Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I never mentioned anything about people caught up with sex trafficking being innocent. I am talking about Epstein's tentacles in terms of social gatherings. People who got caught up attending social gatherings had no idea of the horrific activities that he was responsible for. Of course, there were those who attended gatherings and were complicit - absolutely. The point I am making is that not everybody who is now being associated with Epstein is guilty of this type of crime. We have to remember that. I know one girl's name was mentioned in social media. Her name is out there in the public domain, but it escapes me at the moment. She said that there was evidence. I encourage that individual to go An Garda Síochána and to make a statement. Where any evidence comes forward of these crimes being carried out, An Garda Síochána should absolutely treat this as a priority. As a country, we need to show that we will not stand for this and we will not condone it at any level.

Senator Duffy spoke about the local community safety partnerships. I agree with him that the joint policing committees were always an excellent way of stakeholders coming together, including members of An Garda Síochána, elected representatives and those involved in communities. While it is good that local community safety partnerships have been established, the same set of rules does not seem to apply around the country and we need clarity on that. Oireachtas Members are invited in some counties and in some they are not. I think that is wrong because it was always an opportunity to raise issues that concern our constituents and our communities. It was also an opportunity to learn what is going on because it was always valuable to get the statistics from An Garda Síochána. To be fair, in my experience, if any members of the press that were present were asked to treat something confidentially, they always did so. The Senator is right: it is important that a light is shone on this collaborative work to make all of our communities safer places to be. We will look for that clarity. Journalists play an important role in terms of highlighting issues and concerns. We will ask the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, to come here to address that.

Senator Conor Murphy spoke about all-Ireland healthcare and about the excellent areas of collaboration that are there, particularly around cardiology and cancer services. He said that there are some barriers, particularly around data sharing, etc. The Senator also spoke about the tragic case of Catherine Sherry, who, unfortunately, had to travel abroad and died there without family because she could not access the necessary cross-Border care in Dublin. That all-Ireland programme of collaboration is important and it is certainly worthy of debate. We will ask the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, to come to the Seanad and have a debate in relation to this issue.

Senator Ruane spoke about the national drugs strategy. While she acknowledged that there is now public consultation, she expressed concern around the way the country is divided into health regions. The Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, was in this House last week to address a Commencement matter put down by Senator Fitzpatrick that was related to this. I know that the Committee on Drugs Use, which Senator Ruane is a member of, is discussing this issue at the moment. She raises important points. The whole area of drug addiction is complex and multifaceted. There is no community, village, town or city that is immune. We cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach. When the committee makes its recommendations and observations in relation to the task force, that will be the opportune time to have a debate in this House on this issue and we will look for it.

Senator Murphy O'Mahony spoke about bluetongue. As we know, there are three confirmed cases in Ireland now. It is spread by midges. It is unfortunate that it has travelled here but the fact that neighbouring countries had it meant that it was not totally unexpected. It is important to say that there is no impact on human health. Unfortunately, it affects some of our beef exports. After we put a lot of work into getting exports into China again, it is unfortunate that they have now halted. It needs to be treated seriously, and we will look for the Minister for agriculture, Deputy Heydon, to come in and give us an update on it.

Senator Nelson Murray spoke about Johnstown Football Club and how important volunteers are to the core of the community. It is great that there are going to be newly expanded facilities for the club and I wish it well in its application for the sports capital grant.

Senator Joe Conway spoke about the critical issue of teacher supply, particularly in cities. He is correct that it is linked with the price of houses in Dublin. As many teachers now have to commute long distances, they are not available for the after-school extracurricular activities that many of us did in the education sector. It is a problem. I have always felt that we need to have some type of price control for essential workers, such as teachers, nurses, gardaí, etc., in our cities so that they are able to afford housing. We still need to do that.

Senator Andrews spoke about neutrality and the triple lock. I would not have necessarily put the two together the way the Senator has.I think they are two separate issues. As he said, Ireland is world renowned for neutrality and always stands up for international law, and correctly so.

The Senator raised separately the issue of the triple lock. I understand that the Government legislation is going through scrutiny by the defence committee. I look forward to the recommendations from that. The Senator looked for the Minister to come to the House. I will point out it is a female Minister - Deputy McEntee is the Minister. Once it comes through the committee and the committee makes its recommendations, we will have the opportunity to have that debate. It is an important debate. The Senator and I have different views on it. Everybody's voice needs to be heard.

Senator Crowe spoke about an important issue. There are a lot of scams online where people are cheated out of money. He said Irish people had been scammed out of about €33 million, approximately €1,500 each time. That is a huge amount of money. Apart from the financial impact, it has a huge psychological impact. Platforms should be responsible. We need to hold them responsible and try to extract that money, which I understand could be very difficult. The Senator is right, in that we need to enhance legislation. The Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, is doing a lot of work in this area. We will bring the matter to her attention. The Minister for justice is very relevant to that topic as well, and he is the Minister the Senator wants to come to the House. We need a debate around that whole area. Senator Rabbitte has done a lot of work and had an excellent session in the audiovisual room relating to Internet safety day. This comes into that whole role. It something we all have to be concerned about.

Senator Boyle spoke about footpaths for the community in Donegal. I suggest he speak to Donegal County Council. He has a good relationship with the area engineer. Footpaths are very important and we need them to be completed.

Senator Sarah O'Reilly spoke about the situation in Newbridge yesterday. I had a Commencement matter yesterday about that. The Patrician Secondary School in Newbridge, which at present has an allocation of 6.75 SNAs, received word that, in September, the number would go down to four. It is a reduction of 40%, which is huge. When the school had 150 fewer students, it had 6.75. It is a school that really prides itself on a positive role of inclusion. It was an awful blow. It was devastating to the whole school community to hear this news. The Minister of State was in yesterday. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, makes these decisions. There is a process whereby an appeal can be made and the school is doing that. We will hope for a positive result.

The Senator also spoke about Larry Murrin. I would point out that he is the chair of the board, not the CEO, in terms of the implementation of the rules and regulations. Farmers have a right to protest. I understand their concerns. There were meetings all around the country during the week. I understand their concerns when they have many rules and regulations, but Bord Bia is an excellent organisation. Through Bord Bia, total Irish agrifood exports are in the region of €21 billion a year. That is incredible when one thinks of all the jobs that supports. We have to be very mindful of that. The board has expressed its confidence in Larry Murrin as chair. There was a robust exchange in a meeting of the agriculture committee last week. It is going to make recommendations from that this week, which I have not seen yet. It is an important issue. There needs to be collaboration. People need to sit down together and work on a way forward.

While that is happening, the eye has been taken off the big ball, which is CAP and multi-annual financial framework, MFF, funding coming down the line. At the moment, there is a reduction of 20% in CAP, which means so much to farmers and rural communities that depend on CAP in the economy.

Senator Dee Ryan spoke about the lifting of the cap in Dublin Airport and rightly talked about needing a parallel plan to support regional airports. I know she is a strong advocate of Shannon Airport in terms of businesses, start-ups and tourism. It is a fine airport. I have had the opportunity to go in and out of it a few times. It is under-utilised. Shannon and the mid-west area need daily connectivity to Europe and England. We will look for a debate. The Senator is right to say it should be the Minister for enterprise as opposed to the Minister for Transport because he needs to ensure there are balanced opportunities in every area in the country.

Senator Rabbitte spoke about additional classrooms needed, particularly in rural Ireland. The school she mentioned was told to go to the community centre but there is not even a footpath. That is something I had to do as a child. So many years later, children should not have to do that. There was a time when rural roads were quiet and there were not many cars. There is no road in Ireland now that is quiet and safe. I imagine there is no pedestrian crossing there either. There are a lot of issues there. The care of the student has to be at the centre. I think it was when Mary Hanafin was the Minister for education there were a lot of prefabs in schools. To be fair, she made a commitment that there would be no more. As a society, we were trying to eradicate them and we needed permanent buildings and structures. She led the drive on that, which has very largely been successful. Occasionally, though, situations arise where a prefab is needed. The Department of education needs to change, especially when the accommodation is temporary. The problem in the past was that, when these prefabs were put there - I am sure Senator Joe Conway saw it in his teaching life - they became permanent and were still there 30 years later. It is a completely different model we need to consider now. We will write to the Minister on that. The Senator should submit a Commencement matter on that possibility for the school. When we have the opportunity, we will raise it as well.

Senator Martin Conway spoke about needing a debate on public procurement. He is right, in that it is very rigid. It should not just be about money. It should be weighted for other considerations. A then colleague, former Deputy Frank O'Rourke, drafted legislation to try to ensure there was a local element in the criteria such that if a local firm or company could provide the service, it would get a higher weighting in the consideration. There is a lot of merit in that. Things are taking far too long. We will see if we can have a debate on public procurement. It is in all of our interests when we see weekly debates on the children's hospital.

I thank all of the Senators who raised those important issues.