Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Gavan’s call for that debate. What he read into the record is horrific. I think all Members would support such a debate as soon as possible.

I also support Senator Malcolm Byrne. The Acting Leader will be familiar with the Defence Forces issues. She raised them a considerable number of times. I support Senator Malcolm Byrne on the navy shortages experienced at the moment. It is time that this House got the chance to the debate the commission’s report and also talk about the working time directive, which I and others in representative unions believe is affecting the number of people who wanted to join the Defence Forces. There is also the issue of retention in the Defence Forces. I support Senator Malcolm Byrne on that.

I want to bring up the report published last week by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, SVP, on energy poverty entitled Warm, Safe, Connected. The report draws on CSO data as well as the experiences of SVP members. The SVP is supporting households facing bills they simply cannot pay or are finding it impossible to keep the meters turned up. The SVP reports that requests for help with energy are 40% higher in 2022 than they were in 2021. The reason I bring this up today again is that in my own clinic on Monday last, I dealt with two pensioners. One's bill was €970 and the other's was €1,050.When I rang one of the energy providers, the best I got from the staff member, after 40 minutes of discussion, was a suggestion to contact the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS. That is simply not good enough. That pensioner was not in a position to spend 40 minutes on a phone call to be told at the end that the best they could do was contact MABS. Can we invite the Minister to appear before the House to discuss this? It is happening more and more regularly in the clinics I hold throughout my area and I am sure other Senators are having a similar experience. It is not good enough.

I raise also the recent abuse of referees and match officials that was reported over the weekend. Will the Minister of State with responsibility for sport come before the House in order that we can discuss the matter? We are all, no doubt, looking forward to a summer of sport, but if the officials and referees are not there, it simply will not happen. This is occurring in all sports and something has to give. We need to talk to the Minister of State and we need intervention from the Government in the form of a campaign to stop this behaviour. I ask the Deputy Leader to ensure that will happen.