Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning, this House should recognise that there are renewed attempts to try to establish talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire in the Middle East. As a House, we are all very conscious and have talked many times since 7 October, now four months on, about the inhumanity that has been perpetrated there. We should call on all parties to engage in those talks constructively to seek to find a situation whereby a ceasefire can be achieved, humanitarian aid can be provided and sustained, hostages can be released and everybody can work together for a two-state solution.

Second, I welcome the confirmation from the Garda that there have been three arrests with regard to the recent arson attack on a residential property. It brings to ten the number of people who have been arrested in recent months for conspiring to destroy properties that could be used as essential accommodation for people in need of that accommodation. These are not just acts of vandalism. They are criminal acts that are aimed at destroying society's capacity and resources to respond to what is a humanitarian need in our society at this time. Everybody in this House should condemn them. We should support the Garda in the prosecutions and encourage anyone with any information to bring that information forward to it.

Finally, on a somewhat lighter note, I want to wish Mr. Oliver Callan well in his new slot on the RTÉ radio show. I do not get to listen to it often, but yesterday morning he had a piece on that was a really good example of public service broadcasting. Dr. Chris Luke, who is a columnist with the Irish Medical Times, and Mr. Luke Loughlin, who is a Westmeath GAA player, talked in a really calm, balanced and informed way about drug and alcohol use in our society, and not in our society as people read about it in the newspapers or see it on social media or how it is portrayed on other media, but how it actually occurs in our towns, villages, pubs and clubs all around our country.I encourage everyone to listen to it because it was an honest and informed view of how drugs and alcohol can have a profound, lasting and damaging effect, not only on individuals, but on their families and wider communities. I am someone who takes a drink. I am not a teetotaller; I could not pretend to be one. However, it is important that we discuss this as a society and we do so particularly with the younger generation. It is an issue of education and information. In that respect, Oliver Callan and his programme provided a public service yesterday. I thank him and wish him well in his new slot.