Seanad debates

Tuesday, 18 May 2021

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

9:00 am

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a really good idea to write a letter on behalf of all Senators on this side of the pond to congratulate and thank our colleagues in the US Senate and to support the call for a special envoy. I will do that today and send all Senators a copy of the letter.

Senator Dolan raised an issue that has been raised on a number of occasions in recent days. It is interesting that what women consider to be normal life events are almost taboo topics that are never raised. We might suffer in silence and never talk about them. The campaign by Joe Duffy over the past week has been very welcome. It has dispelled a number of mistruths in regard to the symptoms and the benefits of HRT. Nevertheless, the Senator is correct that a national campaign on behalf of the Department of Health would be valuable because not everybody listens to "Liveline". We will request one, although a debate in the House on women's health is pending and will include what Senator Clifford-Lee raised. A number of colleagues have raised the issue, including Senator Ahearn on a number of occasions. It is welcome to see our male colleagues in support of what is a debilitating disease and affliction during pregnancy, namely, hyperemesis. I have written to both the Minister for Health and the drugs company that manufactures Cariban. The difficulty seems to be that no application has been made to include Cariban on the drugs refund scheme. I have invited the manufacturer not only to make an application to be included but also, if it needs any assistance from any of us, not to hesitate to seek our support because we will be very willing to help. I will follow up on that and revert to the Senator.

Senator Ward spoke about encouraging people to give blood. Anybody who wants to give blood should be encouraged to do so. We have all been acting under certain public health guidelines, but as they are removed and we are relieved of them, we should encourage anybody who wants to give of their blood to help other people to do so.

Senator Martin again raised issues in Palestine. We had a very worthwhile discussion in the House last night, as is happening in every other parliament in the civilised world. Another day goes by and we do not have condemnation from the US of the activities and atrocities being carried out by the Israeli Government, and that needs to happen now. The issue should be raised until we get some reaction from not only the UN but also the US Government.

Senator Cassells talked about a lovely young boy in County Meath, Nahyan Javid, who is raging against a disease. I understand that given the cost of vaccines, it is very difficult to include all of them, but I wish his family every success in their fundraising events. I hope that, with all the goodwill we have, Nahyan will recover or at least achieve some recession of his disease.

Senator McGahon raised the issue of visas. Many people are making representations about the suspension of visas, the issuing of which, alongside passports, we expect to return to normality in the coming weeks.

Senator Fitzpatrick talked about ovarian cancer, an issue that will form part of the debate on women's health we will have in the coming weeks.

Senator Sherlock spoke to the housing debate that started in the House last night, with a very worthwhile start to Second Stage of the Affordable Housing Bill 2021, a debate that will continue next week.

Senator Buttimer made two significant requests, both of which are reactions to the restrictions we have had in the past 14 months. It is disappointing the memo on travel was pushed off the Cabinet agenda today, notwithstanding the housing and cybersecurity issues we have among others, which constitute a very long agenda today. The message it sends out to the 150,000-odd families is not the message the Government wants to give, so it must be on the agenda next week.

The Senator also sought a debate on antisocial behaviour in Cork city but it is not just about Cork city. We are encouraging everyone to have an outdoor summer for all the right reasons, but along with that come some negative connotations. I refer not just to litter and the lack of outside loos, which people have complained about and which needs to be addressed by local councils. There has been a definite increase in unacceptable and unwarranted antisocial behaviour, without an accompaniment of an increase in Garda patrols to man these outdoor meaningful dining experiences and summer activities we are supposed to have. That needs to be addressed and I will try to arrange a debate for as soon as possible.

Senators McGreehan and Garvey spoke about the fact this is national biodiversity week. I will try to arrange a debate in the next couple of weeks on some of the objectives and challenges we face as a country and how we are going to achieve them.

Senators Keogan, Davitt and O'Loughlin welcomed something long overdue. We all know what politicians do in this country and the hard work councillors do. The Moorhead report used certain language that did not reflect the 24-7 nature, in some cases, of the work councillors do for what was pitifully called a part-time job. It absolutely is not a part-time job and I am glad the memo accepted by Cabinet today reflects the value local communities place on the work councillors do. I acknowledge the Senators who raised that issue.

Senator Joe O'Reilly requested a debate on the undocumented Irish in the US and outlined the really worthwhile proposition in regard to unused visas allocated to Australians. I will arrange a debate on that as soon as I can.

I do not know where to start to respond to Senator Ruane. If not on behalf of St. John Ambulance then on that of the Department that has requested it, there must be a report, scoping exercise and investigation into sexual abuse, historical and otherwise, at St. John Ambulance. There is no point in conducting a review, scoping exercise or investigation without singing from the high heavens that this happened under our watch and this is what we are going to do to fix it. I will write to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, today to highlight the issues the Senator raised, not least of which relates to the limitations of the advertising campaign on behalf of the organisation but also the affected people whom the Senator spoke about, who are probably some of the most marginalised people and would not normally read the types of publications where such issues are publicised. I will reflect on that and revert to the Senator.

Senator Boylan raised issues in Gaza and the overwhelming impacts the Israeli strikes are having on the community. We need to talk about that for as long as we can.

Senator Bacik asked for a debate on the care of older persons and I will arrange that in the coming weeks. I am aware there have been changes to the fair deal scheme and there is a view to putting statutory entitlement to home care on an equal footing with the fair deal scheme in nursing home care.

Senator O'Loughlin talked about general data protection regulation, GDPR, issues and sought a debate on local government. I will arrange that insofar as I can.

The back and forth between Senator Mullen and other Senators at the beginning of the Order of Business probably shows there remain many opinions on the divisive issue of the response of the people to repealing the eighth amendment in recent years. While two thirds of the people voted in favour of its repeal, we should not discount the opinions or views of those who did not. Just because they were not in the majority does not mean their views are any less worthy than those of the people who were. We need to be mindful of respecting one another in the course of debates and I encourage the continuation of that.Finally, on behalf of all Senators, I want to wish Lesley Roy the best of luck in the Eurovision contest tonight. Hopefully she will go through to the further stages. She is an incredibly talented woman and she will do us incredibly proud. On behalf of us and all the Irish people I wish her every success in the Eurovision contest tonight.

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