Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As this is the last Order of Business before the recess, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group I extend our deep gratitude and thanks to all of the officials, to everybody in the Clerk's office and everybody who makes our workings go very smoothly, in particular when we have late nights and early mornings. I thank them for that, and I hope they all have a nice recess. I appreciate that work will continue for them.

The weather is beautiful and it is lovely to see people out enjoying themselves. It is particularly sad that we have had two drowning fatalities in the past 24 hours. We extend our deepest sympathies to the bereaved families in Dublin and in Clare. We send out a strong message for people to be very careful when they are out and when they are near the sea.

Councillor Lisa McDonald, a former Member of this House, launched a wheelchair mat yesterday in Rosslare. It is the second of its kind in Ireland and I understand it is a pilot project. The mat allows people with a wheelchair to go out onto the strand to enjoy themselves with family and friends. This is an innovative idea and it would be wonderful to see it rolled out on beaches all around the country. We might make that call.

This week in Kildare, two highly significant planning permissions have been sought. One is for the 95-bed unit in St. Vincent's, Athy, which is a hospital for older people. The sum of €900,000 was allocated to the project in recent weeks. It is great to see the planning application going in. That will help with respite and when older people need to have a longer hospital stay.

At the same time, planning permission has also been sought for a new permanent Alzheimer's day care centre. I have spoken about this a number of times in this House. It is very important. The Alzheimer Society of Ireland, ASI, has operated for 20 years without a permanent place for people to go. We are going to have that now in Kildangan, which is very welcome. I thank the ASI for all its help with that.

We heard a few days ago that Horse Sport Ireland will not be moving to Dublin. This was the subject of a matter I raised in a Commencement debate previously. I am very pleased that it will stay in Kildare. The Army Equitation School was based in The Curragh, but it is now in McKee Barracks. It would be wonderful to see the Army Equitation School move to The Curragh and Horse Sport Ireland being located beside it. That makes a lot of sense in terms of national investment in a centre of excellence.

I happened to see that the Deputy Leader has the interim report of the Joint Committee on Gender Equality in front of her. That is something that we are all deeply interested in. It is important that we have a referendum sooner rather than later on a woman's place in the home. I would appreciate it were the Deputy Leader to give us an outline in regard to that.