Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Several Members who were not present yesterday and who did not speak of their sadness at the tragic events in Berkeley, which led to the deaths of six of our young, bright people, with several more of them injured, spoke today. Our hearts go out to all the bereaved families and those injured and to their many young friends, who are there and who must be very traumatised.I note Senator Jim D'Arcy's comments, in particular given he had a son there. I can assure him staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who are on the ground there since yesterday, will be providing any and every assistance they possibly can in order to assist the families and the boys and girls who are out there at the current time.

Senator Darragh O'Brien raised the question of the sustainability of our post offices. I would agree with him that these forms have caused major concern within the post office network. In terms of context, there have been 24 net post office closures since this Government took office compared to 197 between 2006 and 2010. The Minister, Deputy White, on behalf of the Government, launched a post office network business development group, as Senator Mullins mentioned, to explore commercial and public service opportunities in order to secure the future of the post office network. The group published an interim report for consultation yesterday which found that a disproportionate amount of business is conducted in relatively few of the country's 1,440 post offices. Two thirds of all the transactions are conducted in only 300 post offices while another 48% of post offices account for 12% of total business. Changing consumer preferences mean that many consumers no longer go to the post office, which means post offices must continue to diversify and modernise in order to provide the services that will attract customers. Maintaining relevance is certainly a challenge to the post office network. The work of the business development group represents the best possible opportunity to place the post office network on a sustainable footing into the future. It has made many proposals which should be examined because we believe it is in the best interest of rural Ireland that all of those post offices are maintained. However, they need to be supported by the local communities in all those areas. I certainly take on board the point made by the Senator in regard to the forms. We have already made representations to the Minister on that and it was the subject of a commencement debate last week.

Regarding the provision of defibrillators, Senator Quinn had a Bill on that issue in the House over two years ago. There was a subsequent report, either from HIQA or the HSE, which related mainly to cost. However, what cost can we put on a life? The point the Senator makes in regard to CPR is a good one. As Senator Wilson mentioned, training in CPR is already provided by Youthreach and also by some schools. I believe it should be part of the curriculum, especially in transition year, for students to be trained in CPR. I will certainly bring that matter to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills because it is sensible that our young people would know how to do CPR. The Senator mentioned how important it was in the specific case of Michael Lyster because, without those skills which his wife had, he certainly would not be with us now. It is very important.

Senator Bacik called for a debate on the repercussions arising from the situation at Clerys. We discussed this on the Order of Business yesterday and it was the subject of a Commencement debate this morning. I am happy that the concession holders will receive their stock but they are not receiving their money, which was held in trust for them. That is a very important issue which will have to be dealt with. The Senator mentioned that the sex offenders Bill will come in during July and she also called for debates on victims' rights and on child marriage, which we will try to arrange.

Senator Leyden referred to the Rosalie unit in Castlerea and called for an amendment to the Order of Business. That matter was raised by Senator Kelly at his parliamentary party and by Deputy Feighan at our parliamentary party. The Government would fully support that motion before us. We will accept that motion without debate and we have no problem in doing so.

Senator Naughton spoke about Irish Water and the problems in Oranmore which were mentioned in the House last week. As she rightly said, negotiations took place between everybody involved, which is the way everything should be done. The works were rescheduled and this €5.7 million critical infrastructure project will now go ahead.

Senator Reilly called for a debate on the victims of sexual assaults. She mentioned the cuts to the Rape Crisis Centre which were mentioned yesterday on the Order of Business. However, it is only fair to point out the Dublin centre did not have any cut this year.

Senator Hayden referred to the rental sector. We have had a few debates on housing and the rental sector but, in view of the Minister's new proposals, we will try to arrange another debate on that.

In the absence of Senator Daly yesterday, a number of Senators raised the question of collusion and the RTE documentary, which we praised. I also mentioned yesterday that I was part of that module of the Barron report. Everything that was in that RTE documentary was part of the Barron report, which the Government and all parties supported. I can say that the Government supports fully what is contained in the motion and I am accepting that motion without debate today. It is only going along with Government policy. As I said yesterday, the Government, as it has done to date, will be pressing for these documents to be made available and we will continue to press for them to be published. In addition, despite the apology made by Prime Minister Cameron, the Government still insists on a public inquiry into the death of Pat Finucane. Let us not play politics with this, and I am not suggesting anyone is playing politics with this. We have a unity of purpose in this regard and let us continue in that way. We support fully that the motion be taken without debate here today.

Senator Colm Burke raised the report of the Joint Committee on Health on the cost of professional indemnity insurance. We will try to arrange a debate on that.

With the amount of debates I will be trying to arrange between now and the end of July, we will certainly have a busy time, given the amount of legislation we also have.