Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to acknowledge the Irish giving spirit Senator Craughwell has talked about because it extends to many more groups of people and communities than just the veterans he referred to. We cannot acknowledge it enough. It is inherent in all of our DNA. We are a very giving people. Irish communities and societies are a great example of what we can do when we work together.

I will briefly go through some of the things that have been asked of me. The first thing is to say I gladly accept Senator McDowell's amendment. That is no problem at all.

On Senator Paddy Burke's point, I will be in contact with Terry Brennan's family. We would rather do it in a way that not just dignifies our respect to our loved colleague but also allows his family to participate in our expressions of love and appreciation for Terry. I will contact the family and do it at some stage later in the year when it is more appropriate for us to welcome them.

Various colleagues have brought up the fact that we have in the last number of weeks and will continue next week to debate Bills at all Stages. I would like to apologise but it is not being done in any sense to annoy, to detract from crucial analysis of legislation or to detract from the valued input from all Members of this House to Government legislation. It is being done because most of the legislation we are passing at the moment is required by citizens, either to fix something that is wrong or is going to run out, as in the case of the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Bill 2020, or to provide other supports that are needed by Irish people as a result of the financial strains arising from Covid. I do not intend for us to conduct our business in that way when we come back in September unless there is a need for something to be turned around very quickly. I will communicate with all leaders and Whips on a weekly basis to make sure we are all happy. I have no intention of continuing to do business as we have done it over the last couple of weeks. I appreciate Senators' support in allowing us to pass a sizeable amount of legislation in the last two weeks and in the next two.

For Members' knowledge, in case they do not already know, there will be three debates in the House next week. One will be with the Minister for Education and Skills and I am sure it will centre around the reopening of our schools. I believe we will get notification of the protocols for the reopening of schools, both primary and secondary, on Monday. The Minister will be with us on Tuesday. As a parent of four children in education, it is vital. This is not just because they need to get back into learning mode which has been unusual, to say the least, in the last couple of months, but also because their mental health and well-being is crucial to engaging with their peers and teachers, and I do not mean over Zoom calls or on iPads.That is not to discount the enormous effort that has been put in on behalf of our teachers in the past couple of months, which we appreciate.

We will have the Minister with responsibility for tourism in the House and I acknowledge everybody's promotion of their own county this morning. In my own county, the Boyne Valley is an enormously popular place and I encourage anyone who is looking at coming to Meath to certainly do so. It is important for us all to recognise that we need to give each other in different counties a dig out. People are welcome to counties Roscommon, Galway or Kerry. We have a beautiful island. I am assured we are getting beautiful weather from next week so we should encourage each other to go to every county. The suggestion made by Senator McCallion is very important. We should market our country on an all-island basis. The Minister will be here next Tuesday and Senators should put their suggestions to her.

We will have a July stimulus package debate next Thursday because all the financial provisions that underpin the package announced yesterday have to be passed by both Houses next week.

Some of the routine issues that have been badly affected do not get the exposure they deserve. I am particularly concerned about domestic violence, which has really been brought to everybody's attention in the past couple of months. When we see the increase in cases of domestic violence that have been reported not only to the wonderful organisations that support our women and men who are sufferers but also to the Garda Síochána, it is an issue that needs and deserves more highlighting than it has ever got. I do not say this disrespectfully, but it is something that falls to the women of this House and the Lower House in the main but I genuinely ask our male colleagues here to start speaking about it more than they have in the past because it is an issue that affects every family in this country in some way, shape or form. We should talk about it a lot more.

I welcome the meeting that will talk place with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform next week for our CE supervisors. As some Senators will be aware, I have enormous respect for the work and the individuals and would love to see a resolution, which was not possible in the previous two Dáileanna, take place in this Dáil. I am appreciative of the Minister for meeting them next week. Hearing them is important but especially so is acting and finding a solution, which exists, and I hope it gets over the line next week.

I do not believe gender rights require more review. I say this as the person who had the privilege of being fed the results of the previous review that was done. As far as I am aware, the legislation is practically drafted to enable us in this House and the Dáil to give the right to 16 and 17-year-olds, with the consent of both of their parents, to change their gender through documentation in this country if they want. That debate should be had and I will contact the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy O'Gorman, to see where we are, particularly in respect of the new review suggested in the programme for Government because I do not think there is any need to have a new review. We have done the work and the work that needs to be done now is to publish and to pass the legislation.

The single largest investment in the history of the State was announced by the Government yesterday not in the businesses of Ireland but in the people of Ireland. The money that will be given to businesses to support wages will support families up and down this country who otherwise may not have a job because the companies would not be able to financially support those people for the next weeks, months and perhaps longer. I refer to the extensions of the temporary wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment for those who are unfortunately out of work temporarily at the moment, all the financial measures that will be put in place for the retraining, reskilling and re-employing of all those people in different and new industries, all the waivers in respect of costs for those businesses and everything else that was announced yesterday. Some Members commented that it is not perfect but the last thing it is, and I say this with respect, is miserly.