Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach spoke to Prime Minister May this morning and offered his support. The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach are committed, on behalf of both Governments, to working on the future EU-UK relationship and the Irish-UK relationship to ensure the backstop is never invoked. Despite some of the commentary and mean-spirited remarks made by some people, not necessarily in this House this morning, yesterday was a very good day for Ireland. It showed that the policy pursued at the beginning by the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, was the correct one. It also showed that Michel Barnier is a man of his word and that he stuck with Ireland, as did the 26 other member states.

I want to make clear that the objective of the Government remains the protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and the avoidance of a hard border on the island of Ireland. That objective was achieved yesterday. Whether we engage in partisan politics or not is immaterial. That was the Government's aim and I commend the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, along with our diplomats, on their tremendous work on behalf of the Irish people. I commend all parties for their consensus approach in wearing the green jersey.

Some Members' contributions this morning may have irked Senator Mac Lochlainn but we must remember that we are talking about the island of Ireland. We should all read Stephen Collins's article in The Irish Timesthis morning, which looked at Michael Collins and the treaty and the present-day analogy with Theresa May. All of us, North, South, east and west, have a duty to represent people and be responsible. With responsibility comes a requirement to make decisions. I encourage members of Sinn Féin to reflect on their responsibility with regard to the re-establishment of devolved government in Stormont and in the context of Brexit. This is not an unreasonable request given the precarious position in Westminster where we see the resignation of a minister or junior minister almost by the hour.

The focus today is on Westminster, as is appropriate, after which it will shift to 25 November and whether the agreement is passed in Westminster. I hope people will reflect politically on what this is about. There is no good Brexit deal for Ireland or the UK. Like Senator Norris, I hope there will be a second vote because the debate would then take place against the backdrop of the past two years, which have been chaotic and shambolic. A new referendum would be based on a more informed and honest debate, unlike the earlier one when people were duped.The DUP should reflect on its position. What was achieved yesterday secures and cements the future of Northern Ireland, the North of our country, from an economic point of view and regarding further sovereignty. They must reflect on that because it avoids the hard border which they do not want. We should all look at this morning's words, not invoking the backstop. We will have a debate in the House next Thursday.

Senator Ardagh raised the issue of scam or bogus calls. ComReg has asked people to be vigilant. I know many of us have been in contact with Eir, whose department of fraud has been investigating these calls. I agree with Senator Ardagh that there is a need for some type of safeguarding of people, whether it is through protection of data, mobile phone numbers or landline numbers. It is something that we need to pursue.

Senator Ardagh also raised the issue of home help hours. I draw her attention to the fact that in the budget announced last month, we saw home care supports grow from a base of €305 million in 2015 to €420 million today. That is 17 million home support hours being delivered to 50,500 people who are then able to live in their homes. I have always made the point and will again that we should review what home help hours are and what type of work is being carried out during them. We all support an increase in them. The Government is committed to having more people stay at home for longer.

I would be happy to accept the amendment to the Order of Business from Senator Humphreys regarding No. 14. I am not familiar with the Ringsend issue that Senator Humphreys raised. He might receive a quicker response through a Commencement matter. We have requested the Minister to come to the House to debate it in the coming weeks, so perhaps the Senator can raise it then.

Senator Mac Lochlainn raised the issue of the direct provision centre in Moville in County Donegal. I am not familiar with the situation the Senator is discussing. We had a debate about direct provision on the Order of Business yesterday, when it was raised by Senator Warfield. We have seen positive changes on foot of the McMahon report. We would all like to see the issue of direct provision addressed expeditiously. There have been changes to waiting times. There is a single application. I am not familiar with the issue Senator Mac Lochlainn raised because I am not involved in that area. I am not trying to give the Senator a soft answer but perhaps he will request a Commencement matter debate. If he wants, I will certainly ask the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, about that.

Senator Feighan raised the issue of the 33rd anniversary of the Anglo-Irish agreement. I pay tribute to our iar-Thaoiseach and iar-Airí Gnóthaí Eachtracha, Garret FitzGerald, Peter Barry and Dick Spring, who is still alive, for their tremendous work on that important day in the history of our country. It was a stepping stone on the bridge. To be fair to both Dick Spring and Albert Reynolds, they used that as the building bridge again later on. I want to remember Garret FitzGerald and Peter Barry today and thank them for their patriotic service to our company.

Senator Ned O'Sullivan raised the issue of Aughinish Alumina. Someone raised the issue before of a member of the board being involved in the blacklist of the American state department. I will be happy to try to have the Minister come to the House again to discuss the matter. It is an important industry which provides employment in a significant part of the country.

Senator Bacik raised the matter of the trial, which we discussed yesterday. We all condemn the treatment of the victim. It is hard enough to come forward. We must support and encourage any victim of domestic violence or rape to come forward and give them the full support of the State. I welcome that the O'Malley review will be completed, it is hoped, by the end of December or early January. I give a commitment now that we will have that debate in the House in due course.

When Senator Norris came to speak to me, I thought he had said to me that we were not to conclude at 5 o'clock. Two schedules were issued, one for Members on Thursday afternoon last week and we issued another schedule during the week. To be fair, we have had over 41 hours of debate on the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill and we cannot delay it any further. I do not wish to discommode any Member of the House but if we are going to have a variety of reasons to put off debate, we might as well not sit and just stay at home.