James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Butler for raising the issue he raised and for the challenge he met so supremely well. I also commend Dr. Velma Harkins who conducted a study that shows comprehensively that 80% of complications from diabetes can be prevented if it is managed on a regular basis in general practice. This will require funding. It is a great testament to a long piece of research that shows that we do not need expensive in-hospital or outpatient care in hospitals to achieve great outcomes for a huge number of people in our population.

I commend Senator Mark Daly on the Irish Sign Language Bill. I am delighted that we are supporting this. We met with a group and I have had emails from some members of the deaf community. I want to make it clear that Fine Gael and I support their cause. In respect of general practice, it is shocking to see an adult's privacy compromised by the fact that like many GPs do not have Irish Sign Language and sometimes must discuss very intimate medical details through a child. That is not proper or right and I therefore fully subscribe to addressing this issue.

I wish to mention a terrible event that happened in Swords at the weekend. A man lost his life following an assault. This was a local man - a businessman and a man who had contributed to his community and went about his business in an orderly and quiet fashion. That a person cannot go out on a weekend night without being assaulted and losing their life is deeply disturbing. I know the gardaí are doing their best but Fingal is a growing area with a very young population. Skerries and Lusk have only part-time Garda stations while the station in Rush has closed and there is no station in Donabate. I have raised this issue with previous Ministers for Justice and Equality along with the current Minister. It concerns bringing back gardaí on bicycles. Their presence around a town has a huge impact. We had them in Skerries a few years ago and they were very effective and popular. They broke down barriers with many young people in terms of getting to know gardaí and realising that they are there to offer help and support and were not, by any means, an authoritarian force. I ask that we get the funding to put extra gardaí in place on bicycles, particularly in towns like Rush that do not have a Garda station until such time as the Garda station is re-opened. The Cabinet received a very positive report on this issue and a decision will made later in the year. I hope that the decision will be made to re-open Rush Garda station. I thank An Garda Síochána for all the hard work it does. Although we thank the Minister for an additional five gardaí for that area, this is a growing area and we need more gardaí.