Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish everybody a happy Bloomsday. It is a very important day in Dublin, Ireland and indeed across the world now. The final life-affirming words are not "... yes I said yes I will Yes" but in fact "Trieste-Zurich-Paris 1914-1921". The most Dublin of Dublin novels was actually written on the Continent and as we know Joyce was very deliberately European and a very proud European. He lived on mainland Europe for most of his life and was very much influenced by European writers and indeed European politics.

The question of what it means to be European is a theme that is going to be explored during the Irish presidency of the Council of Europe. On that note, it was great to see the bureau of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, CLARA, meeting in Tralee in the Cathaoirleach's home county earlier this week at the invitation of Councillor Jimmy Moloney, Mayor of Kerry County Council and head of the Irish delegation to the CLARA. I had the opportunity to join the attendees on Tuesday night and can attest to both the hospitality and the organisational skills of Kerry County Council and the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG. Well done to all involved. The 24 international visitors went back with a very positive view of Ireland, and of course, of Kerry.

I wish to raise an issue relating to J1 visas. I never had the opportunity to avail of one myself but younger brothers and sisters did and I have always been jealous of that fact. It is the chance of a lifetime for young students. They are able to go to America to work, live, experience another culture, have fun and of course to explore and travel there. There are different ways of getting the J1 visa but many students opt to go through USIT. A quote on its website says: "It can be difficult trying to get all the paperwork before you go, but USIT take all the hassle out and keep things smooth". That is absolutely not happening this year. It is a disgrace to hear what young people are being subjected to. One young person I know has changed flights four times, has paid accommodation and still does not have that because when they had their appointment with the US Embassy, USIT had not sent on the paperwork. The visa was subsequently refused. I am not blaming the American Embassy for that because obviously that is completely outside our jurisdiction but there are many hundreds of young people who have been completely let down by USIT. We need to call it out and we need to be in contact with the company. Maybe that is something the Deputy Leader can do because at this stage summer has started for the students.

Briefly, I have a brief point to make on the short hop zones for commuter areas such as Newbridge. I have raised this before. It concerns the price differential between Newbridge and Sallins. The price is €3.60 from Sallins and €10.60 from Newbridge just to go in to Heuston Station. When we are talking about euro per kilometre or indeed the amount of minutes spent it is obviously ridiculous. It costs the same to go to Mullingar or Carlow as it does to go to Newbridge. We need to have a Leap cap, a fare cap and we also need a situation where the short hop zone is extended, or indeed a medium hop zone.