Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to the welcome for my esteemed colleague and friend, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Colm Kelleher, and his son. It is a great pleasure to have them in the Chamber for today's business.

Stoyu z ukrayinoyu: stand with Ukraine. I was on the phone this morning to my esteemed friend and colleague, Yevheniya Kravchuk, who is a Ukrainian parliamentarian, speaking about the current situation in Ukraine. It is imperative that we condemn the actions of the Russian President, we stand with Ukraine and we demand sanctions.

On a lighter note, I thank the Cathaoirleach for his very warm welcome to Athy Sing and Sign Club. They are an incredible group of young people, led by the inspirational Maggie Owens, who has a super choir that signs everything they sing. They came to Leinster House this morning and signed the national anthem for the Cathaoirleach. It is wonderful when we see innovative people and communities like this throughout country and we need to celebrate them. It just happens this group is from Kildare, but they are very appreciative of the Irish Sign Language Act that was brought through the House.

I will also raise the issue of affiliation to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, for the Defence Forces. I understand the reason my Commencement matter on the issue was ruled out of order, but I will very briefly raise it now. In essence, we know public pay policy is set by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the public services committee of ICTU, but PDFORRA and other Defence Forces personnel cannot influence this because they are not members of ICTU. It is simply wrong that while members of the Defence Forces are currently beneficiaries of the public sector pay determination process, they are, in fact, precluded from participating in any meaningful way because their representative bodies are not permitted to affiliate with ICTU. It is vital they are offered the support of ICTU prior to the commencement of any pay review and this should happen within the next four weeks.

Yesterday, I met Caoimhe O'Connor from Newbridge, who is graduating from the special needs assistant, SNA, course in University College Dublin on Thursday. She reminded me of the meeting I attended of the north Leinster branch of Fórsa union representatives, who were very clear in their demands for respect for the SNA campaign. It is very important that SNAs, especially those who have done this particular course, receive the appropriate accreditation and that they have a more professional qualification at Quality and Qualifications Ireland level 6, which would increase the standing of SNAs in the school system and secure proper recognition for their work. I am happy to say I will have a meeting with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, on this and other educational issues tomorrow, but this has to be a priority.