Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in congratulating the Irish team. As a keen sportsperson who has travelled worldwide to many matches, I support Senator Butler's motion that calls on Aer Lingus and Ryanair to reconsider their prices because they discourage people from travelling to matches. It is a disgrace that people are being asked to pay upwards of €1,000 to fly to France for just one day.

This morning, I attended a campaign launch organised by the Neurological Alliance of Ireland along with my colleague, Senator Hopkins. I support her call for the Minister for Health to come in here to address the issue. One thing I learned this morning at the event is that by European standards Ireland should have 270 inpatient beds. We have less than half that number in the whole country. Another stark fact that I learned is that there are no regional inpatient specialist rehabilitation centres in the entire country. In terms of community rehabilitation centres, there are only three teams in the entire country but European standards recommend a population of this size should have nine teams. We badly need these matters to be addressed.