Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Cathaoirleach has dealt with the question of Commencement matters, I do not propose to. It is not a matter for the Leader of the House but one for the Cathaoirleach's office.

I thank all Members for their contributions on the Order of Business today. First up was Senator O'Loughlin. She spoke first about the survey released this morning that said Castlebar was the best town in Ireland for work-life balance and quality of life, which I was obviously delighted to see. We will take the good news when it comes. A second Mayo town, Ballina, came second. As Senator Carrigy pointed out, Longford came third and Newbridge in County Kildare was cited as Ireland's safest town. That is some good news. It is nice to see some of the smaller rural towns across the country get the recognition they deserve. Well done to those towns. That probably links into what happened during the pandemic and flexible working. People are looking to smaller towns. That is just part of the new way of doing things. When the different towns across the country were being assessed, issues like access to primary school places, broadband, amenities, leisure centres and house prices were considered. These are all the different things we value and that contribute to a good quality of life. Well done to those towns.

Senator O'Loughlin also spoke about the Cycle Right training that is available to children across the country. There is a cost associated with that but she would like to see it rolled out across all schools in the country to encourage students to cycle to and from school. She also raised an issue around waterways and a particular issue regarding a pedestrian bridge and signage along the blueway in Rathangan that will require €3.5 million to deliver. I would like to see that delivered.

Senator Boyhan spoke about the family carers debate that will happen later on. He welcomed the debate and thanked Fine Gael for using its Private Members' slot to facilitate such an important debate. He also congratulated the newly elected president of the Veterinary Council of Ireland, Rachel Brown, who is from Ballina in County Mayo. I wish her well in her term. The Senator also called for a new veterinary school in the country to facilitate more people training and for more opportunities for farm technicians to train. I support those calls. We would love to see more people getting an opportunity to study and work in Ireland.

Quite a number of Members raised the issue of this morning's Commencement matter. The Cathaoirleach has adequately dealt with that issue.

Senator Seery Kearney has asked for an update on the safe access zones legislation. We had contact from the Department of Health just last week with a view to scheduling it. It will be scheduled in the month of February. I am sorry; the Senator is sitting there. I thought she had left the Chamber. The reason the Bill was not scheduled towards the end of the last term is that we had the Bills on vaping and human tissue. There was a lot of legislation coming from the Department. It was just a question of scheduling and timing. This House has had no issue with scheduling the legislation. When time is requested, such requests are facilitated. We will have that debate pretty soon in the coming weeks.

Senators Hoey and Murphy raised the issue of some countries' withdrawal of funding for the UNRWA. That is really regrettable. I am delighted and proud that Ireland's position on this was very strong. The Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, was very clear that, while he wanted to see those who were potentially involved in the 7 October attacks brought to justice and while sanctions would be imposed, Ireland would not be withdrawing funding and would continue to fund that vital aid service that supports so many Palestinians in Gaza at an extraordinarily difficult time. Words do not really cover what is happening there. We all accept that.

I take on board the point Senator Hoey made about the referendums. The date for the local elections has not been set yet but we are obviously looking at those days. I take on board the points the Senator has raised in that regard.

Senator Warfield spoke about the breakthrough in Northern Ireland, as did Senator McDowell. It is really welcome to see that, after two years of not having a functioning Assembly or Executive in the North, we have finally had a breakthrough and that the parties, particularly the DUP and Sinn Féin, are coming together and going back to power-sharing. That is really important. I take on board that Senator Dooley raised, along with Senator McDowell, the need to avoid being too triumphant and to be sensitive of the views and emotions of other people and other communities as we try to get things back up and running. We need to see politics functioning in the North. I recently visited the Northern Ireland Executive's office in Brussels. That was a big gap as regards services as there are no ministers in Northern Ireland, which is really impacting on the people on the ground. I wish those involved well. It is great to see that breakthrough.

Senator Ardagh spoke about children with disabilities and their need for services. She also asked for a debate on scoliosis, which we will request from the Department of Health. She also raised the issue of the use of AI. She pointed to the story of Georgie Purcell that broke in Australia recently in particular. It was really shocking to see that a Member of Parliament had her image altered by AI to make her breasts bigger and to reduce the size of her clothing to expose more skin. It is quite shocking that something like that would happen in a developed democracy in this day and age. I commend Ms Purcell on her very dignified response.