Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is about all of us having that conversation and being involved in that movement. I saw the list of speakers for the conference in City Hall in Cork. It is one-dimensional. It only has one side. Let us make it broader. That is my opinion. While I agree with the Senator, it is a conversation which we must have in all of the communities of our country - north, south, east and west.

Senator Ó Ríordáin referred to his comments on the Order of Business last week and he read a letter into the record of the House. I will not respond other than to say that it is the right of all Members to represent their communities and their constituencies and to campaign and advocate on behalf of people. That is a fundamental right given to all of us. Equally, a developer, and I am not referring specifically to this case, is entitled to his or her good name and to have any facts and information put out about him or her to be accurate. To be fair, this is a Chamber of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Democracy is about freedom of expression and the ability to come to the House and make contributions.

Senator Conway spoke about the important issue of takeaway coffee cups and Senator Reilly referred to the Young Fine Gael campaign on non-compostable coffee cups. This is an issue we should all be involved in. We were educated on the plastic bag levy and on other things such as seat belts. It is a gradual progression. I know Senator Devine mentioned bringing one's own cup. That is something we should look at. We should think about how we can change. The reusable cups are probably a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and I am happy to defer to it on that matter.

On Senator Gallagher's contribution, we are bringing people home and recruiting them to work in our health care system. The Senator is right that we must do more to retain people but also to attract people back. We need to incentivise that and ensure that our best and brightest health care professionals return to our country. That is a debate which we need to have and I would be happy to facilitate it.

Senators Byrne and Kieran O'Donnell referred to the bus crash in Limerick yesterday. I join both of them in paying tribute to the first responders, gardaí, ambulance personnel, fire brigade personnel, county council staff, and health and hospital staff who worked so hard yesterday. We should be thankful that there was no loss of life. As Senator O'Donnell said, the bus was back today and there were people on it. That is a wonderful thing to say but there is a need to have a review of our school bus transport system. Some of it is franchised out to private operators. There is a need to uphold standards and ensure that they are not minimal but exceptional, because we are talking about young children.

I welcome the new jobs for Limerick the company 4site announced yesterday which Senator Byrne spoke about. It is good to see more jobs in Limerick. I am sure all Members of the House will agree that it is wonderful to see unemployment falling and more people back at work.

Senator Devine raised the issue of home care packages and home help hours, on which I fundamentally agree with her. There is a need to do more and provide more. The Government is committed to it. The Minister, Deputy Harris, secured €25 million in funding for social care as part of the health budget this year. This includes funding for home care supports, new home care packages, and a move away from acute hospitals into transition care beds, which is important. We must work on that. The HSE is developing a policy in respect of home care packages. I fundamentally agree with the Senator. We need to invest more of our health budget in health care packages to keep people at home, keep them out of our hospitals and, as the Deputy rightly said, avoid people being lonely and suffering from isolation. It is a fundamental task which we all must aspire to deal with. I make no apology for agreeing with the Senator on that issue and working with her on it. It is an important issue. I wish that the HSE and some in the Department of Health would recognise the importance of home care packages and the benefits they bring to people in our communities.