Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, Senator Conway-Walsh, I attended yesterday evening the presentation in the audiovisual room on autism assistance dogs, which was arranged by our colleague, Deputy Cahill. Like other colleagues from this House and the Lower House who attended, I was very impressed by the positive impact these dogs have not only on young people in improving the way they live their lives but also on their families. Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland made a very emotional presentation on how these dogs have transformed the lives of their children and made a plea that €500,000 be put aside annually for the training of 20 dogs. Even though the organisation has more than 250 young people on a waiting list, this is all it is requesting the State provide. Until now, these dogs have been provided by charitable organisations. I very much support the call for this money to be provided annually.

I support my colleague, Senator Gallagher, in his comments on tourism in this country, particularly on the neglect of the part of the country from which we come, namely, the Cavan-Monaghan area, and indeed the midlands area. We are part of a tourism promotional area called Ireland's Ancient East, even though we are in the midlands of the country, and in the case of counties Cavan and Leitrim veering towards the west. While some other regions that have been designated have had huge success, I think we are entitled to a specially designated tourism area for the north midlands of the country.