Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with and echo the words of previous Senators, in particular on today's launch of the Covid-19 tracking app. It will be a vital tool in keeping people safe. One of the glaring issues about the Covid-19 crisis, and preceding crises, has been the merit in the assertion that we work best when we work collaboratively together, and when we take a united and joined-up approach.

Given its presence in the programme for Government, I ask for a debate on the shared island element as soon as possible. I will not reiterate the points that were justifiably and understandably made last week about Seanad appointments and certain absences from those appointments. However, we are where we are and I accept that we have to move on as a Chamber. The programme for Government, as outlined, allows us the opportunity to discuss what exactly a shared island - a shared Ireland - will mean for us and I do not think we should shy away from that. One of the great strengths of the Seanad as an institution is that it allows this Oireachtas to become nicely representative, to become reflective of people from right across all of our 32 counties and if we so choose, from beyond, including the very important and vital global diaspora. In that spirit, I also call on the Taoiseach in particular, in addition to the Minister of State with responsibility for local government - I forget the exact title - to provide for a discussion on the much-promised referendum on the extension of presidential election voting rights to citizens outside the State. To be fair to Ministers and their officials in the previous Government, a lot of work had gone into it, in terms of options papers and looking at best practice from other jurisdictions around the world. It is something a vast range of political parties state is their party policy. It is also something the Constitutional Convention in 2014 voted overwhelmingly in favour of, so I think it is now time for the Government to focus on setting a date. We need to now see that in the spirit of a shared island and of the new political and societal realities that we show citizens we value them by entrusting them with this important franchise.