Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Lombard. The key to reconciliation is owning our past. There are parts of it we are all incredibly proud of. The bits we are not proud of sometimes get swept under the carpet or we pretend they did not happen. I am glad the Senator brought up the Bandon Valley. There is no finer man than Paul Colton to deal with something in an empathetic and emotionally appropriate way.

To Senator Maria Byrne, I am at a loss that week in, week out she has to bring up University Hospital Limerick here. There is a plea to recognise there is clearly an emergency and a crisis and other issues we do not talk about or acknowledge and which are not being resolved. I will contact both the Minister and the Taoiseach's office today because it is long beyond time that the people of the Senator's part of the world, and indeed Clare and Shannon, deserve recognition that there is a problem and that a task force be set up to solve that problem sooner rather than later. I will also send a letter to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to try to figure out where the missing quarter of the road has gone and what the intention is. We need a debate, as Senator Buttimer said, on the national development plan and the bits that were on it but are not on it and when they will be returned to it. I will do those two things for the Senator today.

Senator Kyne requested a debate in the Chamber, as opposed to the rooms of this Parliament, on turf. The most unfortunate part of what has happened in recent weeks is that we have created a crisis where there should not be one. It is a crisis of communications more than anything else. What is unfortunate is the response of senior politicians, telling people they have nothing to worry about when the thing they are worrying about was caused by the carelessness of the communications over recent weeks. I will arrange a debate in the next couple of weeks and we will see if we can find a resolution collectively to something we all know has to come to an end. It has to be done in a meaningful way, so that it does not upset people's lives in such a disastrous way as would have unfolded on 1 September. I am glad the Taoiseach announced yesterday that no changes will be made this year and that we will sit around the table and find resolutions.

Senator Sherlock talked about it being Workers' Memorial Day. It is hard to fathom that 481 people have lost their lives in the last ten years in the three professions with the most dangerous circumstances, yet we know it and it is not a surprise to us every year. We need to redouble our efforts to make sure that, in the industries with the most work accidents, namely, agriculture, construction and ports and docks, we do as much training as we can and create as much awareness as we can to highlight the lost lives. I thank the Senator for bringing that to our attention.

Senator Buttimer asked for a debate on the national development plan 2040. I will ask the Minister, Deputy McGrath, to come to the Chamber in the next couple of weeks. The Senator also asked for a debate on Moorhead and our local government. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is coming to the Chamber on 12 May to talk about local government. That is already in the diary.

Senator Malcolm Byrne is looking for a debate on leaving certificate reform. I welcome the announcement by the Minister, Deputy Foley, in the last couple of weeks. It is dispiriting but not unexpected to get the response from the teachers unions we did. After 20 years of trying to grapple with this, we now need to once and for all address the issues teachers are raising. It concerns the interactions with parents and the fear we saw they experienced during Covid, when the assessments took place. I do not think teachers have any real issue with continuous assessment other than the ones they have laid on the table. Where there is a will to find a solution, which could be with neighbouring schools, there will be a way. I will arrange that debate in the next couple of days.

It is frustrating that these things take so long but I welcome students finally having the seat on the NCCA. It seems silly to make a statement that we want to put students at the centre of student education. That is exactly where they are but they cannot have their say unless they have a seat at the table.