Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I will certainly do that but, more importantly, we will arrange the debate on Seanad reform to try to coincide or to happen before An Taoiseach comes to us in September. I will certainly play my part in trying to get him here as quickly as we can.

Senator Gavan spoke this morning about the section 38 and 39 workers. We hear a great number of platitudes with regard to people’s intentions in respect of the workers in this industry and all of the reasons they are precluded from actually having salaries set for them. To my mind, if enough core funding is given to these organisations, then the institutions themselves, which we all greatly value because we would not be able to run the country without them, would then be able to extend the staff conditions and wages we would expect to see in the public sector. I will certainly organise that debate in September and as quickly as we can.

Senator Craughwell looked for a debate on the oversight role of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, particularly in light of the search and rescue contract and the HSE announcements this morning, which are somewhat staggering. I do not know how many hours there are in a week that you can earn upwards of €1 million being a doctor, but as the Senator said, it is obviously a very much-needed profession. We will ask for a debate in the autumn on the oversight function of Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform with regard to RTÉ, in particular, and what has transpired over the past couple of weeks.

Senator Murphy again paid tribute to Aoife O’Rourke and the wonderful achievement of her gold medal, and we wish her continued success.

I encourage people to pay for their TV licence because it is all of the people and the workers in RTÉ, who are upset, outraged, and all of the expressions they have used in the past number of weeks, and who would be impacted if we do not pay our licences. We must support public broadcasting. Senator Maria Byrne welcomed the inclusion of Limerick in the defective blocks scheme. It is good to finally see it up and running in counties Donegal and Clare but it is great to see Limerick included as well. Other pockets around the country have not yet been included but they have exactly the same symptoms albeit at a much smaller scale and we need to make sure we look after those people as well.

Senators Wall and Keogan spoke about the viability of our childcare providers. In my submission to the Minister regarding what we would all like to see in the budget in September, I said I would really like to see a capital programme - a community crèche funding model - to build crèches around our country. Equally as important as reducing the cost of childcare for all the parents who need it is making sure crèche providers have a viable business because it is a business and they are not going to continue if they cannot at least make money. In many cases, they cannot even pay their own wages. We also need to make sure that workers in that sector are provided for with decent pay and conditions. All those issues can be addressed in the budget so I welcome the contribution of both Senators this morning.

As well as seeking a debate on energy, as she has done on a number of occasions, Senator Boylan encouraged Ireland to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty.

Senator Seery Kearney spoke about the fact that it is the first anniversary of the publication of the report of the Joint Committee on International Surrogacy and we still seem to be a long way away from providing the legislation and legal status of those parents and, therefore, I thank her for that.

Senators Kyne, Conway and Dooley opened our proceedings with what I can only say is the most beautiful description of, and tribute to, their colleague. I am very sorry for their loss and the country's loss. The way they described his legacy was beautiful so I thank them. I wish to put on record that Senator McGahon and his beautiful girlfriend, soon to be his wife, are getting married on Sunday so we wish them the very best of luck and a long and happy life together.