Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the women from Templeogue Women's Shed whom I met on the way in. It is wonderful to hear that the women's shed is thriving in Templeogue. I want to speak generally about the women's shed and men's shed movements. They are a wonderful asset to communities in both urban and rural Ireland. The men's shed movement originated in Australia and came to Ireland in about 2011. I have the good fortune to work with a number of the men's sheds in my own county of Kildare. The women's shed movement started at a later stage and it is a wonderful way if making friends and fostering inclusion. Only last week I met some of the women from Newbridge Women's Shed. It has about 80 members. Those who moved to the town in the recent past and knew nobody there beforehand have said it has been a lifeline. The issue I want to mention, and we may look for a debate on this, is the supports that are needed for the men's shed and women's shed movements. I mentioned some of them. In Kildare, the men's shed in Rathangan has restarted but they do not have a physical place to meet. At the moment their meetings are around walking and outdoors, which in itself is wonderful, but it is obviously important as we approach the winter months that they have a physical place to be. Regarding the women's shed, while there is an overall movement to help co-ordinate and organise men's sheds, that is not there for the women's shed movement. I believe it should be in place and that more Government funding should go to help support both the men's shed and the women's shed.

I want to give a shout out to Berney Brothers saddlery in Kilcullen, County Kildare, which is in existence 145 years. They are master craftspeople in making saddles for all the top trainers and jockeys in the country. Brendan Clifford retired last week after 51 years. Members of the Clifford family have all been involved since the start of the Berney Brothers saddlery 145 years ago. Brendan joined straight from school in the early 1970s. I want to say well done and congratulations to Brendan and I wish continued success, of course, to the wonderful family business that is Berney Brothers.

I want to briefly mention Sudan and the situation there. The humanitarian crisis has reached catastrophic levels, with 25 million people inside the country urgently needing assistance. Millions of people have fled to neighbouring countries which are hosting many millions of Sudanese refugees and that is causing problems there. We need to have more humanitarian support and we need sustained pressure on warring parties to cease hostilities and work towards a political solution. We need to have a debate in this House on that soon.