Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also join Senator Victor Boyhan in referring to the National Rehabilitation Hospital. It is disappointing to see beds being closed. However, there is also a good news story in that a 12-bed rehabilitation unit will be built at Roscommon County Hospital. The project is in the planning stages, but it will be a rehabilitation unit for the west. It will involve the decentralisation of a necessary, important and valuable resource and I would like to see it being progressed as quickly as possible.

Before Christmas and following the very successful visit of the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, to the Seanad where she was treated like a rock star, I argued that Ireland should seek a unique solution in the Brexit talks. I said we should invite the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, to come to the House to address Gibraltar's concerns which I know are completely different from ours. Spain wants to have a veto in discussing the future of Gibraltar. While we would not be getting involved in that discussion, the Seanad should look at and discuss the interests of all of the various countries that will be involved in the Brexit negotiations. The Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alfonso Dastis, has appealed to the British to calm down. Former British Ministers have said Great Britain should use measures akin to those used in the Falklands War. We also need to inform ourselves.