Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to echo Senator Bacik's words. As yesterday went on, we saw the true extent of the horror of what had actually happened in Berkeley, California. A number of students remain in hospital and their lives are still at risk. Our prayers go with them. Ireland is a very small country. A number of the students who died had gone to school in Loreto College in Foxrock, which is in my constituency, and were students in University College Dublin. One of the deceased sat at a debs table with my daughter just last year and debated with her in a college society. That is the extent of the hurt that exists in the Dún Laoghaire area today.

One point came to my attention in the media coverage. There is compulsory medical insurance with the J1 visa, but it might not be enough to cover the hospital costs of some of the students who remain in hospital with severe illnesses who may take months to recover. Indeed, they may never fully recover. I made this point previously when other tragedies have occurred. I would like the issue of whether we have a fund to cover situations like this to be raised with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The last thing a family needs in this type of situation is to be worried about whether it has the resources to cover hospital bills. I ask the Leader to raise this issue as a formal question with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Do we or do we not have this type of resource within the Department?

I would like to bring to the attention of the House the comments made by the Minister, Deputy Kelly, at yesterday's Generation Rent conference organised by Threshold. The Minister said he would focus his efforts on bringing rent certainty to the rental market. Over the last 12 months, we have all seen stories about the extreme increases in rents. I was delighted to learn that the Minister, Deputy Kelly, has spoken about measures to link rent increases to an independent index, such as the consumer price index. I was also pleased to discover he is willing to look at rental accommodation standards. Perhaps we could have a debate on the rental sector and on rent increases at a future date.