Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is not acceptable and I look forward to the debate on the Private Members' motion Fianna Fáil has tabled for Monday evening. It will give everyone an opportunity to say how they feel and how disgusted we would be by such unilateral action, which we will not tolerate.

Senator Joe O'Reilly raised the need for a debate on the future of banking. I am lucky in that I am in a position to say that such a debate has been scheduled for next week. I look forward to hearing everybody's contributions, particularly with regard to the future of the credit union movement and any public banking system the Government may be required to establish to introduce new competition into the market, competition that is sadly lacking at the moment.

A number of colleagues quite rightly brought up the issue of the anger felt not only by the political classes this week, but by every family that has somebody looking to buy a house, whether for the first or second time, at the gazumping highlighted by the Business Postlast weekend. I will highlight the need for a debate to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and try to arrange one as soon as I can on behalf of colleagues who raised the matter.

Senator Cassells is rightly angered at the unilateral decision made by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth yesterday. I have four children, and I know the Senator has a number of children too, but I do not think I have ever come across a man looking after children, whether in a crèche or private setting. We might have had a different decision yesterday if this were not the case. I will write to the Minister today and ask him to explain this unilateral decision. I do not believe this will be the end of the issue the Senator raised.

Senator Maria Byrne talked about the vaccine roll-out. A number of people, particularly more vulnerable and elderly people at home or in hospital, are still awaiting news of when they will get their jab. I know of a lady in my own town who did not appear on anybody's list. The lovely lady who answered the 1850 24 1850 number provided us with great assistance yesterday but that was just a one-off. I believe the Senator is referring to far more than a one-off case. I will write a letter to Paul Reid to ask him what the plans are to address the issue of all of the people spotted across our towns and villages who are still waiting for the phone call regarding their appointments. We will see what he says when he comes back to us.

Senator Hoey spoke about the resolution of the issue of student nurses' pay. I will write to the Minister for Health on her behalf and ask him what the plans are to advance her Bill. I read the quote she read out regarding the treatment of her Bill. It dismayed me that anybody would even think that, let alone have a plan of action as to how to deal with her Bill as an Opposition Member. It was highly disrespectful not only to her and her party but to all of the people whom she is trying to represent. I will write to the Minister today and ask him for a response on the plans for the Senator's Bill.

Senators Lombard and Dooley both brought up the issue of housing. As I said, I will reply with a date for the Bill. Senator Keogan also talked about the mass purchasing. I will come back to her. I am aware of the impact of our new planning regulator not just with regard to one-off housing, but in how spatial planning is carried out around the country. It would be interesting to see an audit of all the serviced sites in every county, not only those of the Senator and myself, that are ready to be built on tomorrow but that have been dezoned by local authorities and to ask them to come up with a plausible reason they were dezoned in favour of zoning land that will not be ready for building for years when we are crying out for land ready to be built on now.I might ask for that to be done and I will then come back to the Senator.

Senator Burke asked for a debate on tourism. We had one a couple of weeks ago but with the advent of society opening up again, albeit cautiously in the next couple of weeks, it is probably time we had another debate. I will try to schedule that.

Senator O'Loughlin referred to the HSE catch-up programme, which is really worthwhile. We should have a debate on health in the House in the coming weeks, not just on Covid and its impact on our health services but also on where we are going into the future. I will try to arrange that.

In response to Senator Ruane, what she referred to is one of the things I did in my three and half years in that Department of which I am most proud. It was the smallest amount of money from an enormous budget, but the money I had to fight hardest for was that aimed at getting the hot school meals pilot programme off the ground. Despite it being the smallest amount of money, it is something I probably get the most thanks for from the principals and teachers because they can see the impact it has on children in their lives. It makes no sense to me that in any consortium that would have put forward a bid, one school should have been selectively taken out. I ask the Senator to give me the details later and I will talk to the Secretary General and try to find some of the answers and resolutions the Senator has not been able to find. I do not know whether I can fix it but I will do my level best to help because it is not on and it is not fair.

Senator Pauline O'Reilly, the leader of the Greens in the House, talked about the elections that are happening in the UK. There is never a dull moment in political life and some of the responses referred to what is happening in Scotland, which is fascinating to watch. It is not too far away from our own shores, and I just wanted to acknowledge that.

I welcome Senator Sherlock's Bill. It is interesting. During my time as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, I think we focused too much on the description of platform workers as being at the lower end of the pay scale. While there definitely are some and I am not disagreeing with that, they are certainly in the minority. The vast majority of people who would be classified as bogus self-employed in this country earn six-figure salaries. That is why it is allowed to continue, not because they are the lower paid on the scale. There is a view that perhaps we need a third status of employment because the terms "self-employed" and "employed" do not quite cut the mustard when it comes to those types of workers to whom the Senator is referring, who absolutely need to be enshrined in employment legislation and employment rights in this country. I wish the Senator good luck with the Bill. I look forward to debating it with her.

Senator Mullen referred to the hate speech legislation. I absolutely assure him that it will go through pre-legislative scrutiny. It is probably time that we have a debate in the House. The committee which deals with communications has had a very meaningful debate this week with regard to abuse on social media platforms. As we know, that extends into real life too. I will try to ignore organise that. I will find out when the pre-legislative scrutiny is going to take place and I will come back to the Senator with a date.

Senator Chambers started today's business with a point raised by many colleagues, which is the very welcome news from the HSE's CEO, Paul Reid, that we will have a national approach to maternity services, now that the timing is right. I suppose that is still not trickling down to all of our hospitals because we can see from photographs on social media that there are still men waiting in car parks to get the news of their little baby arriving. It is just not good enough and is not tolerable. I will write to Mr. Reid today to find out what action is going to be taken by him, or by Dr. Colm Henry, to ensure there is consistency across the country and that newly-born babies can have the joy of seeing both their mammy and their daddy when they are brought into the world.