Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Maggie Owens and Aideen Lynch, teachers at the Holy Family School for the Deaf, Cabra. They just appeared at the Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. I welcome them both and I am glad they have the opportunity to sit in and listen to some of the proceedings in the Chamber. It has been a particularly sad weekend for deaths in Ireland and, particularly, deaths abroad. We heard the harrowing circumstances of a woman who died in Salou. I believe she was a mother of two. We do not have her name. I express sympathy with her family and children. I also express my deepest sympathy with the family of Munster Rugby coach, Greg Oliver, who was in South Africa supporting his son Jack, who is on the under-20 Irish team. In particular, we must remember the two young men, Andrew O'Donnell and Max Wall, who died tragically in Ios.I wish to express the sympathy of the Fianna Fáil group on the tragic passing of Andrew and Max, two young men who had just graduated from St. Michael's College and who were on the cusp of the next part of their lives. We all know what it is like to have the opportunity to travel, to make friends and to have fun as a rite of passage after sixth year. For a trip to end like this is utterly devastating for their families and friends. We remember them. Perhaps we might have a minute's silence after the Order of Business.

I have long campaigned, as has the Leader, for an increase in pay for members of the Defence Forces and for better conditions for them and their families. The Army Ranger Wing has finally won its battle for better allowances. I commend PDFORRA, especially Mark Keane and Ger Guinan, on their work in this area. It has been a long fight but it has finally been delivered. I commend the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, on delivering this. The Army Ranger Wing has served us diligently abroad in Afghanistan and Chad. For years, its members received significantly less in allowances. The new adjudication will be backdated to October 2021, which is very important. It represents an increase of approximately 27% in the special allowance. I ask that this happen immediately. We cannot have any more delays relating to it.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to visit the new day-care centre for people with dementia in Kildangan. It will open in early August. For 20 years we have been looking for a permanent place in Kildare. I commend the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, the HSE and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on all of the work they have put into ensuring that we will have a five-day service in Kildangan. More than 1,500 people live with dementia in Kildare. We know there are 65,000 in the country. It is very important that we have support services in place. I commend all of those involved.