Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo the words of sympathy to Ashling Murphy's family, friends, community and pupils. I do not think anyone could fail to be moved, over a series of really traumatic days, watching through the media the image of Ashling's students forming a guard of honour at her funeral procession. I am also very conscious of the fact that there is a family grieving and that we have responsibilities in terms of what we say. That is weighted against the other responsibilities colleagues have talked about in terms of political and societal leadership and change.

Women friends, relatives and comrades of mine, and women more broadly in society, are asking men to do particular things in the context of what has happened. We need to create the space in the Seanad where we hear from our women colleagues. We also have the opportunity as men to speak and hopefully to show the kind of responsible leadership that is being asked of us in challenging violence against women. Violence against women is endemic and for many years has been systemic in our society and in Irish life. It is something that we need to work on hard to bring to an end.

Like Senator O'Loughlin, I note the announcement from Government of the payment for healthcare workers. We probably need a more comprehensive input from Government and it would be useful if we could have statements detailing which healthcare workers will qualify for this payment. It is also a timely reminder that we need to invest further in our health services. We need to meet the needs of workers across that sector, Covid or no Covid.Ultimately, what we need is an Irish national health service. We need to have statements on healthcare moving forward, beyond the context of Covid.

Finally, I wish to raise a matter that I hope to raise in a more comprehensive fashion at the earliest opportunity, namely, the latest report of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, which by and large, worryingly, has gone without much political or media comment in this State. The report examined 19 murders, including those of elected representatives in this jurisdiction, who were targeted and assassinated by the Ulster Defence Association, UDA, with the active assistance of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, RUC. The ombudsman said that she was numbed by the level and the extent of collusion involved. We know that the report, as serious and comprehensive as it is, is but a snapshot of a wider malign policy that was at play. Given the particular ramifications for political leaders in this State, I think it warrants statements. I appreciate we recently had statements on legacy issues which were challenging and ultimately worthwhile. This report gives us a particular snapshot of the issue and warrants discussion.