Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No child should be left waiting years for therapy and support from a trauma that they are suffering from arising from a sexual assault, sexual abuse or any sort of domestic violence. Such children should not even have to wait for weeks and I thank the Senator for raising this issue morning. I hope I speak on behalf of all of us to look for increased funding for CARI, the sole agency in the country which provides voluntary counselling for our children who have suffered at the hands of adults.

Senator Cummins spoke on and welcomed the home share equity scheme announced by the Government last week, which will bridge the gap between what people can afford to borrow in a mortgage and the actual price of houses. I wish everybody well in respect of the positivity around that scheme. He highlighted the need for a scheme where people in similar situations may be able to purchase second homes and I wish him well in pursuing that with the Minister.

Senator McGahon spoke about the cost of living crisis for commuters. I am very pleased that the 20% reduction in public transport prices has been extended to next year but he is completely right that encouraging people to take trains and then introducing or increasing car parking fees at the train stations makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I support him in his calls for a suspension of car parking fees at all Irish Rail stations.

Senator Maria Byrne congratulated Keith Earls and, indeed, the entire Irish rugby team, who did such a stonking job over the weekend and I know that we are all so proud of them. They indeed made history. She also mentioned the 50 new jobs for Limerick and for the debate which had previously been called for on our regional airports and how we use them.

Senator Keogan spoke about a debate she has been looking for on inflation and the issues of a potential recession. I have asked the Ministers, who obviously have been incredibly busy over the past number of months, but I expect that once we return in September, much of our schedule will be taken up with debating the budget, which will be coming early this year. Just to let the Senator know; I will do this as soon as I can.

Senator Davitt spoke about Georgia's accession to being an EU candidate. I am aware, from being a member of the Committee on European Union Affairs, as is Senator Chambers, that the Georgian ambassador, H.E. George Zurabashvili, appears before the committee quite regularly and has the support of the team in the Committee on European Union Affairs to help in any way that we can to advance Georgia's application.

Senator Currie spoke about the airport routes and their extension through BusConnects and the delay involved.

She also spoke about 12 July. It is probably part of all of our natures to celebrate and accept that there is diversity and difference in our country and to allow it, as that is what makes life so interesting. When that difference becomes as disdainful as we have seen in some cases over the past number of days, however, it is hard to be kind and to say it is just a community celebrating its culture. I say that mindfully because there are tens of thousands of people in the unionist community who celebrate this event with such family-oriented cultural views and it really is a celebration of this. I wish to God the very small number of people who ruin the entire reputation of the celebrations would be more mindful. I thank Senator Currie for having raised this issue this morning because if you are celebrating your culture through division and hatred, it is not much of a celebration and is certainly not much of an example to set for the following generations thereafter.

Senator Murphy congratulated Senator Chambers and I will discuss her achievements in a moment but he also welcomed the new funding for the Defence Forces this morning, the memo, and the changes to pay and conditions over the next number of years. He also mentioned that he was delighted that his part of the constituency in Galway is going to be in the all-Ireland final. I have to say that I was probably gutted and disappointed as I watched the match over the weekend, given that Dublin performed so well in the second half. Honest to goodness, however, with Seán O'Shea, one could not argue with the result after that point at the very end.