Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We celebrated 60 years of UN peacekeeping at the weekend and acknowledged and remembered the 85 members of the armed forces and one Garda who lost their lives on UN peacekeeping service on behalf of Ireland. It was a lovely ceremony in Dublin Castle. Indeed, there were two very nice ceremonies in Dublin Castle on Sunday. The other ceremony related to the decriminalisation of homosexuality. There were lots of references to JFK and our current Taoiseach but a Fianna Fáil Government was in power between 1957 and 1959 when it all started in 1958 and I think it would be nice if when referring to it, the Government did acknowledge that a Fianna Fáil Government was in power at the time.

I want to raise another point relating to policing and justice generally. I wish the new Garda Commissioner well. I also acknowledge that 22 years ago today, Veronica Guerin lost her life in the fight against crime and reporting crime. If she was here today, she would say that there is a lot more work to be done. I wish the new Garda Commissioner well but I do want to acknowledge that time. I remember the day very well. It happened on Booth Road in Clondalkin. I would like to remember that.

I commend the Minister for Justice and Equality for the comments he made at the weekend about cycling. He responded to a tweet. I cycled in here today. I regularly cycle in here. I am lucky enough to live close enough that I can do so but it is not all that safe sometimes. I do support the Minister and others who are saying that it is important that the cycle lanes that are there are available for cyclists and that they are not full of cars parked, lorries delivering or buses pulling in and so on. The Minister has said he will meet with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, who is far more interested in judges than he is in transport, to deal with this matter. The Minister for Justice and Equality seems to be the one who is most interested in cycling infrastructure, far more than the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Perhaps he is the one we should bring in to talk about cycling, road infrastructure and the enforcement of road policing. I would appreciate it if the Leader could organise that debate.