Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I certainly hope not. Senator McDowell has long been a proponent of the independence of the Judiciary from the political classes. I am sure he has not moved away from that position, unless he has joined the former Senator and current Minister, Deputy Ross, in a new journey that we have not heard about.

In respect of direct provision, many of us have been in the centres and have been unhappy with the conditions for those living there. Senator McFadden and I have raised the matter in the House as well. At the risk of repeating ourselves, our party has a member who is living in direct provision in Cork city. That person is a very strong party member and articulates very passionately the issues in respect of direct provision at our meetings. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, came to the House and discussed the matter. We have seen progress made. I would love to see the direct provision centres gone. That would be fantastic. However, we must recognise that new home cooking facilities went live in Mosney on 23 January this year. Cooking facilities have been rolled out in other centres, for example, Killarney, Athlone and Limerick, and teenager rooms are in some centres. We must ensure we roll out further progress with a view to perhaps getting rid of it altogether.

I am not familiar with the issues raised in respect of segregated shopping. I have not experienced that. I know there are issues that we need to address. The Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, is committed to implementing the McMahon report. He spoke about it in this House last week or the week before. He is very passionate about the matter and the Senators should give him credit. I would be happy to have him come back to the House again.

Senator Feighan raised the false identification of people and the issue around fake news. It is important that people are afforded the right to have their name cleared and their good name upheld. The Senator has raised a very interesting point in respect of the particular issue in question. The Cathaoirleach has said not to name the person. The matter is a very serious one.

On Senator Murnane O'Connor's contribution, I very much welcome the decision of Merck Sharp & Dohme, MSD, to increase its foothold in Carlow. For a town of that size, 120 jobs is tremendous news and I commend all involved. The Senator could have come to the hustings in Carlow on Friday night and met the Tánaiste. She would have been very welcome.