Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The sterling issue is news to me.

Senator Mulherin raised the important issue of vacant units and the need for a plan. The Minister has tried to address the matter in his plan.

Senator Davitt raised an issue in regard to the Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor. She has outlined a policy not just in this House but through the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Murphy. He has outlined a fundamentally sound policy in terms of a Brexit strategy for financial services. He has spoken at eurozone meetings in Luxembourg. He is of the view that there at least two announcements will be made by the end of this year by companies intending to expand in Ireland. He also believes that we are the location of choice. A lot of work has been done in this area and we are targeting specific companies.

I neglected to mention Senator Ó Clochartaigh who raised the issue of rural transport links. The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs will be in this House on 17 November to discuss the issue in terms of her brief. I hope that we can get the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to come here, as the Senator suggested.As the Senator knows, there has been a family bereavement; therefore, it would be inappropriate to ask the Minister to come to the House this week. We will wait until next week to ask him.

Senators Paul Coghlan and Ned O'Sullivan referred to St. Mary's of the Angels in Beaufort, County Kerry. The matter is of huge concern to the families in question. It is a fact that as a society we must face up to how we deal with the issue of displacement from congregated settings into the community. This and other Governments have followed a policy of closing institutions and moving people to live in the community. This has had an impact and the impact Senator Paul Coghlan, in particular, outlined articulately of the distress caused by the loss of familiarity and routine in the day-to-day lives of those affected is one we must try to work to overcome. I hope the families will be engaged with, that information will be provided and that the issues raised by the Senators will be addressed. I will be happy to have the matter discussed with the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, or the relevant Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, in particular. It is one to which we will have to face up as a nation. We have an ageing population of men and women with a disability who have become used to routine. It is an issue we all face in our communities, one to which we should return and perhaps deal in a special debate.