Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try to adhere to the Cathaoirleach's clarification of the existing rules which I appreciate and, as somebody who is quite often in the Chair, I will try to stick to my three minutes and abide by the rules as best I can. I wish everyone a happy new year; although it is 23 January it is my first time speaking on the Order of Business this year given that we are only back since yesterday. I also want to congratulate the Ceann Comhairle, the Cathaoirleach and everybody involved with Monday's events. I will not dwell on it but it was a good day and a nice commemoration of the first sitting of the First Dáil.

I will try to stick to the three minutes allocated to me as acting group leader. It is not possible to stand up today without addressing the continuing saga of Brexit as it unfolds. It is a serious matter as we all know and it is coming at us with only 65 days until 29 March. We had the Minister in here last night and to be fair to him he spoke well on much of what is going on. I am supportive of him but there were various reactions on Twitter this morning to a certain Cabinet Minister on the radio which did not augur well. I have a lot of time and respect for the man in question but we have to get real and be honest with the people about all the possibilities. We want a deal. I would prefer if the United Kingdom was staying in the EU but it does not seem to want to do that or to have a second referendum. The UK Government and Prime Minister are certainly not in favour of that at the moment but it would be better if they did so. We need to be honest with the people about what plans are in place. I am sure there are plans in place because I do not believe that we cannot have plans in place. The EU Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said of course there would be a hard border if there is no deal as there has to be a border between a non-EU territory and an EU territory. That was possibly a very honest statement but we need to know. We need the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and other Ministers in here probably almost daily; even though they have many other things to be doing they need to share their plans on transport, agriculture, trade and every aspect of our economy and society with us.

I also want to touch on the impending nurses' strike. Notices have gone out cancelling certain elective procedures and appointments that are dependent on nurses on these particular days. I understand that the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, talks are today but I urge the Minister, the nursing organisations and the Government generally to examine this issue carefully, to take on board the concerns of the nurses and to look at exactly what they are looking for. The last thing we need, in January in particular but at any time of the year, is a nurses' strike that affects patients.

I refer to mobile phones. A survey in a recent Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, report has found that 40% of children own a mobile phone by the age of nine, which astonished me. As a result, 84% of primary schools have had to implement strategies dealing with mobile phones in their schools and 68% of schools say they have encountered problems as a result of smartphone and social media use within and around the school day. We all know that technology can be beneficial but we need to examine this so maybe the Minister for Education and Skills would come in at some point and tell us what policies he is putting in place in order to ensure that people do not experience workplace bullying. I think I stuck within my three minutes.