Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Ardagh spoke about supporting refugees but called for a review, as I think others have done, of the international protection process. Senator McDowell made a very valid point on RTÉ on Monday night. There are differences between some of the people who are presenting for international protection. There are different reasons, and we need to acknowledge that. That difference and those reasons feed into some of the fears people are expressing which we hear on the radio and on the television at the moment. We need to take an all-encompassing look at how we communicate with people, how we address the system and how we look at people who are genuinely in need of help and make sure we give them the most decent setting or environment to live in for as long as we can, until they either become Irish citizens or get to the end of their process. We need to look at the length of the process. I had a conversation with an ambassador who more or less pointed to the fact that Ireland is a soft touch in the way we act on this. Yet, although our system takes far too long because of the way our courts systems work, I think we allow people every single opportunity to make their cases. I think that is a good thing; I do not think it is a bad thing, and I do not think curtailing the process into six months or two years would do them justice. I definitely agree with the Senator, however, about looking for a review of the international process.

Senator Wall looked for the circular economy Bill to be debated, which I will request.

He also raised something that I do not think is unique to Kildare. I have a little 12-year-old lady in Swords who has no place to go to school this September, which is affecting her mental health. The Minister for Education will be in the Chamber on 15 February to discuss education and school places, so I do not even have to ask for that debate because it is coming. Also, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will be here on 22 February to discuss a lot of the items we have raised here this morning.

In response to Senator Black, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will be here on 22 February, but I thank her for her contribution because everything she has said is very true.

Senator Warfield spoke about the recommendations of the Youth Arts Now report, on which he sought a debate. I will ask the Minister to come in for that.

Senator Keogan raised the Ashtown incident and the camp for migrants. The incident over the weekend represented a low point in how we treat people in this country, so I am glad the Garda is taking appropriate action.

The Senator also spoke about the St. Patrick's Festival announcement. The thing that grabbed me most about the announcement, while it is lovely to see we are back to normal and everything is gung ho again, was the €250 ticket price for ordinary Irish people to sit on the side of the road. I do not know if we have completely lost the run of ourselves, but I wrote to the Minister yesterday to say I do not know what that is about. I told him that the tickets should be free and that admission should not be charged.

Senator O'Loughlin spoke about her pride for St. Brigid. She also raised a really important issue with the school books scheme. It is not acceptable that we think our schools will go to the book producers and cut out the middle men and all the shops that have looked after us for so many years, so we will raise that with the Minister too.

Senator Kyne opened the debate by speaking about the short-term letting Bill and looked for a debate on the pre-legislative scrutiny report once it comes to us. We will have that report here as soon as we can.