Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement by the Taoiseach earlier today on the continued use of digital Covid certificates. It is something I raised in the Chamber last week. I did so because I felt there was an opportunity to protect businesses and people. It is good that the announcement was made today, and it is significant because a number of measures would not have been possible today if we did not continue using digital Covid certificates. Those measures include unlimited numbers of people being allowed to attend weddings and the reopening of nightclubs. There will now be talk about Christmas parties for the first time in two years. That will only be possible because digital Covid certificates will remain in place.

Speaking to those in the industry, I know this reassures people who have been concerned about going into environments like pubs and cafés. They will now feel protected. It is significant that digital Covid certificates have been protected. The arguments used by people for this being the wrong approach were used a number of months ago, when the certificates were introduced, but the sky has not fallen in. In fact, people have found them quite easy to use. I welcome that the process is being continued until the end of the year.

On Friday, 22 October, it will be International Stuttering Awareness Day. In Ireland, we have a stuttering awareness and mental well-being campaign starting today. Three people - Mr. Michael Ryan in Templemore, Mr. Jamie Gogan and Mr. Michael O'Shea - started that campaign. They met the Lord Mayor of Dublin this afternoon and will be in Buswell's Hotel tomorrow for a number of hours. I encourage Senators to meet them. They will be at the hotel from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. They are trying to raise awareness in Ireland about stuttering and stammering. They want to encourage people to be who they want to be. It is an opportunity for us to support them. New US President Joe Biden suffered from a stutter. There is a real encouragement to build awareness of the matter. I ask Members if they are available tomorrow between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to meet those three guys. They are very impressive people.