare issues, such as poverty and homelessness.They are very similar and they came together during the campaign relating to the referendum on children's rights. Yesterday, they came together again to strongly call for a "Yes" vote in the marriage equality referendum. They also sent a clear message on the issue of surrogacy. There is room for a debate on this matter and it should take place with the Minister for Health, who is drawing up the legislation. Whatever the outcome on 28 May, that legislation will stand alone because it has nothing to do with the referendum to be held on that date. The debate on surrogacy should take place where it belongs, namely, in the presence of the Minister for Health.