Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are getting that already. Senator Conway-Walsh is dead right.

Senators Horkan and Richmond raised the issue of Brexit. Today's special EU summit is important. It is a bit like Groundhog Day on one level but time is advancing and there is a need for a decision to be made regarding whether Brexit involves a 30 June departure or a different date. That is a matter for the Heads of Government today. It is important that we in the Chamber continue to look to Westminster to resolve this impasse and to take a leap of fate and act of bravery in reaching a conclusion. We know what they do not want but they must now tell us what they want. Senator Richmond raised an important matter with regard to the diversification of transport and connectivity in a post-Brexit era. The matters he raises are important for us, not just now but post Brexit. I would be happy to have the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport come back to the House on the matter.

Senator Horkan referred to the PwC report on the national children's hospital. I concur with him on the need to have a debate on procurement and capital projects. The report is 160 pages long and I have read some but not all of it. I must be honest. I ask all Members to read the report, which is most interesting and informative from many perspectives. We must put matters in context. The report deals with a project that is unique in scope, scale and complexity by comparison with any other health infrastructure built in the history of the State. The report identifies and illustrates clearly weaknesses in the set-up, planning, budget, execution and governance. I would be happy to arrange a debate on the report in due course.

Senator Horkan also raised the issue of hospital trolleys, which is of great concern. There has been an increase notwithstanding the increased level of investment by Government, including €30 million for the winter investment plan and the opening of additional acute and community beds in many parts of the country. We need the matter tackled. It is linked to Senator Swanick's contribution, which is a matter now for discussion with the IMO and the NAGP. There must be continued improvement and investment in primary care. I agree with the Senator on the Defence Forces. I read the article in the paper this morning and would be happy to have the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Deputy Paul Kehoe, come to the House again on the matter.

Senators McDowell, Black and Norris mentioned the Israeli election and the likely outcome of the talks that will take place, given that no party in the Knesset has a majority. A coalition is required. Whether it is Mr. Netanyahu or Mr. Gantz, it is important that those who want peace know it is about a willingness to come to the table and engage in a spirit of co-operation, equality and fairness. I would be happy to have the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade come back to the House on that.

Senator Conway-Walsh raised the issue of school secretaries. I attended the Fórsa meeting in Cork on school secretaries. The significant administrative burden on schools is growing and in recent days the Minister for Education and Skills lifted the moratorium for schools with enrolments in excess of 700. That will allow schools to employ additional school secretaries up to a maximum of two per school. Approximately 90 schools meet the criteria and 58 will benefit immediately from the announcement. The remaining 33 have this level of staffing but will be permitted to fill vacancies under the clerical officer vacancies scheme as they arise. There is an issue in schools and I addressed it in my contribution yesterday. Secretaries fulfil a major role in our schools and perform perhaps the most important job in keeping schools functioning and running smoothly. There is an anomaly here which must be addressed in the long term. I hope that can be done.

The Women's Aid report was published earlier. Senator Conway-Walsh mentioned the 20,000 calls to Women's Aid in that context. In tandem with that, we saw the publication recently of the report by the PSNI on 31,000 cases, or 80 per day, in the North of our country. Hopefully, some of those are historical cases given the changes in the legislative route, as the Senator said. It is far too many cases to have and I agree fully with her on the need for legislative action and resources. It is about ensuring societal attitudes change and that we educate young people and everyone else on their attitudes to women and domestic and sexual violence. Education has a critical role. I would be happy to have that debate in due course.Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell made a telling and fine contribution on the role of immigration in our country. I cannot but completely agree with her that we need to have the right inference put on immigration. We have a significant skills shortage. The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Heather Humphreys, has made some changes to the visa programme but others need to be put in place.

Last week, I met with Nursing Homes Ireland which made the case for the need to have changes brought to their sector to deal with the skills shortages in nursing and healthcare assistant provision. We have also seen the changes that will be required to deal with skills shortages in our hospitality sector. This landscape needs to be changed to allow people to come to work here and make a contribution to our society. We always have been an island of welcomes. We have always had people come to our country and make a contribution. As Senator Lawless will testify, it works the other way too when Irish people travel across the world. They also have made telling contributions to the societies in which they have settled.

We need to change the visa permit system to allow people to come to Ireland. The Senator referred to India. I have no issue with what the Senator suggested and I am quite happy for the Minister to attend the House. While some changes have been made to the visa permit system, I accept much more can be done. We must have a wider debate on immigration and the proper inference which must be put on it.

Senator Swanick referred to the GP contract. The Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, has welcomed the conclusion of the contract talks. We will not have a debate today on it because it is a discussion for the IMO membership. I agree there is a need to see a reversal of FEMPI cuts and continued investment in primary care. I would be happy to have a debate on that in due course.

I will not be accepting the amendment to the Order of Business for the reasons I have outlined.