Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not know what to say to Senator Murphy, other than to commend him on continuously raising Robert's case here. As Senator Murphy knows, I met with the Australian ambassador to see how somebody as far removed as me could attempt to make the issue as urgent for others as it is for his family.You get the standard answers that everything that can be done is being done. The Senator got exactly the same answer from the current Minister for Foreign Affairs as I got from the previous Minister, who held that portfolio over the previous three years. Senator Murphy is correct about this. As for Robert's failing health and how he is being detained illegally, while it is fine if you want to charge someone and there is a case for doing so, you get on with it and the person is found guilty or not but in his case, he has been illegally detained for such a long time with no prospect of any court case. I do not think we are doing enough in this regard. I will ask for a debate to be held on it but I am not sure anybody will see this as being the correct forum. I commend the Senator on bringing this matter up again, though, and if anyone else is unaware of Robert's case, he or she can follow his wife on Twitter. It is harrowing to read about the experiences his family have gone through in recent years, especially the two small children. We have seen them grow up, especially his youngest daughter. She was only a very young child at the start of this ordeal and now she is probably far more advanced in experiences than she should be. I again thank Senator Murphy for raising this issue.

Several colleagues brought up the issue of the visit of the illustrious Secretary General of the Department of Health to the Oireachtas joint committee yesterday. The one thing I was struck by, and I will acquiesce in the requests made today, was the clearly obvious disdain he has for politicians. This is quite unusual, given the work he has been doing for the last several years and will continue to do as head of the Department of Health. More questions, though, have definitely arisen from yesterday's interventions and the closing down of the topic in question.

Senator Ardagh raised the issue of the July provision. Despite the enormous amount of work being done by the Joint Committee on Autism, chaired by Senator Carrigy over the last year, we are still not attracting teachers in the numbers we need to provide these services to the children requiring them for those eight weeks during the summer. We need some out-of-the-box thinking in this regard. I wish the Senator well and I will certainly raise this matter with the Minister and keep this on the agenda. July is not that far away. I thank the Senator for bringing up this issue.

Senator Craughwell reaffirmed what Senator Clonan said yesterday about the technical group and about disassociating themselves from Senator Keogan's tweet. He also made referenced to the email hack and that he will ask the Garda to investigate this matter.

Senator Carrigy spoke about the cracking idea that we should have multi-annual funding for our musical societies. In the towns and villages where people get their entertainment from the local amateur talent we have, they need to strive hard to get the funding together to be able to put on these shows. Even though the Senator spoke about having had eight nights of sold-out shows, that will not raise enough money to finance putting the shows on in the first place. A little bit of help, therefore, would go a long way and I will bring this matter to the attention of the Minister. I thank the Senator for highlighting this matter.

Senator Malcolm Byrne spoke about a gentleman called Vladimir Kara-Murza. I am happy to be corrected if I have got his name wrong. He is a journalist who has been jailed for 25 years in Russia just for protesting against the Government there. It is outrageous. The Senator has asked that I bring this issue to the Minister's attention via a letter and to seek support in expressing our abhorrence of the regime in that country and its treatment of Mr. Kara-Murza.

Senator Gavan brought a disturbing case to our attention this morning. I was certainly not aware of it beforehand, so I thank the Senator for bringing it to our notice. It is unacceptable that we have four professionals blacklisted in the construction sector by a company when we are crying out for people to work in that industry. We should take some time to examine this subject and see how we can intervene and help. I will certainly bring this case to the attention of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to seek his assistance.

Senator McDowell sought a debate regarding the pandemic review group. He was absolutely right to do so and I will try to get some semblance of a timescale in this regard. I do not think that one debate of 90 minutes would be sufficient for the input we would all have to contribute. I am not sure who is on the committee looking after the review group to reflect on and hopefully learn some lessons from what we experienced during the pandemic. I hope to God we never have another pandemic during my life so we do not have to be cognisant of them too soon. It is timely, though, that we should have our contributions recorded concerning what we have learned in this regard and how we feel things could have been done better. It would also be important to recognise some of the things that were done well by the people who did them. I will try to arrange that as quickly as we can.

Senator O'Loughlin spoke about several topics. These included Ireland supporting, through the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin, a court case taken against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ+ law. This is very welcome. The Senator also spoke about a new organisation called Stand Up for Racing, which has been established by three people, namely, Sally Ann Grassick, Cathy Grassick and Kevin Blake, and to wish them well. Senator O'Loughlin also outlined some anomalies in the context of the derelict sites register under the Derelict Sites Act 1990 and sought more movement in this regard. I will bring this issue to the attention of the Department.

Senator Burke opened the Order of Business by giving us a bizarre tale of consuls in parts of the world where we do not have embassies to help Irish people and a situation where this system failed a particular gentleman. I will bring this engagement to the attention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to see if we can get this date of 5 May 2023 brought forward a little and get the man concerned home to see his family as fast as we can.