Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In response to the issue Senator Daly describes, it is probably far greater than that. I know people of a certain age look at the numbers coming up on their phone and they think, "not again" and just ignore it. However, I also know from experience that as we get older – we all have parents and older people that we represent – people worry an awful lot more about things that Senator Daly and I would not even think about. They do genuinely start to question, for example, whether they owe €18 to somebody. They go down that little rabbit hole and they get caught for considerable amounts of money. The Minister for Justice issued a statement in recent months advising citizens not to follow through, but it does not work in a lot of cases because older people do worry. It is important that we have such a debate. I will ask both the Minister for Justice and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to respond to us with a date after the recess.

I anticipated Senator Craughwell standing up this morning when I heard on the news yesterday evening the outrageous suggestion that the families of the people who lost their lives in Rescue 116 would have to pay any legal fees just to represent their loved ones in a case and a review that was taken by the operator. I noted with interest that the Taoiseach said in the Dáil yesterday evening that no family should have to incur legal costs, but for that to be borne out and for it to be made true, somebody has to step in. I will write today to the Minister for Transport to make sure that those families do not have to pay. All of their assets must be protected from this review. I thank Senator Craughwell for raising it this morning.

I also take note of the comments Senator Craughwell made with regard to the appointment of the new regulator. The Public Appointments Service is the body that acts on behalf of the State to ensure that there is no conflict of interest and that there is a cooling off period if it is required. I have to assume it happened in this case, but let us find out. I will write a letter today to the Minister and I will make sure to come back to the Senator.

Senators Lombard and McGreehan spoke about the service to provide development checks for children with extra special needs and how they have been severely interrupted in the past 18 months. I do not find it acceptable that the HSE says it has no plans to find a way to resolve the backlog. We will send a letter to the HSE today asking for its detailed plan in all CHOs to ensure that development checks happen as they are incredibly important, especially for newer parents. Like me, the Senators have a few children so perhaps one grows in confidence as one has more babies, but it is vital in particular that first-time parents get the support. There are also parents whose children have special needs and require extra help and assistance such as occupational therapy. In normal times, we talk about the delays that families experience and I cannot even begin to imagine the extra delays and difficulties they have experienced in the past 18 months. We must get through that and start living our new lives and making sure that we catch up on the services that matter.

Senator Maria Byrne spoke about ice rinks and the fact that they cannot get insurance. I will send a letter to the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, today to ask him if he will intervene because it is certainly something that people look forward to, and it is an outdoor event, which we are encouraging people to engage in during the winter.

Senator Fitzpatrick called for an extension of the tax relief provision for commercial landlords to owner-occupiers to address the fire defects that many thousands of residents who are living in apartments face. I will send a note to the Minister for Finance today and ask him to respond to that.

Senator Gavan spoke this morning about the continuing awfulness experienced by the people in Yemen. He raises a vital point, that we cannot continue to blindly ignore those countries that are profiteering off the back of these people's misery. I will send a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and ask him to come back to us or for us to have a debate here in the coming weeks on the role we play on the Security Council and how it can benefit from an Irish perspective all the people with whom we stand in solidarity.

Senators Horkan and Black raised very eloquently the real frustration that is being felt by the industry they represent. I cannot even begin to understand or imagine how people must have felt this week listening to the mixed messages. I do not blame anybody for that, as the information was only related to the Cabinet on Monday. Ministers tried their very best to give as much information as they could, albeit confusing, on Tuesday. Yesterday, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications said that there was engagement with the industry. I do not know how much or how little there was, but those involved tried to engage in the last couple of days, so as to come up, I hope, with a new set of recommendations today. It is difficult. It has even been the source of mirth in recent weeks about leaving space for the holy spirit when we go dancing. How can one have drinks in a nightclub and not be standing beside someone? It is difficult, but the unenviable position of the Cabinet is that it has to find a way that these industries can reopen safely. That is nearly an oxymoron, but we must and will reopen all our industries and learn to live in the new world of trying to mind ourselves, while we make sure that people can earn their living and provide us with great entertainment. One of my colleagues from Skerries, Councillor Tom O'Leary, sent me a video last night of him in Nealon's Bar in Skerries with the fire lighting and the live music in the corner. We all just want to get back to there and to enjoy the talent Senator Black and many members of her family provide. I support her and I hope how we will deal with the restrictions is announced today.

Senator Sherlock moved an amendment to the Order of Business. I am very happy to accept the amendment. I wish her well with her Bill. I hope it brings change. I often thought when I was Minister that it was very odd that when somebody receives a widow's pension, that if she manages to find love again the widow's pension is taken off her. I do not know when one stops being a widow if one has lost one's first partner. There are lots of anomalies. I wish the Senator well.

Senator Ó Donnghaile asked me to send a letter to the Minister seeking an update on Moore Street. I will do that and send him a copy today.

Senator Mullen raised a very odd anomaly that arose from a High Court case during the week. I accept that the only way to resolve the issue is for us to amend the Bill and I will work with the Senator to see if we can find a way to do it.

Senator Kyne started the day off by talking about the passport system. We are all incredibly frustrated, and that is not even coming close to the frustration of parents whose children are getting passports and the parents are not. I do not know how we expect families to go away together if we do not look after them as a unit, but we need to come up with a better system. Something has happened with the wonderful online system that we all lauded last year, whereby people said they applied on a Monday and got their passport on a Wednesday, because it is not working either. The Minister for Foreign Affairs sent us all an email yesterday outlining his plans. I hope they work.

Senator O'Loughlin opened today's proceedings talking about the announcement from the HSE this morning that it is now going to change the visiting hours in maternity hospitals to pre-pandemic visiting hours. Anybody can go and visit from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.This means that any daddies who are lucky enough that their partners have their babies between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. will get to be there for the entire labour journey. It is a step forward, but it is not enough. I commend the women from the Better Maternity Care group because at least we know that their voices are being heard. They are making good strides in providing what should be the best maternity journeys for all women and their partners. I commend them again because this is certainly is a step in the right direction.

I thank Senator Keogan for raising what is the most awful of tragedies. I heard details of it on the radio in the past couple of days. Indeed, I saw the beautiful photograph that the family released of young Eden with his birthday cake on his 18th birthday. I extend my deepest condolences to his family and his community on what is an absolute tragedy. What is also a tragedy is that the kind of bullying to which that young boy was subjected for the last number of years in his life is not uncommon and is probably happening in every single town and school in this country in which we all live. The problem is that nobody talks about it. People keep it quiet, try to deal with it in their family and support their loved ones as best as they can. We reach a point, however, where young people cannot cope any more because there is no other way for them to deal with the pain and trauma that they are going through. For young Eden to make the choice and take the route he did was an absolute tragedy.

What we need to start talking about is not just prevention in the context of people who are in crisis, we also need to make sure that the services are in place, that the interventions start far earlier than when somebody actually presents to Pieta House or Jigsaw because they are harming themselves or looking for ways out of the pain they are in. Prevention needs to start far earlier for people who are subjected to bullying, violence and even intimidation on social media platforms, which affects our children, on the basis of their resilience, in entirely different ways. We need to start really talking to and educating the young people who are perpetrating the harassment, violence and bullying. I know from experience that they do not really realise the harm that they are doing until it is too late, and then they have to live with the harm they have caused.