Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Before I call the Leader on the Order of Business, I welcome to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery, Ms Cara Hunter, MLA, who is most welcome. I congratulate her on her election to Stormont and I thank her for being in Seanad Éireann today. I now call on the Leader for the Order of Business.

Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Chair. I also congratulate Ms Hunter and wish her the best of luck.

The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding membership of the Joint Committee on Standing Orders relative to private business, to be taken on conclusion of the Order of Business without debate; No. 2, motion regarding the 16th report of the Seanad Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight, to be taken on conclusion of No. 1, without debate; No. 3, Sick Leave Bill 2022 - Report and Final Stages, to be taken at 2.45 p.m. and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at 4.45 p.m. by the putting of one question from the Chair, which shall in relation to amendments include only those set down or accepted by the Government; No. 4, motion regarding EU directive on protecting persons who engage in public participation from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings known as strategic law suits against public participation, to be taken at 4.45 p.m. or on conclusion of No. 3, whichever is the earlier, and to conclude after 45 minutes, if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed five minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to be given no less than five minutes to reply to the debate; No. 5, EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill 2022 - all Stages, to be taken at 5.30 p.m. or on conclusion of No. 4, whichever is the earlier, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister on Second Stage not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes and all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate, and Committee and Remaining Stages to be taken immediately thereafter; and No. 6, motion regarding earlier signature of the EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill 2022, to be taken on the conclusion of No. 5, without debate.

Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach. Last night I attended a meeting of about 450 people in the TF Royal Hotel and Theatre in Castlebar organised by representatives of RSS and Tús and also attended by SIPTU. As anyone working in public life knows, a meeting of that scale takes a lot of organising so there was an impressive crowd there last night. It took place on foot of the campaign that has been ongoing for many years to improve the operation of Tús and the RSS, the rural social scheme, in terms of how they operate, the eligibility criteria applied, the top-up payment and the flexibility around the schemes, while also acknowledging their huge importance in many rural communities right across the country.

The schemes, as people will know, were originally set up by Deputy Ó Cuív, and have been going strong ever since. There was acknowledgement at the meeting last night that some of the changes made, in particular the removal of the six-year rule, were really welcome and will be of help but that there is still more work to be done. The schemes are finding it very difficult to get people to come onto the schemes and there are vacant places.

The RSS and Tús schemes do everyday jobs like keeping the local football pitch mown and ready for all the sports clubs - be it the under fives all the way up the senior team, keeping the parish hall or the community centre clean, tidy and operational, and keeping the door open and closed at certain times. As the saying goes, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone" and it is only when people like that are not in the community and the work is not being done, that the true value is realised.

It may come as a shock to many people that people on those schemes only get €22.50 as a top-up to their farm assist or social welfare payments. This is certainly value for money embodied and then some. What the RSS and Tús representatives were looking for last night was greater flexibility in how they operate those schemes, so that they can try to get people into those schemes through direct referrals, and also by expanding the eligibility criteria.

For example, only one person can join under each herd number and that prevents a nephew or niece working on the farm, from participating in a local scheme. That makes no sense to me. Greater flexibility will mean these schemes are viable. They started off as a stopgap for job activation, as a way of getting people back into the workforce but also dealing with rural isolation and allowing people to connect with and contribute to their local communities. Very importantly, they also top-up farm incomes by allowing people working on farms and in fishing villages to do some extra hours on a scheme on top of the hours they do on their farm. The schemes are really important for increasing people's income, but also connecting them with their local community. The schemes have evolved since that point in time and they are now part of the very fabric of rural life. Many communities would not get certain jobs done if it was not for these schemes. They do work that the local authorities simply do not have the manpower, womanpower or resources to get done.

I request that the Seanad have a debate at the earliest opportunity to try to get some further engagement with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, around these outstanding issues that need to be resolved. I appreciate it will probably be in the autumn session. We should also look at how these schemes can be protected into the future and how to ensure their sustainability and viability for the years and decades to come. They are now part and parcel of how business is run in rural areas and are vitally important.

I thank the RSS and Tús representatives who organised that meeting last night. It was a fantastic meeting and they certainly rallied the troops. We were all sent away from the table with orders to try and advance these issues right across both Houses.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I join in welcoming Ms Cara Hunter, MLA, to the House and I commend her on her courage and bravery not just in her political life but in her personal life. Cuirim míle fáilte roimpi inniu chuig Seanad Éireann.

I rise today predominantly to ask for the Minister of State with responsibility for disability to come to the House to discuss the lack of a service level agreement between ChildVision and the HSE in CHO 4 in Cork. It is alarming that an organisation such as ChildVision, based on the Model Farm Road in Cork, providing a tremendously important service for children with sight loss and additional disabilities in particular at preschool time, should have no service level agreement.It provides a tremendously important service for children with sight loss and additional disabilities, particularly at preschool level, where there is no service level agreement.

Last Saturday, Deputy Colm Burke and I met ChildVision chief executive officer, Mr. Brian Allen, and a group of parents to discuss the unique organisation that is ChildVision and preschool visual impairment early intervention for young children. It is extraordinary that at a time when we are told the HSE has a huge amount of money at its disposal, for the sum of a ballpark figure of €144,000 there cannot be a service level agreement signed between the HSE and ChildVision.

To be fair, the Leader knows Mr. Brian Allen does tremendous work as chief executive, as does the entire organisation. These young children are benefitting and progressing rather than regressing. It is incumbent on us to see that what Dublin has, Cork should have when it comes to this type of service provision. It is about a world-class intervention and services for children. It is happening in Cork since approximately 2010 with this organisation on the grounds of Model Farm Road with the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.

It is important now for the Minister to come to the House and hold the HSE accountable for the lack of a service level agreement that would give certainty and clarity to the young children and, equally important, to their families. This is about parity of service and ensuring the service level agreement is signed so we can allow for these young children to be given the service, care and attention they need so their lives may evolve in a positive way.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I welcome Ms Cara Hunter, MLA, and Dr. James Wilson to the House. It is great to see them here. I congratulate Ms Hunter on her election and Dr. Wilson on his support for that election.

Last week we had the Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020 before the House. I do not wish to rehash the debate but on 29 June, the Department of Transport issued a tender seeking an aviation consultancy service relating to the competition for the provision of an Irish Coast Guard aviation service. Are we really going to appoint an agent for our next search and rescue service? I have been harping on about this for two years, if not more. It is absolutely diabolical to think we are about to engage in another search and rescue contract when four people lost their lives because of the lack of oversight of the previous contract. We are about to go to tender on this.

I understand that in contempt of the Oireachtas committee a tender has already gone out and the Secretary General of the Department has refused on four occasions to come before the committee to discuss the process that has brought us to the point we are at. It is simply unacceptable behaviour. I wonder, at this stage, to whom the Civil Service is answerable. Have we in the Oireachtas a role at all or are we just here to rubber-stamp whatever comes our way? It is diabolical that the Department of Transport is engaging in anything to do with aviation when it has no expertise to support it in the area.

On a related matter of aviation, my colleague, Deputy Cathal Berry, has made the point that soldiers are being brought from Donegal to Dublin to assist Dublin Airport Authority. They should at the very least be paid €10.50 per hour for every hour they are on the road. If it is a 24-hour duty, they should be paid €10.50 per hour on top of their salaries. What is being done here is an insult to anybody who ever wore a uniform.

Dublin Airport Authority has the support of this State and the State supported businesses through Covid-19 like no other state in Europe. Dublin Airport Authority took an opportune moment to get rid of a load of people and I have heard its representatives on radio talking about the difficulty they have in recruiting people. It is absolutely unacceptable. Today we heard on Claire Byrne's radio show that it will take two hours for passengers on any flight coming in to recover their bags, if they are lucky. They will be two hours waiting in the arrivals hall to get a bag.It is totally unacceptable. For once we actually have to stand up for the Government on this one. The Government put the supports in place for all of these companies and the Dublin Airport Authority threw it back in the face of the Government and took the opportunity to get rid of the cheapest labour it has. Now it wants to use the Defence Forces for a job. It should hire private security companies and see what they will charge. Using soldiers for this kind of work is totally unacceptable.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I extend a warm welcome to Ms Cara Hunter MLA and Dr. James Wilson. It is great to see them here today. There is a strike happening today on behalf of the Irish Wheelchair Association in 50 centres throughout the State. The workers are personal assistants who carry out very important work in terms of personal care, hygiene and the social outlets they create for their clients. As one client says in a video on the SIPTU website, if it was not for this person they would not get out of their house. That is too often the case. They create an incredibly valuable contribution to the quality of life of people with disabilities.

The Government response to the strike today is to the effect that the Irish Wheelchair Association is a private company and the Government does not get involved with setting rates of pay. The Irish Wheelchair Association has made it very clear it fully sympathises with its workers on strike today and states that it needs an increase in the HSE grant. A Chathaoirligh, if you want to know why the Government is so unpopular, it is because of glib statements like its response I mentioned. These workers have not had a pay rise in 14 years and are now in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. The Government's response is there is nothing to see here and it is nothing to do with it. These people have been forced to go to the picket line. It is an absolute disgrace.

Tomorrow, workers from a host of community sector organisations will go on strike for the very same reason. People from Rehab Group, Western Care Association, Pieta House, local employment services, Ability West, Inclusion Ireland, jobs clubs, LEADER projects and more are going on strike for the same reason, that for 14 years Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments - it makes no difference - have ignored them.

I presume tomorrow the Government will come out with another glib statement saying it has nothing to do with it. The only way these workers can get a pay rise is for the Government to engage with their employers, release the funds and make it happen. For too long we have had platitudes about these workers. They are front-line workers who do incredible work in the community sector, bringing people back from addiction and exclusion, getting them into work, society and third level education, and getting them back on the road to having a decent life. For 14 years governments have ignored the staff who provide these services. Are they going to have to go on strike again after today and tomorrow? Will the Government continue to put its head in the sand and pretend it has nothing to do with it? Will someone on the Government benches today acknowledge that a great wrong has been done to these workers? We need to see the Government engage collectively with these workers and deliver the pay rise they so fully deserve. I hope for a positive response.

Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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I want to raise some concerns about the ordering of business this week and last week. I refer to the Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022. We have the Higher Education Authority Bill 2022 coming up this week as well as the Electoral Reform Bill 2022. Those two Bills are once in a lifetime pieces of legislation in their importance, their reach and potential for change in a number of sectors. Our group is concerned about the Electoral Reform Bill this week. It provides for how we do electoral politics but we undermine that by skipping processes in how we do business and scrutinise legislation as Seanad Éireann. We know it is urgent and fundamental legislation. I and others take our role extremely seriously in how much effort and time we put into scrutinising every line of legislation, as we have with the Electoral Reform Bill.Obviously, the Bill has been in flow for two years but has now been rushed through in the past two weeks. That does not give the House time to do what it is mandated to do and what Senators are elected to do. I note a change to the Order of Business on Thursday in respect of the Electoral Reform Bill. It was initially scheduled to take Report Stage but then it changed to Committee Stage (resumed) and Report and Final Stages. Is the intention to attempt to guillotine that debate? We strongly oppose any such proposal and will seek to put any guillotine on the Bill to a vote.

We have raised previously, in the context of other legislation, our concerns in respect of the taking of all Stages at once, especially when it is legislation in which there is significant interest and input and with a large number of amendments. We are seeking to clarify whether the Order of Business on Thursday will be amended to remove Report Stage from the timing so that Senators have a chance to table amendments on Report Stage. To take the Stages together is just telling us that what will happen in here on Thursday is theatre. We will come in but have no room to table more amendments and the Minister will not accept any amendments anyway. That does not do the House any service and it definitely does not do the legislation any service.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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Well said.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I, too, welcome Cara Hunter to the Gallery. Yesterday, she spoke profoundly on RTÉ radio in respect of her experience of online abuse during an election campaign. In these Houses last week we launched a report in respect of the abuse of referees, match officials and others involved in sport. Yesterday, Ursula Jacob who, as Members will be aware, is an All-Ireland camogie medal winner for Wexford, a commentator and a person with great experience of sport, became the latest person in the public eye to have to speak out against the online abuse, anonymous and otherwise, she has experienced. I am conscious that the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill will be back before the House next week. There are measures that need to be taken in that context but this House needs to discuss calling on the social media platforms to do a lot more. Not enough is being done to tackle online abuse. It should not be the case that, every week, individuals in the public eye and, in many cases, people who are not in the public eye, have to suffer levels of online abuse. We will certainly show our continued solidarity with Ursula Jacob and all other victims of anonymous online abuse.

I regularly raise in the House the issue of foreign births registration. There have been ongoing problems relating to the Passport Office. The problem with foreign birth registrations, however, is not improving. The Department of Foreign Affairs has now reached applications that were submitted in January 2020. A person applying now for a foreign birth registration will have to wait more than 30 months before his or her application is considered. That is not acceptable. I again ask that we have a specific debate on the issue of foreign birth registrations and that the Leader write to the Minister on behalf of Senators to express our concern.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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The recent announcement by the US Supreme Court in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case is a positive one as it finally ends the wrong-headed Roe v. Wade judgment of 1973 which inferred a constitutional right to abortion under the heading of a right to privacy. That was a legal aberration from the beginning, one that had an extremely negative impact on human rights and unborn life for 50 years. It must be borne in mind that approximately 21,000 Irish unborn babies have had their lives prematurely ended by abortion in the first three years of Ireland's abortion regime. The sky-rocketing human life impact of the abortion law here must prompt serious reflection. There has been a serious failure to provide alternatives to abortion or to find a way to reduce these startling abortion rates. The Government has buried its head in the sand on this issue. For more than a year, it has outsourced any issues that have arisen since the introduction of legal abortion to the chimeric promise of a three-year review.The review has since commenced and is in fact uninterested in addressing serious issues. Instead, its brief has been to concentrate on expanding abortion to the detriment of grasping the nettle and seeking to curb the worst excesses of Irish abortion laws. Saturday's Rally for Life saw thousand of people march from Parnell Square, down O'Connell Street and onto Custom House Quay welcoming the US judgment and asking our politicians to thoroughly re-examine the protection that we offer to life in Ireland. Unfortunately, a lot of the rhetoric reacting to the decision has been extremely unhelpful and alarmist. The Taoiseach talked about the appointment of far right justices to the Supreme Court and warned of a politicisation of the court. This is an unfounded insinuation and suggests his characterisation of politicisation only works in one direction.

In the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, the Supreme Court returned the issue of deciding abortion policy to the people through their elected representatives at state and federal level. It strongly echoes the 2018 referendum outcomes that empowered the Oireachtas alone to decide Ireland's abortion policy. The Government should objectively look at the situation for what it is and not try to stoke up culture war arguments. The global narrative is clearly shifting and I hope the impact of the recent decision in the US will produce further, greater efforts to protect human life in Ireland and elsewhere.

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome our friends in the Visitors Gallery, Ms Cara Hunter, and Dr. James Wilson, but they have left. I did not fully hear Senator Chambers when she was speaking first but I think she was calling for a debate on issues with social employment schemes and Tús workers. I certainly support that because while there has been some movement from the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, which I welcome that, there are one or two issues that, if they were they sorted out, would ensure such schemes would retain their importance for not only rural communities, but urban communities as well. They are very important in different areas of life.

I wish to return to the matter of Lough Funshinagh that I brought up last Thursday. Last night, more than 300 people attended a meeting in Lecarrow, County Roscommon. This is where there has been a major flooding issue due to a turlough that is no longer draining. This has been an issue for a number of years. The local authority, Roscommon County Council, with the support of the Minister and the Government provided funding for an overlay pipe to take the excess water. Unfortunately, the Friends of the Irish Environment objected to that, took the local authority to court and won its case. That annoyed people but the reality is we now have a court judgment and we have to deal with that. In fairness to the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy O'Donovan, he is trying to address this issue. A number of other Ministers, including the Taoiseach, are concerned about it. We must try to get heads together on this matter because it is an injustice. It is unjust to people whose homes, which were never flooded, will now be flooded and will have to relocate. Something has gone wrong in the area. Nobody can put a finger on what has gone wrong but we have to take those people out of their misery. It may be a bad summer but rainfall is below previous levels. In that area we are lucky there has not been excess rain despite the poor weather. If the weather turns bad for three or four weeks when we go into the winter, there will be stories to be told in that area. We need to put our heads together, write to the Minister and push this on as quickly as we can to get something done to ensure those people will not suffer any longer.

Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein)
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I wish to make Members aware of an event that will take place in Liberty Hall on 11 August. It is the concert to save Moore Street. As Members know, the Moore Street Preservation Trust, which is made up of families of the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation, have been campaigning for a considerable time to save, preserve and develop the Moore Street battlefield site on behalf of the city and, indeed, on behalf of the nation and all her people.The families have described the latest planning permission granted for further demolition of buildings in the Moore Street Quarter as deplorable. Speaking on behalf of the families, James Connolly Heron said:

This is a deplorable decision, with Dublin City Planners now having granted permission to all three of Hammerson’s applications for Moore Street. The City Planners have now given the green light to the development of a six-storey office block that would totally dominate the historic 1916 terrace and turn O’Rahilly Parade into a cavern between two towering buildings. They have yet again ignored the wish of Councillors to add the Moore Street terrace to the list of protected structures and survey reports that confirm the existence of 1916 buildings structures and elements throughout this area described by The National Museum as 'the most important historic site in modern Irish history'.

Therefore, there is a battle now to save Moore Street.I do not know of any other government, state or society around the world that would allow an area which has been described as the most important in a country’s modern history to be overrun with more glass boxes, characterless and soulless buildings, when the Moore Street Quarter has so much potential, so much history, so much built heritage and so much potential for the future of our capital city in the context of sharing in the learning of the 1916 Rising. Probably more important, however, is the potential to share, develop and grow in that vision. In that context, I hope the Leader will be able to facilitate, as early as possible, statements from the Minister on saving Moore Street, because we all have a stake in this battle and we must all play our part in ensuring that Moore Street is saved.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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I raise the issue of the smart villages and rural towns meeting being held in Mountbellew this evening. The venue has been selected by Galway Rural Development, GRD, to receive this type of funding. I encourage people in the local area to come along. The meeting begins at 7.30 p.m. this evening and it will be great to be able to see the opportunities for funding. Mountbellew is now one of the campuses of the Atlantic Technological University, ATU. An agricultural college is also based there and people will know of Mountbellew very well from that context. Now, however, the town is also a new campus for the ATU. Equally, consideration is being given to developing the town in other ways.

We also need to see more rural transport links. In the context of the Connecting Ireland plan for transport, one example of what is needed is that there is no bus link to bring people from Mountbellew to the train station in Ballinasloe, for example, or to Portiuncula Hospital, or vice versa. Equally, it is difficult for students to get to the campus. It is important therefore when we are looking at our smart villages and rural towns initiative that we also examine how we can get funding for rural transport links.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I also express my support for all those employed by the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, who took the decision to go on strike today. Those people last saw a pay increase in 2008. I stood with those workers this morning in Clontarf and, believe you me, they do not want to be out on strike.

It is important to say that minimum levels of care continue to be provided, so people are being looked after today. These workers, however, have been forced to go on strike because they feel they have no other option and that nobody is listening to them. Talking to one of those workers today, Jacinta, I was struck by her talking about the frustration of doing one of the most important jobs, of undertaking a caring role, and yet feeling so disrespected because of the rate of pay that she gets for that work. She cannot even afford to buy a car and spends hours on buses travelling across the city every day trying to get to the people she looks after. The front-line worker payment of €1,000 has not been given to these people, although they were going into houses day in and day out during the height of the pandemic, with the attendant risk to themselves and their families. To add insult to injury, there has also been no progress regarding their long-standing pay claim.

A woman who is a wheelchair user came out on the protest today. She talked about her frustration in this regard, and she fully supports the strike. From talking to other wheelchair users as well, I know they fully support what the workers in the IWA are doing today. Those service users see the frustration in this context and they want the people taking care of them to be better respected and supported. I refer to the failure by the Government, to date, in the context of section 39 organisations.Of course, the IWA is just one section 39 organisation. Not to put in place a proper system of pay is simply shameful. At the moment, the HSE is obviously giving money to the likes of the IWA and other services and yet it is poaching workers from many of those organisations and taking them into the HSE. As Jacinta said to me today, she wants to work with wheelchair users and the IWA. However, life has been made very difficult for her at the moment.

I plead for the Taoiseach to intervene personally. It is no longer about calling on the Minister for Health. Rather, it is about the Taoiseach intervening personally to ensure those who provide a very important role in our society are properly respected.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I have just come from an excellent briefing in the audiovisual room. I appreciate those who are here did not have the opportunity to go to it. It was from the Ukraine Civil Society Forum and about 65 different organisations that together are responding to the Ukrainian crisis within our country. We must acknowledge that, since 24 February, when Putin’s war of aggression started, the Irish people and, indeed, the Irish Government have been wonderful in terms of their humanitarian response. Little did we think, or perhaps some did, that almost five months later we would still be seeing horrific scenes coming from Ukraine.

We all know families and communities that have opened their hearts and homes to the refugees who have come to this country. There are many in congregated settings and some who have been able to find accommodation. We are at a pinch point now. We recognise the war will not finish any time soon and there will be another accommodation crisis during the summer and in September when students are back.

The group made a number of recommendations. The key ones, which I would absolutely support and agree with, are, first, that there should be a national lead appointed to drive planning, co-ordination and implementation. That is very important. Another main recommendation, and this related to the White Paper on ending direct provision, was that a refugee agency would be established. Even taking those two key recommendations would be beneficial. We have only one more chance to try to get this right. It will be for the medium and long term. It will be important that message would go to the Taoiseach and the relevant Ministers.

Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I thank my colleagues for their contributions.

I thank Senator O’Loughlin for describing the recommendations made by the Ukraine Civil Society Forum. Given the announcement of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, yesterday, that we are putting aside €2 billion next year to look after the guests we have in Ireland, it is a very logical request to have a refugee agency and a national lead who represents the Government. I will certainly pass on the Senator's messages.

Senator Sherlock and Senator Gavan raised the issue of what I can only describe as a very unfortunate strike. Obviously, however, after 14 years, people felt they had absolutely no choice but to go on strike today. I am mindful about section 38 and 39 organisations. The reason we have them is because the State does not provide certain services for the people in need. It is disingenuous on behalf of the State to say it is not its responsibility to set pay policy when Government policy is to outsource these services to the people and organisations we all recognise as being valuable and, indeed, as Senator Sherlock said, the workers themselves whom we also recognise as being valuable. I find myself probably not being on the side of the Government’s response the morning because I think it is time for Government to intervene and take responsibility for those workers who may not be direct employees of the State but who are actually providing services in lieu of the State. I very much concur with both Senators’ remarks and I will pass them on.

Senator Dolan spoke about a meeting tonight in Mountbellew on the smart villages initiative and rural transport funding. I acknowledge that she is inviting everybody to come along.

Senator Ó Donnghaile talked about a concert in Liberty Hall that is happening on 11 August to raise money for the Save Moore Street campaign, and I acknowledge that.

Senator Murphy and the Fianna Fáil group leader raised the issue of the meeting on and the support for further changes to Tús and the rural support scheme, RSS, that were announced by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, last week.We did see some welcome changes. I can only say this from the experience of being in the Department, but we need to be mindful that the schemes in the Department are considered employment and activation schemes. At a time when we have nearly full employment, it is hard to find people to fill those schemes. The reality is a lot of them are income supports and community facilitation for work and organisational support in local communities that would not otherwise be supported by the State if we did not have them. There is a real need for some flexibility. I will try to arrange a debate in the autumn with the Minister, as requested.

Senator Murphy also referred to a very large meeting in Roscommon last night on an issue he and Senator Aisling Dolan raised last week with regard to the special area of conservation, SAC, at Lough Funshinagh. Again, I wish the Senators continued success in the deliberations with the Minister of State, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, in trying to find a resolution.

Senator Keogan brought up the recent Roe v. Wade decision in the United States and the debate that has been struck, not just in America, but internationally arising from that. We have our own three-year review of the abortion legislation that was passed arising from the repeal of the eighth amendment a number of years ago. As I had committed to beforehand, I will certainly organise a debate on that review once it is released by the Minister.

Senator Malcolm Byrne, not for the first time, brought up foreign births registration. I am flabbergasted by the example he gave and I will certainly bring it to the Minister's attention because it is not acceptable.

The other point raised by the Senator this morning is that we will hopefully be finishing the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill in the Seanad next week. What I can tell him personally is that from the interactions we have had with social media companies, they are certainly not happy. They are not happy that we intend to issue the regulations immediately but they have done absolutely nothing to crown themselves in glory with regard to how they treat people whom we will call them victims. I am sure there are a few of them in this room, but there are certainly plenty of people we know, many of them far too young to be resilient enough to be able to deal with the harassment and negativity they receive on social media platforms. The companies have done little or nothing to try to protect people. It is certainly time the State took the bull by the horns and started to regulate that industry. I thank the Senator for raising the matter.

In response to Senator Ruane, I am between a rock and a hard place at the moment. I totally recognise the Senator’s concerns and I hear her loud and clear. The position I am in is that we have two weeks left and we have an awful lot of work to do. I have tried to facilitate in particular the Electoral Reform Bill because some colleagues were not here last week. Ideally, we should have finished Committee Stage last week and then we would only have Report Stage this week, and we would have had plenty of time to put in the amendments. Given that some colleagues were not here last week, I extended Committee Stage to have it this week and to allow that debate, but it meant I had to put Committee Stage and Report Stage together, which I know is not acceptable to the Senator. There may be one or two options I can take to swap things around, if I can talk to the Senator afterwards. I know it does not affect today's order because that is as it is. I had asked last week if we could do all Stages of the EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill in the Chamber on Thursday. There may be a way I can swap the Institutional Burials Bill to the evening and then try to split Committee Stage and Report Stage, but I can only do that if I have the acquiescence of the Cathaoirleach because to turn around the Report Stage amendments between Wednesday and Thursday would require an exception. The Bills Office and our colleagues who work to support us are under pressure at this time of year, as they always are. I will try, and I will see if I can come up with some sort of flexibility.

To be honest, I do not like using guillotines and I do not like closing off debate. However, if we do not close off some debates this week, then we are pretending we are going to take amendments because I can bring them in next week, but there will be no Dáil to take the amendments. The Higher Education Authority Bill and the Electoral Reform Bill are time-sensitive. We need to establish the electoral commission and the boards of our universities are changing during the summer, so the legislation needs to be passed before then. I find I am between a rock and a hard place. As the Senator is aware, even though the Electoral Reform Bill has been around a long time, we only got it relatively recently, and the HEA Bill was only published last week, so we could not have taken it any earlier. I will do my best to try to juggle things around. I will liaise directly with the Senator after the Order of Business, once we speak to the Bills Office and the Cathaoirleach. I hear the Senator’s concerns and I totally understand them.

Senator Gavan spoke of the Irish Wheelchair Association. He also brought up the Air Navigation and Transport Bill from last week.A tender for external expertise has been issued by the Minister for Transport to advise him on the search and rescue contract because the Department does not have expertise. The Cathaoirleach is well aware that I have strong personal views on this. Recommendations Nos. 29 and 31 of the Air Accident Investigation Unit arising from the loss of life on Rescue 116 specifically targeted the lack of expertise in the Department. The Department still does not seem to see fit to put expertise on its own staff. It is not something I can commend.

Deputy Berry made a statement recently and Senator Craughwell has made a call today for Army members to be paid €10.50 per hour for any hours they are asked to work for the DAA. I will certainly pass that on to the Minister. The Minister is right, and it would be remiss of me not to stick up for the Government occasionally, that we borrowed €36 billion in the two years we supported our people and businesses during Covid. It is an enormous amount of money but it was the right thing to do. It was a time for us to be generous. We have to wonder with the amount of money we used to support people why companies still took the opportunity to let go some of their most expensive and valuable staff.

Deputy Buttimer spoke about ChildVision and the HSE's CHO 4 in Cork. ChildVision has been providing a wonderful service not only in Cork but in other parts of the country. It is unfathomable that the HSE would not give ChildVision a service level agreement. What is wrong is that the HSE does not pay for services already in existence. It only pays for new services. There would be an outcry if the service was not available. For the HSE not to provide the miserable sum of €144,000 for a service for 80 children and their families would be a crying shame. I will certainly raise the mater with the Minister for Health on behalf of Senator Buttimer and Mr. Brian Allen.

Senator Chambers opened proceedings seeking a debate on Tús and the rural social scheme, including a top-up and the need for greater flexibility in recruitment. I will organise such a debate.