Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Murphy for raising the wonderful achievement of those three young men in Strokestown. It goes to show that where there is a will, there is a way. When something is a passion for people, they put all their efforts into it. It is worthy for the Senator to commend them here, particularly given their young age and the experience that Jack has recovered from. I wish them well.

The Senator is right. The entertainment sector has probably been the most affected by the decisions made this week. Without doubt, we will need to continue the business supports both for venues but also to be very mindful of the need for continued support for artists. I use that word collectively because whether you are a rocking DJ or a fabulous singers, across the spectrum they have a craft and an art and that has to be respected and upheld. While jobs are available in certain sectors, and in recent months businesses have said that they cannot get staff, I do not think that it is acceptable for anyone to say "never mind that you are a deadly DJ, a coffee shop up the road is looking for staff. Go up there and get it". That is not acceptable. We will write to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, today to support her in her efforts to maintain the business and individual supports for our artists because we will need them. We have been saying this for about 18 months hoping that we will get to come out of the other end. That does not seem in sight now but we will need them in the future.

I wish I had Senator Dolan's command of the English language and her joy. She stands up and speaks with such passion and pride on the part of the country that she lives in. I thank her for her contribution. It makes us all a little envious. I offer my congratulations and wish continued success for the Greenway when it does come to Ballinasloe.

Senator Maria Byrne spoke of the very worthwhile programme between the National Women's Council of Ireland and hairdressers and beauty salons around the country. It is a slight on the country that Ireland has had a significant increase of domestic violence reports in the last 18 months. It is welcome that we can speak about it as a natural occurrence whereas before Covid I think we spoke about it in sheltered corners, that it did not really happen, and was spoken of in whispers. We all know some woman, maybe more than one woman, who has been abused, harassed, or been subjected to sexual violence or coercive control. They exist in every town and village and it is a welcome move by the Hair and Beauty Industry Confederation. The Senator is right in saying that they often provide more counselling therapy than just getting your hair done. I thank her for raising that this morning.

Senator Lombard spoke of the commemorations that will be part and parcel of our lives next year and the debate that is needed around the respectful nature of how we will look at those. I will organise a debate on that as soon as I can.

Senator Cummins brought up one of those "only in Ireland" things. I will write to the Ministers for Finance and Housing, Local Government and Heritage in case they are not aware. When they are aware, they will have to do a resolution. The Senator highlighted that many of our banks, particularly the pillar banks, had such a practice but when it was brought to their attention by the Minister for Finance it did cease. It makes no sense that the State would be doing it to something that it had previously stopped our pillar banks from doing.

Senator Seery-Kearney raised the stories that came from the Committee on Disability Matters, as she does every Thursday. She is absolutely right. We have a long-term illness scheme because there are long-term illnesses that people live with. That list has to be updated. It is not just a case of saying that we do not have money. Senator Gavan referred earlier to the choices we make. New illnesses have been discovered in the last five, 15 or 25 years that are not on that list. It makes no sense that we still expect people to go through hoops. The cost of disability report debate is in with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I am waiting for her to come back to me with a date and I will come back as soon as I can.

Senator Higgins spoke of the need for a debate on human rights and migration. She is absolutely right and I will arrange on as soon as I can. I read with real dismay that Decathlon in France has stopped selling canoes because migrants are buying them to try to get themselves from the shores of France to the shores of the UK. I cannot imagine the despair that anyone would feel to put themselves and maybe their family members in a canoe to try and escape to a better life. It is a real crisis.

Senator Carrigy raised the boxing association. I sent a note to the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, but I will write again today to tell him that the situation has escalated since the Senator raised it in the last couple of days.

I agree with him in some cases around college students. College campuses have had antigen testing for several months. That has been working very successfully. Over 20,000 tests have been taken in the various institutions. Sadly, it was possible to self-refer for a PCR test in only eight of the Republic's 26 counties because all other counties, including Dublin, are full. We need to ramp up our PCR testing capacity in line with the increasing numbers of Covid cases. As the Chief Medical Officer said yesterday, for every one person who is captured and diagnosed by the PCR testing system, six people are asymptomatic and walking around spreading Covid unknowingly. It is no wonder that the modelling released the other day projects the numbers to go nowhere except up. I will talk to the Minister for Further and Higher Education about remote learning. It would be ludicrous to force anyone to go to college in person if they do not want to, if they have concerns.

Senator Malcolm Byrne and others raised the report from the advocate general about the Graham Dwyer case. While they spoke earlier the phrase "the law is an ass" rang in my ears. We are trying to capture serious criminals whether it is espionage, murder, sexual violence, gangs or otherwise. The spectrum is so large. The person who envisaged the protection of privacy and data when we first introduced GDPR at European and then member state level never ever envisaged that it would stop criminality and security forces within member states being able to apprehend those criminals. Not everything is of national security but having the women of Ireland safe is and should be a national security issue. The European Court of Justice, to be fair, is only doing what the Supreme Court here asked it to do so I would not slag it for it. However if we cannot appeal to the sense of the court and find a resolution to it in order to apprehend serious criminals in all member states of the EU, then the law definitely will be an ass. I thank the Senator for raising that, as did Senators Mullen and McDowell.

Senator Gallagher spoke on the national safeguarding day as did Senators O'Loughlin and Maria Byrne. Tomorrow will be the first awareness day for it. The numbers are available on line for everyone to see. It is a sad reflection that there are people in this country who would take advantage financially or simply maliciously of an older person who does not have full capacity. It is really important that we all support the campaign and I thank colleagues who raised it.

Deputy Ruane spoke about Seán Binder and the human rights abuses against those who are only trying to help other human beings in cases of distress. She also spoke of the mental health of people in our prison services and the rehabilitative nature of work, and the supports that should exist for people either detained in prison or are in prison and en route to society. I met a wonderful man during my years the Department of Social Protection named Paddy Richardson. He runs an organisation called the Irish Association for Social Inclusion Opportunities, IASIO, based in Blanchardstown. In my last budget I allocated €100,000 to IASIO which I am not sure has been received by it yet. The Senator might follow that up. That was to do specific work with prisoners leaving prison because the return rate in this country among those who leave and return within 18 months is astronomical. It is simply because we do not have the supports or the people who support those people back to what we would classify as a normal life. Because they do not have those supports and they are alienated it is much easier for them to go back into the life that they used to know. That organisation is wonderful. I will text the Senator Paddy's number because it might be worth her raising it. I thank the Senator for raising it today.

Senator Hoey spoke of the much anticipated and much needed review of legislation. I do not know what the delay is but I wish that there was not a delay.I will write to the Minister today to find out when he will appoint the independent person to carry out the review, what the parameters will be and how quickly it will be established. I will refer back to the Senator as soon as I can.

Senator Gavan spoke about Dr. Andrew Westbrook's contribution to "Morning Ireland" this morning. There is no doubt that there are crises at different levels in the health service at present. Without trying to be smart or sarcastic, and I really try not to be these days, in 2009, when the economy collapsed there was €15 billion being put into the Irish health service. Today, it is €21 billion. While I agree with the Senator that it is all about choices, the spectrum of things that need to be changed in the health service must be managed effectively, efficiently and well. There are obviously cases which we can point to and highlight over the last ten years, and probably over the last 40 years, that have not been so successful, whereas we ignore the ones that have been successful. The choice of this Government, the last Government and the Government that came into office in 2011 was to increase the health spend, but with increasing it comes the responsibility to deliver a proper health service. I doubt that any one of us could say that we are proud of every aspect of it, as there is still a great deal of work to be done. The reason I will try to be respectful is that it is a little hypocritical to critique here in a party-political way when the Senator's party has been in government in Northern Ireland for over 20 years and the waiting lists in Northern Ireland are as long as, if not longer than, those in the Republic. Let us just temper the debate. We are all on the same side here. We all want a health service that is functioning well for citizens, both North and South, and it is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that happens.

I spoke about Senator McDowell when he was not here, and I apologise. The words in my mind when he was making his contribution were, "the law is an ass", and if we do not fix this, it is our collective responsibility to make sure that it is not as it was never intended to be when the GDPR was first introduced in the European Union and in member states. I thank him for his contribution.

Senator Kyne opened Fine Gael's contributions today by talking about International Men's Day and the men's health strategy, in particular. There must be a revised men's health strategy. We frequently talk a great deal about women here because there are so many of us, but we equally need to mind our men. There are certain medical conditions, including physical conditions, that men tend to ignore for some reason. I do not know why. It usually when a man goes home to his wife and tells her something that she tells him to go to the doctor fast. We have to make these things more practised whereby if something is wrong, men will just go to get help and get fixed. That is never more true than with regard to the mental health of men in this country. There are some wonderful organisations that look after mental health. They have massive successes, particularly among women and younger people, but we are still failing to reach young men between the ages of 20 and 41 years who are succeeding in taking their own lives because they are not successful in asking for or seeking help. The State has a real opportunity and obligation to put specific programmes together for men, farmers and prisoners where we are not reaching those people. That is a responsibility all of us must bear.

The Senator also spoke about the connected hubs. We need people to work from home and they have to be able to work from somewhere other than the kitchen table. That is a very good initiative by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.

The Fianna Fáil leader, Senator O'Loughlin, spoke about a variety of topics for the next couple of days. This week is Transgender Awareness Week. We know it is a very small minority group of people who have huge discrimination proposed against them and they deserve our support. I loved the idea of, "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken". It is really apt for the transgender community. I am delighted Newbridge, through Kildare County Council, has taken ownership of the monastery and I wish it every success. I hope it becomes a hub in the centre of the village. Again, it is International Men's Day tomorrow, the same day as National Adult Safeguarding Day. Perhaps we all could highlight those to people on our social media outlets, in particular the numbers where men can look for help and for anybody who experiences a lack of dignity in how they are treated by their friends, neighbours or families. It is a very important campaign.