Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The tragic news of another baby's death, this time in Cavan General Hospital, is very distressing for everybody and I am sure all Senators would wish to join me in extending sympathy to the family concerned. I renew my call on the Leader to schedule a general debate on maternity services and particularly on the need to ensure sufficient specialisation in maternity services to provide for the safe delivery of service across maternity units in Ireland.

I commend the Heritage Council for the excellent briefing it is conducting today. I visited it earlier and other colleagues will be visiting it during the day. It is on all day today in Buswells Hotel. The Heritage Council briefing conveys the huge amount of work it does in supporting communities with different heritage projects across Ireland. An amazing range of initiatives is supported from Bere Island to Dublin, via the Burren and the Burrenbeo Trust. A huge amount of work is being done on a very reduced budget. The Heritage Council deserves great praise for its work, but I ask the Leader to arrange for a debate on a national cultural policy and national landscape strategy to ensure there is a measure of forward planning so the Heritage Council and the organisations it supports are not left wondering each year what funding will be available to invest in different projects. For me, the huge issue from the briefing was the need to ensure the preservation of our cultural heritage and the benefits it can bring, not only the abstract benefit but also the practical benefits in terms of local employment, tourism and so forth. The Labour Party has tabled a Private Members' motion on national cultural institutions for debate tonight with the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, but this is a different debate which we should have on support for the Heritage Council and a national cultural policy.

I echo the requests made by Members yesterday for a debate on sentencing and penal reform. We should focus on a report published yesterday by the Irish Penal Reform Trust, "Turnaround Youth: Young Adults (aged 18 - 24) in the Criminal Justice System". This report presents important evidence on the need for differential treatment of young people. We are all aware that younger adults are particularly at risk of becoming engaged in criminal behaviour, more so than older adults, and there are a number of risk factors which may lead to increased risks for particular groups of vulnerable young adults, including those with a history of homelessness and so forth. The report presents the evidence on this in a clear way and it would help us, when debating sentencing and penal reform, to consider the need to ensure that crime prevention measures and juvenile diversion measures are supported to reduce the levels of offending in this cohort of the population.