Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Dolan for mentioning the Connecting Ireland campaign. It is the first national campaign we have had to highlight the deficits that exist in connectivity. The Senator highlighted the situation in Athlone in particular, which makes no sense. I have only become aware of this since my son is now working in Athlone and he must walk 2 km to get the nearest bus, which seems a bit mad. It is a very worthwhile campaign and I thank the Senator for raising it here today.

Senators Cummins and McGahon both raised Covid issues this morning. I wish Senator McGahon well. It is good to see him back in full health. There were two perspectives. I listened to Ms Anne O Connor on the radio this morning talking about some of the miscommunication in the past weeks around people being brought forward for the third dose of the vaccine. Because different vaccines were given to different people in different age categories it becomes very difficult to manage. Ms O'Connor was speaking about the 80-year-olds, because some 80-year-olds received the Moderna vaccine, some got Pfizer and some got Janssen. Some have underlying conditions and can be brought for the booster after two months and some after three months, with the rest of us after five months. The easiest way to manage this is by the age category. That was Ms O'Connor's explanation this morning. The Senator does make a very valid point however about waning antibodies, particularly in some of our younger cohorts. I am absolutely happy to write a letter to the Minister on that.

Senator McGahon has said, quite rightly, that in the past six or eight months in Ireland we have certainly had a journey - and I will use that phrase with tongue in cheek - towards the use of antigen testing. Some of us in this Chamber have been talking about the benefits of all screening tools as part of Irish life and Irish society in response to the public health crisis we are in. Some of the paternalistic language that was used by our health advisers over the past months has left a lot to be desired. I am very pleased that we now all welcome and recognise that every screening tool has a place in Irish society, to be used correctly and to be used efficiently. I wish Senator McGahon well.

Senator Ward raised the issue of Clonkeen College in Blackrock and the selling of land, which genuinely raises some ethical questions. It is really concerning that a board of management can just be stood down by a religious organisation without any by your leave. I suggest that the Senator write to the Minister for Education. The Minister will be here in the Chamber at 1:30 p,m., but I suggest that a letter to the Minister, copied to the board of management, might perhaps highlight the serious injustice that has been done in that school and to the community.

Senator Sherlock mentioned and welcomed the mica redress scheme. To be fair, nearly everyone has although some technical issues need to be ironed out. I welcome the Minister's initial response yesterday in saying he is open to listening to the concerns that have been raised by the mica group. I hope that sense does prevail before the issue is settled in February. I thank the Senator for raising it here this morning.

A lot of colleagues raised the issue of the EWSS issue, and the continuity required for the hospitality industry. The Senators know who they are, and I will not need to name them all. It was raised individually by some Members yesterday in the Chamber, and collectively by all of us to our party leaders over the past 24 hours.

While no hospitality venue has been closed, the advice to all of us is to be mindful, to be careful and to reduce our sociability. In effect this has had a drastic impact with the cancellation of parties, dinners and hooleys, or whatever you want to call them. Such gatherings are prevalent at this time of the year and are relied upon by the industry to cover the very lean months we know they go through in different periods of the year.

One aspect that was very much highlighted by the Minister for Finance at my own parliamentary party meeting last night is that the second largest investment in the history of the State has been to support people's connectivity with their employers over the past 18 months. It absolutely has worked because we now have more people working in Ireland than we had before the onset of the pandemic. With regard to its shortcomings - and I was at the table when this scheme was devised - it was purely done when we were at level 4 and level 5 restrictions when people could not go to work and we asked them not to go to work. The scheme was to support their incomes. The vast majority of businesses, with the exception of hospitality, that are still availing of the EWSS have not been impinged upon by restrictions for months and months. There are questions to be answered by certain industries that still remain on the EWSS when those industries have been open, are thriving and are looking for workers in those industries. It does beg the question. I absolutely acknowledge that it would be criminal for us to have asked people to change their behaviours, thus impacting on the hospitality industry, and not to continue to support that industry. I have no doubt but that the Government will continue to do that. This is just in answer to all of the questions the Members brought up this morning.

Senator Boylan talked about the anniversary of the establishment of the charity Homeless Period Ireland, and the Senator is right to question why we are still waiting for actions that are in the programme for Government. I would genuinely suggest that it is because it is just us girls and just us women. The people the Senator has spoken about probably have even less of a voice than the women here who do have a voice. I will write a letter to the Minister today asking him what is keeping us and I will come back to the Senator, if that is okay.

Senator Carrigy spoke about the just transition funding and the two very substantial pieces of funding that are waiting to be awarded in the midlands. This was also referenced by Senator Eugene Murphy. I will make inquiries.

Senator Malcolm Byrne spoke about the amateur drama festival that is taking place in Ennis this weekend. I did not even know there was a one act amateur drama festival. I wish them a lot of fun this weekend and I hope it is very much a success.

Senator Craughwell referred to the deficits he sees in the Minister for Defence's budget allocations, and the impact of those on the people who work in our Defence Forces. I acknowledge that.

Senator Conway spoke about the mica redress scheme and asked for it to be extended to Clare. I have no doubt that this will happen in the near future.

Senator Ruane spoke about the Homeless World Cup and the support that she would expect and hope to get from us. The Senator asked for a debate on AI, which is absolutely fascinating. The Senator is absolutely right that we have no idea how, when and why algorithms are used, and what are the outcomes. It might be something on which we could have a conversation and a debate next year.

Senator Wall spoke about referee abuse. When listening to the debate yesterday, I was mindful of the referees who appeared before the Oireachtas committee. We all go to sports matches and we are all aware of the banter when a referee may make a decision that might go against how you feel your team is working. It is hard to think that this kind of banter would lead to the kind of off-pitch behaviour that was described yesterday. it is unimaginable and intolerable. Our referees are right to make such huge complaints and to withdraw their services until we can all acknowledge that inputs, even those of the mammies and daddies on the side of the pitch, have an impact on how people are treated on the pitch and off the pitch. We all must take responsibility to change the culture there.

Senator Warfield spoke about World AIDS Day, in a way that only he can do so eloquently. He reminded us all that illnesses and people's response to them, in an awful lot of cases, can provide opportunities for discrimination, and none less than the opportunity over four or five decades of people who have AIDS and people in the gay community. Apart from remembering the loss, another thing that struck me about Senator Warfield's comments this morning, was that we all should know what our sexual health status is, and not just people in the gay community. Every single one of us. It is a practice that is pleasurable and that we all enjoy on average 89 times per year apparently, according to a report I read last week.Anyway, we will not go there. I do not know how many times we ask women, be they young or middle-aged, and young men how conscious are they of their sexual health. It is an issue we should all be mindful of and we should not just engage in messaging certain communities. I am happy to wear the red badge today.

Senators Boyhan and Wall spoke about the Afghan crisis in support of Senator Chambers, who raised the matter initially. I will try to organise a debate on this because it is not something than can wait. If the crisis that Senator Chambers spoke about is looming in the manner described, after Christmas would be too late for many of those children. I support that and will try to arrange that as quickly as I can.

Senator Kyne referred to the business that has been cancelled in the hospitality industry. I hope an announcement will be made tomorrow following the NPHET meeting this afternoon.

To finish, I acknowledge Senator Eugene Murphy's contribution. I saw on social media last night that the See Her Elected project, which is designed to support women in politics to be elected at local and national level, won an award in Europe yesterday. Dr. Michelle Maher, Tara Farrell and Mairéad O'Shea have been champions of the project, particularly in rural Ireland. Sometimes many of these initiatives are run in the cities of Dublin or Cork, but this initiative has been championed in rural Ireland, where we absolutely need women's input, more so than we might need in our cities. Some women are more sprightly in coming forward in the cities than their counterparts in rural Ireland are. Women have been the backbone of rural Ireland, be that in our farming community, the voluntary sector or in our towns and villages in the context of boards of management, cake sales and all the things we take for granted. They are the quiet, understated support and backbone of Irish society. We need to bring them from the backroom into the boardrooms and rooms like those which we have the pleasure of working in every day. Any opportunity we get to champion the See Her Elected project and Women for Election or, indeed, to just encourage women to come forward to make themselves available to go into public life is very worthwhile.