Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I extend a warm welcome to our new Superintendent and assure him we look forward to working with him. On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I would like to be associated with the condolences regarding Flor O’Mahony and thank the Cathaoirleach for his kind words about our colleague Damien O'Reilly. As he said, we were absolutely shocked when we heard the really sad news. He was an excellent colleague of ours, not just as a public representative in his own right but also in working here with Senator Davitt, as the Cathaoirleach pointed out. In his community engagement and his commitment and dedication to public service, he embodied the very best of public service. I express our condolences to his mum, Phil, his fiancée, Lisa, and baby Carly and Kyle.There are a number of issues I would like to raise. The first relates to news that broke in my town of Newbridge over the weekend that we would be playing host to 100 male international protection applicants. One point I want to raise is that as a Senator, and actually the only Oireachtas Member living in Newbridge, I did not receive any information. It was only Deputies and councillors who did. All of us as Senators deserve to get this information first-hand. When I was trying to field calls on social media, I genuinely did not have any briefing or anything. I subsequently got it but it took some time. It is important to note that we have a very strong community and positive response by way of Newbridge For All. I welcome the work that group is doing. The announcement has also caused an element of unease for some and it is vitally important that we listen, engage and have proper community stakeholder engagement. That is really important. We cannot demonise people who are concerned but of course there is a line and I certainly will not engage with anyone whose sole motivation is to be divisive or to fearmonger. I really believe there should be stakeholder engagement in all of these announcements that are made to make sure there is a collective community response.

Another issue I want to raise relates to the student accommodation sector. We all know it is a big issue this time of year. We all know how expensive it is to send a student to college, notwithstanding the supports that are there. There is a particular issue I want to raise, which is around deposits. I know of one case where a student paid €600 of a deposit to a well-established university. They unfortunately failed an exam and the university is refusing to hand back the deposit. That is simply not good enough. That is an issue that is important we raise in this day and age. I have been in contact with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science but it is something we need to take up.