Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important we hear the views of people who have rights and entitlements, who deserve our respect; we have a duty of care to them. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is visiting direct provision centres and I hope he will, in time, come to the House to discuss the issue.

I fully agree with Senator Norris about the Living City initiative. In a number of budgets, the Minister, Deputy Noonan, brought up the scheme for living over shops, if one likes to use such a term. It is an issue that should be considered by the Government so that we can not just preserve the buildings mentioned but attract people to our inner cities in areas like Cork and Waterford. When Senator Coffey was a Minister of State, he worked very closely with the Department, councils and the construction sector to ensure we have people moving to cities. In my city of Cork, there is much space over shops and businesses where there could be apartment dwellings, as there are in parts of Europe. I hope we can have a debate about that as well.

Senator Conway-Walsh spoke about health and waiting times. I am pleased to point out that the National Treatment Purchase Fund, the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive are working on a dedicated waiting time initiative. The Minister for Health will be in the House next week to discuss the matter and we can take the issue further. With respect to Moore Street, I will ask the Minister responsible, Deputy Humphreys, to come before the House for a debate. I have not got the exact answer right now but I will revert to the Senator.

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins raised the issue of getting ready for full employment. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will be in the House tomorrow and we can debate the issue. I hope we can have a series of discussions about employment. If Members are on the list to speak when we reach the end of the allocated time, I will be happy as Leader to ensure the debate rolls over. It is a very important issue. In the course of the last Dáil we saw unemployment fall from 15.9% to 8%, which is a tremendous record, given the economic decline we experienced. It is an issue we need to address and we, as Senators, have a role to play in that. The report on domestic violence is shocking and significant action must be taken on the issue. The question of the Istanbul Convention should be examined and I will certainly take that up with the Minister on behalf of Members in this House. This morning's report was very upsetting.

Senator Bacik raised the issue of gun control, which I have already addressed, domestic violence and the eighth amendment. I hope we will see movement on that with the citizens' assembly. Senator Mulherin raised the issue of flood defences and it is very important, particularly the minor works schemes. I agree that the Office of Public Works and the local councils should prioritise flood defence mechanisms. There has been work done, to be fair to the previous Minister of State, Deputy Harris, and he worked with councils in many parts of the country in developing policy and the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management. Senator Lawless spoke very convincingly about gun control and the events in Orlando. I welcome him to the House. His is an important voice not just for the diaspora but for Irish-Americans in general, as he will play a key role in articulating our views. I agree with Senator Ó Céidigh as we have all benefited from friends in America giving us jobs. I spent my J1 summer there when my cousin got me a job; I would not have got it without him. Every summer we get requests from many people looking for jobs in America. Some of the commentary is unfair to the Senator in that regard. He will bring an important dimension to the House and I look forward to working with him in building a cross-party approach to the illegal immigrants and Irish America. It is important that we continue the link with America, as it is close to all of us. Many of us have family and friends living there; although there has been change I know people who left Ireland because they were gay and they are living open and happy lives in America.

Senator Ned O'Sullivan raised the issue of marketing of life insurance policies and I would be happy to have the Minister come to the House to discuss this important issue. The Senator indicated that it is important that these companies have a duty of care to people who buy the products. Sometimes the small print is not read or pointed out. I agree with Senator McDowell's comments on Seanad reform. The Government will not challenge the amendment.It is important in regard to Seanad reform that we take our time and get it right rather than rushing to be the first to have Seanad reform done. It is important, as Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell said earlier, that we speak as one voice and work together. It is important that we cast aside our political differences on issues because new politics is not about opposition the whole time, but working together. As Leader of the Seanad, I hope we will have a business committee at which we can run the business of the House. I met with some of the leaders yesterday and will be meeting with the leaders and the Whips together again so that we can order the business of the House in a collaborative way. On a personal level, it does not serve us well in this House that we have divisions every day on the Order of Business on the premise of bringing a Minister in to discuss A, B or C. If we can operate in a mature manner, working together to ensure we run the business of the House properly and in a manner that ensures Members get a fair say and have their voices heard, that serves us better not just here, but also in the eyes of the public.

Bhí an Seanadóir Ó Clochartaigh ag caint mar gheall ar úsáid na Gaeilge. Níl an Ghaeilge go líofa agam ach tá mé ag foghlaim. Chleacht mé í uaireanta sa Dáil and I hope we we can have debates in Irish and that we will be able to speak as Gaeilge, no matter how good or bad we are in regard to our native tongue.

The Senator also spoke about waste, but he knows the polluter pays principle applies: the more one uses, the more one pays. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to come before the House to speak on that matter.

Senator Grace O'Sullivan raised the issue of carers. I agree with her regarding having an all-party committee. I have said that we should work together on that matter. There is consensus within the House. We saw in the previous Dáil and Seanad, where we had cross-party working groups on many different issues, from symphysiotomy to mental health, that we can bring change and we can affect how Government and how the world sees us.

The former Minister of State, Senator Ó Ríordáin, spoke about health and criminal justice. I agree with him. We need to take a twin approach to the issue of drugs. It is about justice, health, education, employment and other parts of that, and it is important that we speak with one voice. I agree with him that the McMahon report is the beginning and it is important that we bring reform because, as I said earlier, there are young children, in particular, who are very badly affected. We all meet them in our constituency offices and in our constituencies as we walk about every day. Their parents cannot work and they are being treated as second-class citizens in terms of their ability to go about their lives. It is important that we see reform here.

My colleague, friend and former Minister of State, Senator Coffey, spoke about skills and he is right; we have a deficit of skills in many areas. When we see our tourism figures increasing and advertisements for chefs abroad, it poses the question of why we stopped the training of chefs in our country. I agree that we need to discuss skills not just in the construction sector, but acrossthe whole economy. The Minister of State, Deputy English, in his previous life, launched a national skills strategy. It was an important beginning, but it cannot be left to gather dust on a shelf. We must see active implementation of it. I agree with Senator Coffey. I remember he raised the issue in a previous Seanad when he was there. It is a matter to which we need to return.

Senator Leyden, along with Senators Richmond and Ó Donnghaile, raised Brexit. It was my hope to have a debate on that this week, but both the Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, and the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, are away. I hope we will have that debate next week in the House because it is a very important discussion that we need to have. We need to urge our Irish voters in the UK and in the North of our country to vote to remain. From an economic point of view, the UK is critical to us and it is important that we have that debate. I urge all Members of the House, if they have the opportunity, to travel in person to the North to canvass at the weekend or to use social media to advocate for a vote to remain. It is not about us interfering, rather it is about us, as citizens of Europe and as Irish citizens, asking our fellow countrymen and women to vote to remain.

Senator Craughwell spoke about getting off on a bad foot. I look forward to working with everyone to ensure this is a productive, meaningful Seanad. We cannot produce legislation just like that. A hiatus took place in the other House. I have asked that some of the legislation would be initiated in this House. It is important that we try to achieve some measure of balance in this regard. I do not agree with the Senator regarding the constituency. We all represent people and it is our duty to advocate on behalf of people. The issue he raised regarding medals for the men and women who served for our country should be looked at and I will take it up with the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Deputy Kehoe, on Senator Craughwell's behalf.

Senator Devine raised Cloverhill Prison. I have not got the answer to her question on that, but I will take it up with the Minister. She might want to raise it as a matter on the Commencement as well, to give her an opportunity to articulate that viewpoint. I agree with her in regard to the men and women who are midwives and nurses. They do great work every day in our hospitals. I had the pleasure of working as a porter in Cork University Hospital when I was in college and I saw at first hand the work they do every day. She might write to the health committee to ask it to take up the issue. She has raised an important issue. I have not got the answer, but I will take it up on her behalf with the Minister.

Senator Feighan raised hotel rooms and prices, and he is right. As one of its first acts, the last Government cut the VAT rate on the basis that we would see an increase in tourism figures and that has happened. Now we are seeing greed or profiteering where hotels have started to raise their prices. Those Senators who stay in hotels in Dublin will have seen the increase in prices in a five-year period. It is not just that, because it is about the tourism product we are selling and ensuring that we as a country remain viable and attractive from a tourist perspective to encourage people to travel here. If they see escalating costs, I am afraid of what will happen. We will take it up with the Minister of State with responsibility for tourism and sport, Deputy O'Donovan, who has strong views about the price of bed nights in Dublin and across the country.

I thank Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell for her kind remarks and compliment her on the issue she has been pursuing regarding end-of-life care. It is an important topic and I hope we will again see a cross-party approach to it. She has been spearheading that issue. End-of-life care is a very important matter that we as a society have not addressed. It is an issue we need to continue to work on. I had the pleasure in the health committee I chaired in the last Dáil of being part of the work we produced on end-of-life care. I am glad Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell has taken that up and it is important that we as a collective, in both Houses, work to ensure we have a strategy around it.

Senator Colette Kelleher also raised carers and the whole issue around home care and the fair deal. I fully agree with her in that regard. It is important that we see change regarding that area. Senator Kelleher brings to the House not just her work in regard to Alzheimer's disease with the Alzheimer's Society, but also a great deal of work with the Cork Simon Community, the Cope Foundation in Cork and the disability sector. She is right and I hope we can bring change in that area.

Senator Conway spoke very eloquently about education and how we can eliminate bullying or peer pressure. Thankfully, in the previous Dáil, the two former Ministers, Ruairí Quinn and Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, introduced major changes in the curriculum and the primary development area in regard to homophobic bullying and bullying in general. I hope we will see a much better result from that. It is important that we continue to see our education system and curriculum reflect a more modern society than was there before.

Senator Keith Swanick raised old district hospitals. I remind him that in the last Government there was a capital investment programme in regard to our district hospitals. I hope we will see that continue. He is right that they are a resource we can use as a step-down facility where we can bring people to stay before we bring them back to their own homes. I pay tribute to the former Minister, now Senator Reilly, who was instrumental in seeing change brought about there, which is important. The Minister for Health will be in the House next week. I hope to have debates on health and mental health. I will come back to that area again.

Senator Boyhan raised the infrastructure fund. I hope the Minister, Deputy Coveney, will come before us. The Government has prioritised housing and we have seen a significant amount of investment signalled in that regard. We are creating a stand-alone Department for housing. It is a crisis we need to see resolved. My colleague, Senator Coffey, when he was a Minister of State, was very strong and pivotal in starting the relaunch of the housing policy.It is important that this work continues and I will certainly ask the Minister, Deputy Coveney to come before the House to discuss the matter.

Senator Ó Donnghaile raised the issue of Brexit. He also referred to the European Championships and sport. I believe we can work together on the proposal and I would happy to be meet with the Senator to discuss it. Sport unites people and I am very happy Lee McLaughlin has been found. I join the Senator in sympathising with the family of Darren Rodgers. I thank and compliment the Irish supporters who paid tribute to him during the championships.