Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge what has been said. What Senator Andrews is doing is extremely brave. It is not just symbolic. If those on the flotilla only save one life or prevent child having to go through an amputation unanaesthetised, they will have either saved a life or prevented a mental trauma that will never be reversed. I just cannot understand what the IDF is doing. It has shown absolutely no regard for international law, which it purported that it wanted the protection of for so long. What is happening beggars belief. We are all thinking of Senator Andrews. I hope he is okay.

In Kinvara, County Galway, two weeks ago, a schoolchild was knocked down while returning home from school. Last week, an elderly person was hospitalised after being struck by a vehicle in the village of Kinvara. The locals tell me it is only a matter of time before there is a fatality. Over 900 students cross the N67 main road daily for school drop-off and collection. There is not a single pedestrian crossing in the village and no traffic management plan either. County council officials told Kinvara community council it does not have the funding to provide what is necessary to make the village safer for those who live there and for the 900 plus students who go to school there every day. We need to talk to the Minister about this. He needs to come to the Chamber to have a conversation about why funding has not been made available to the council and why there is not a safer situation for people who really deserve it. This has been going on for years.