Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will certainly pass on the comments of Senator Keoghan and her colleagues in local government on the Taoiseach's proposed visit to the White House. Essential travel needs to continue if the world economy is to continue to support those who cannot support themselves temporarily because of the impact of Covid on our lives and society. I genuinely believe and hope, as we all do, that society will re-emerge later this year. Our relationship with the United States is certainly key in the context of our hope that our economy will completely take off and soar once we reopen it. I appreciate and understand the concerns the Senator has raised, however. Senator Moynihan referred to the amount of speculation going on in the market today. I certainly believe she has a point, not only in the context of imposing levies in respect of vacant or empty apartments and houses, a move that would not be without its difficulties, but also regarding a vacant site tax for which many people have long advocated. We will have an opportunity to talk to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage this afternoon. The issue should be raised then.

Senator Dooley referred to ten primary schools. I do not believe this issue is unique to Ennis. In Rolestown, which is in the constituency in which I live and which is just up the road from where the Senator lives, there are people who do not fall into any catchment area and who will, therefore, always be at the bottom of the list of the schools to which they apply to send their children. That needs to be remedied and not just by the Department of Education but by those who are dominant in the provision of education. Many of our education and training boards and, indeed, the Catholic Church, need to work together to ensure that no child is left waiting at the end of anybody's list when it comes to that big milestone of moving from primary to secondary school, which has an impact on our children whether we like it or not.

The funding for science research is welcome. It is something we probably do not sing enough about. The future of technology and the creativity that exists in that sphere in this country is something we probably do not applaud much. Certainly, however, in view of the amount of money being invested, it should be clear to all of us that is exactly what will cause the major impetus on the change of life we all expect to come in the years and decades ahead.

Senator Garvey welcomed the €50 million rural infrastructure fund for walking and cycling in the countryside. I must concur. This is really welcome. I wish to God it was not just for rural Ireland. Some money is probably needed for many of our urban areas, particularly in view of the fact that in the past year almost everybody has become a walker and many more people are cycling than used to be the case. There probably is not an awful lot else for us to do, to be honest. As an avid walker and cyclist, I absolutely wish there was some logic to how the money is spent and the infrastructure that is being developed. The only example I will give is the consternation that was evident at the weekend in Swords in north County Dublin. We unveiled an absolutely beautiful looking cycleway and walking path, yet the path is not wide enough for two people to walk beside each other. The cycleway is supposed to allow cyclists to travel in both directions at the same time. It is so small one could not possibly even have a walker and a cyclist on the same path. With such a huge amount of money being invested, there needs to be some logic in the delivery by our local authorities as to the actual use of these amenities by people, and not just have something looking lovely on both sides of our streets. The money is welcome, however.

Senator Blaney brought up the need for a debate on our mental health services and the people who provide them. It is not just the State. It is all of our charities that are supported by the State but also by the millions of people who donate to their fundraising events every year. They certainly are stretched but most of them have moved seamlessly from providing face-to-face services to providing them online. We should be hugely grateful for these services. This is not to say that a debate is not needed or that more money is not needed to support them. I have no doubt it will be, however, once we all come through the aftereffects of Covid-19.

I do not know when the CLÁR programme review is due to be published. I will find out and revert back to Senator Carrigy's office, however. Again, the letter he read out from the parent of a child in a special school is testament to just how much of an impact the closure of our schools is having on all our children, but particularly, our those who have extra and additional needs. There is a Cabinet sub-committee meeting to discuss education this afternoon, which I hope will bear some fruit. There will a debate in the House next Monday with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and with the Minister for Education on the following Monday. I very much hope that we will not still be seeking answers on the leaving certificate and junior certificate - as Members have been doing for the past number of weeks - but that, as has been sought, we will have clarity and decisions will be made.

Senator Cassells raised the issue of a school that has been close to my heart for many years. Although I do not represent the constituency anymore, I still live there. Stepping Stones School is a wonderful addition to the community of Kilcloon and to the counties of Meath and Kildare. It is probably no different from every other special school in the country in that it has been taken into the minds and hearts of the people who live in the local community. It has been entirely dependent upon the goodwill and, in the main, the financial support of those people for the past number of years. Stepping Stones School was only taken under the aegis of the Department of Education a short number of years ago.I am dismayed that despite a visit by me and the then Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Joe McHugh, and the promise made by the Department not only to provide a new building but to upgrade the disgraceful provision it was making for those kids who have to go to school every day in the Stepping Stones school, that work has still not been done. A scheduled meeting was cancelled the day before it was due because of Covid. It does not take a genius to take photographs and realise that the education buildings in Kilcloon are nowhere close to a minimum standard. The provision of educational services by the teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs, for the children who go to the school is second to none. The Senator is dead right that we are failing them. I do not know what it takes because I am sure he and every other representative associated with the school have been in touch with the Department of Education in the past week, yet there has still not been a response. I do not know what it takes to get a response on such a crucial issue. I will contact the Department again today. The staff, parents and children who attend the Stepping Stones school will continue to have all of our support.

Senator Ardagh and others spoke about the awful tragedy of the passing of Josh Dunne, a young 16-year-old boy. One could not but be moved by his mam at the weekend when balloons were released and the community came together in solidarity with the family on Coultry Road in Ballymun. I extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to Josh's family, on behalf of every Member of this House.

On the clarity sought about the leaving certificate examination, I hope we will have some certainty this week.

I advise Senator McDowell that I have already sought a debate with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He has acquiesced but I do not have a date given that we have a full schedule next Monday and nearly a full schedule the following Monday. It is an important debate to be had and the questions raised this morning need a response. We saw the impact of the threat at the weekend. It shows just how easy it is for temperatures to rise in what is already a very volatile situation. One wonders how anybody could have made such a silly mistake. I think the Senator knows what I mean in describing it as "silly" because it could have had disastrous consequences. We need to come together and reaffirm to the rest of the world and the European Union that we are committed to travel and the economy of the island of Ireland. I will try to get answers and will schedule a debate as soon as the Minister's schedule allows. He has agreed to a debate.

Senator Kyne raised the correct decision made by the previous Government to invest in the national broadband strategy. I do not say this with any pleasure because we are well aware that nearly every other party and Independents, bar a small number, had great difficulty with investment in broadband and, indeed, investment in Irish people. I hope that Covid, if it has ever done anything for us, makes us realise that we can have a better society and a better distribution of the economy and the population so that they are not just centred in major national cities but in rural places, as Senator Kyne so eloquently described in Irish. Unfortunately, I did not understand what he said, much to my regret. Work-life balance needs to be addressed in legislation later this year. In lockdown, we are all dying to be able to go anywhere other than taking a walk around our own village or within a 5 km limit. There is a definite balance to be struck between being in an office and being at home. No one wishes to go back to spending an hour or longer in their car every morning and every evening when they do not have to.

Senator Fitzpatrick spoke about the Minister for Justice and the justice and policing committees, JPCs, with regard to knife crime. Members of the other House have raised this issue in recent days. Last week was, I believe, a record week in Dublin in this regard and we had the shock of people being injured in various incidents, with some losing their lives and some being left gravely ill. I heard one gentleman say on radio that he would not leave his house without a knife in his pocket because he was not going to let somebody walk his daughter up the aisle. I think I know what he meant with those sentiments but, by God, if that is the attitude we will all have when we leave our houses, we are certainly not going to get to a better place. It will be a worse place so that is something that needs to be addressed now. I am very pleased to accept Senator Ó Donnghaile's order and look forward to the two by-elections. To answer Senator Boyhan, I do not know the dates but I am quite sure they will be held very soon. The clock has been ticking on the first one for a number of weeks now as it was initiated by his previous motion and the clock is now ticking on the second one as well. We need to get these Seanad by-elections done as quickly as we possibly can. The Senator is right that it does highlight an anomaly, a number of my own colleagues in local government had expected that a vote would be extended to them and are surprised that this has not happened.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is coming in to discuss Article 16 and I will ask to have a Brexit debate on the same day. I very much think we need to lay out to Irish people what post-Brexit is actually going to look like, and not just in the immediate term. We are aware of the difficulties with paperwork, queues and so on at the moment, but there is also the matter of what we expect and hope, and what our ambitions are in the long term.

The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, spoke so eloquently about the challenges we have with climate change and how all sections of the community need to embrace them to ensure we have a happy outcome with the green deal and its commitments.

Senator Boyhan talked about the housing scheme. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will be here this afternoon but we probably need a separate debate on it when we have all of the details. I would also love to see the outcomes of the pilot scheme that was run by the former Minister of exactly this scheme in Cork a number of years ago. It indicates whether this is going to work or shows the pitfalls or the pros and cons of how the pilot actually went so we can all learn, when we are doing the pre-legislative scrutiny, what kind of changes we should expect. However, there very much is a need for some scheme. This may or may not be it but there very much is a need for some scheme to support people. When one considers the situation where a household with €100,000 coming in in salaries still cannot afford a house in Dublin, it is not fair. We greatly need to support them.

A number of colleagues have raised the mother and baby homes and what emerged about the matter of the recordings of survivors' testimonies over the weekend. I do not know whether to call it an admission or not, because it is something that maybe we all should have known, but I must say it is certainly not something I was aware of. Admittedly, it was in the terms of reference of the establishment but that dates back to 2004. I think Senator McDowell was the Minister who introduced that legislation. We all sat here for two weeks in November and December fighting to ensure the information and the testimonies the survivors gave would be available to them, and not withheld for a period of 30 years. I think we all thought that battle had been won and the acknowledgement by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth - who resisted initially but then came around to both public protests and indeed everybody's concerns and suggestions in this House - was that all of the survivors would be able to access the testimony. This was not just for the obvious reasons that we are familiar with of how a people can query what has been put in a report as having been said by them if they do not have the original testimony to go back to, but because it is theirs - it is their story and their voice. People have found out now that it is gone.

It does not even come close to appreciating the compounding of hurt on hurt that we seem to be continuously doing. Now that we know it is gone, one would nearly shrug one's shoulders and give up. However, I know we will not give up because of the stories and the experiences that the women still continue to contact us with, as do their children. They are the men and women who lost the opportunity of having a life with their real family and substituted obviously with their next family. We need to find out when the audio tapes were destroyed. If we found out we were having a debate in November and December about something that had already been destroyed. I must assume the Minister did not know because he stood here so earnestly debating as to why we could not have access to them and then giving us the details of why he absolutely would ensure that they would be given access to them when he got the right information from the Attorney General. If we find out that they were already gone by then, by jove. I know the commissioners do not want to have a conversation with either the public or our committees downstairs but they definitely owe it to the 550 surviving women who came and sat in front of them and shared their stories. The commissioners should explain why the survivors were not told their stories would be erased before the report was published and explain to them how in God's name they are actually going to refute the memories the women now say have been incorrectly proposed in the report on their behalf. There are so many questions which remain unanswered but I will tell the House what we will not do is allow this to be swept under another carpet again. Just before I walked into the Chamber this morning did I receive an audio message from a lady?She did not want to reply by email because she wanted her voice to be heard. That is how much of an impact the actions of people in this country are having on survivors and it has to stop now. I will write to find out and I am sure that we all will. We will probably need another debate about the commitments given by the Government to make sure that they are lived up to daily in the timelines set out. No more can be taken by the women or their families. The Irish people are losing the will to live with the commitments and things that we say on behalf of the State, and that is not a good place to be.