Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the Order of Business and congratulate Christy Kelly on behalf of the Fianna Fáil team in the Seanad. He is a true legend. Not many people have a 40-year career in the Oireachtas. The best of good health and happiness to Christy, Paula and family.

I also wish to congratulate a wonderful Kildare man, Christy Moore, a pure legend, on receiving a lifetime achievement award last week. Christy is very much cherished by the people of Ireland, not just the people of Kildare. He is authentic and has great honesty and integrity in both his singing and his writing and of course in terms of his story. We are very proud of Christy and indeed of all of the Moore family in Kildare. I am good friends with his sister Terry and his brother Barry. When any of us think of Christy, we think of the ordinary man in particular and the way he has really given voice to the voiceless over seven decades. It is an incredible achievement and I congratulate him and wish him well. I want to mark the very profound impact he has had on music in Ireland.

Yesterday the Oireachtas all-party group on dementia had a very interesting presentation from a team led by Professor Sean Kennelly, co-director of the Tallaght University Hospital memory clinic, about current innovations and trends in dementia research. A lot of what he told us was eye-opening. For example, there are new studies being done and they are going to be elevated to just a simple blood test that will identify the onset of Alzheimer's or dementia 25 years before it happens through proteins in the blood, which is quite incredible. It struck home with me that 40% of dementia can be preventable in terms of lifestyle changes, particularly when we look at brain health around the age of 50. We need to have a debate on brain health and the possibility of it being checked along with cardiac health and other areas we have checked at that age. I would like to see a debate in the House on that.

Especially in my own county of Kildare, we have significant housing issues. We cater for two Dáil constituencies. There is a real need for extra staff in the housing department, particularly in social and affordable housing. We need two more project teams to be able to deliver on the commitments that have been made under Housing for All.I would like to see a strong message going from the Seanad for that.