Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Pat and Mabyn to the House.

I offer my condolences to the family of Derek Martin, who was tragically killed in a crash on the M50 on Friday. As we heard, his sister has reached out to the people who stayed with him during his last moments. Derek is remembered by his wife and two children. He was a valued member of the Irish Prison Service, serving as an officer in Wheatfield Prison. This tragedy brought Dublin city to an absolute standstill, with people left stranded in their cars for up to six hours. It shows the inadequacy of the roads infrastructure in the city. Derek's tragic death, unfortunately, highlighted this situation. We need to look at building a second loop road and upgrading the city roads. As a result of this awful accident, the whole city was paralysed on Friday. For a modern city, that is not right and appropriate.

The second issue I raise concerns a group, with which I have not met, called the Irish Physical Activity Alliance, IPAA. An issue it has raised might sound trivial but is, in fact, quite serious. The lobby group wants members of gyms and participants in gym classes to be able to claim back their costs through their tax. Especially for women, as we get older, bone health is really important. Lifting weights and doing physical activities can help. People do not really understand the importance of bone health and weight-bearing exercise. I congratulate the group on its work. I support its proposal for inclusion of gym membership costs under the MED1 form for claiming tax relief on health expenses. This would be aimed at anyone who has paid for a gym class or gym membership or who has a family member who has done so.

I welcome the news that Revolut is now offering a savings account with 3.5% interest. This puts it up to all the banks. People depositing money are not getting a return from the regular banks. Revolut coming into the market is a real disrupter. It is very welcome. Members of the public need to know they can earn proper interest on savings, rather than just paying interest on their mortgage. It is great that Revolut is pushing the banks to be a little more competitive.