Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome our distinguished guests. I look forward to having the opportunity to say "Hello" to them properly later. We heard the sad and tragic news this morning of the death of a young man in Carlow. Our deepest sympathies are with his family. We cannot draw any conclusions about how he died but we know a young woman has been arrested. We often speak about domestic violence but we speak about it from the woman's point of view so it is important to highlight the excellent work Men's Aid does in counselling, court support and offering peer support. It runs an excellent service at hello@mensaid.ie. Its helpline number is 01 5543811.

I was at a meeting last night in Rathangan with local and community gardaí. It was an excellent meeting and it is great to the Garda rolling these meetings out around County Kildare and I have no doubt around the country as well. An issue that came to light about which I speak on an ongoing basis is the lack of gardaí in our county. Traditionally, we have had the lowest number per capita. With the help of a good friend in the other House, I had an answer to a parliamentary question regarding the number. On foot of that, by county, we are not doing too bad but when we take per capita into account, we are still the lowest in the country. Whatever, whenever, we need to have debate with the Department of Justice in on that to make sure there is equity. People need to be safe and secure where they live.

I draw the Leader's attention to something I saw the other day that I thought was important to highlight. As the previous Chair of the education committee, one of the issues we examined related to secretaries and the fact that they were not permanent staff. Andy Pike of the Fórsa union did excellent work on this matter. As of June, secretaries have been added to the Department of Education payroll. In my county, there are 125 and more than 3,000 nationwide. It is an important initiative. We need to include school caretakers in the next step.

I also wish to raise the HSE embargo. The HSE recruitment freeze was put in place as a cost-saving measure in October 2023. Although it was announced by the Government and media that it ended in July, unfortunately, HSE staff are still suffering the consequences of the embargo on many levels. We should look for the Minister for Health to come to the Seanad and speak to us about this and let us show our long-serving nurses and medical staff that we appreciate and respect them and want them to be looked after properly.