Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I want to add my voice of welcome to Senator Malachai O'Hara. I look forward to working with him in a collaborative and positive way. It is lovely for him to have members of his family here. When all of us here were elected, it was during Covid so we had our first sitting in the Convention Centre and could not invite any family members or supporters. His family being here today is something to be cherished.

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I want to raise a number of issues today, the first of which is the new proposed community engagement areas for An Garda Síochána. I organised a meeting on Monday evening last, together with Councillor Anne Connolly, in Rathangan. Around 200 people turned up, which was incredible and showed the depth of feeling of the people about this issue. Rathangan has a small Garda station which is aligned with the Kildare area, which is only 10 km away. In the new proposed community engagement area, it would be aligned with Leixlip, which is almost an hour away. Leixlip is at the far end of north Kildare, in a different metropolitan district and a different Dáil constituency. It makes absolutely no sense. The people of Rathangan have a strong affiliation with the areas of Kildare, Monasterevin, Newbridge and so on. Everybody at that meeting agreed, unanimously, that we should fight this as hard as we can. This new model was due to come into force on 19 May but I understand that it has been pushed out indefinitely. I tabled a Commencement matter but unfortunately, it could not be taken under the provisions of the House. I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for Justice to come before the House to speak about this new model and to speak about the geographical areas. This is important for everybody because all areas are impacted. For some, it may be a positive difference but for us in Rathangan, it is not.I have written to the Minister and the Garda Commissioner on the matter but I would appreciate it if we could have an engagement with the Minister for Justice in this regard.

I will also raise the issue of the Tánaiste's announcement regarding Palestine the evening before last. It has long been Fianna Fáil policy that Palestine should be recognised as a state in its own right and that there should be a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. It is now Government policy and we really must welcome that. It is very important in moving forward. The Tánaiste also stated that Ireland will work with our European counterparts. It is really good to see him taking the lead in this regard. Obviously, a lot more is needed. That is not to be at this point in time but we do need to keep looking for more.

My last point is on osteoporosis and bone density. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, has done a lot of work in the area of women's health but we all know that women's bones are more brittle than men's and that, because of menopause, bearing children and so on, women are more at risk as they age. I would like to see some work done by the Department of Health on the issue of osteoporosis and women's bone health. Perhaps we could ask for a debate with the Minister.