Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding the arrangements for the sitting of the House on Thursday, 2 February 2023, to be taken on conclusion of the Order of Business without debate; No. 2, statements on child and adolescent mental health services, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to conclude at 2.15 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, all Senators not to exceed six minutes, time can be shared, and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 3, Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021 – Committee Stage, to be taken at 3 p.m. and to adjourn at 6 p.m., if not previously concluded; No. 4, Private Members’ business, motion regarding University Limerick Hospitals Group, to be taken at 6 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
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I wish the Cathaoirleach, the Leader, the staff and everyone here a very happy St. Brigid's Day. I believe this day is going to become a very important one on the calendar and, it is fair to say, that St. Patrick will not have it his own way from here on in, and will have a little competition.

I support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I refer to a big ongoing debate on home vacancies throughout Ireland. This is particularly bad in the west of Ireland when one looks at places like Leitrim, Roscommon and Mayo, where this is at levels of 10%, 11% and 12%, as the Leader knows.

I have always stated regarding home vacancies that there were always issues which will not be easily solved. I never believed the figure up there in red lights and that there were all these vacant homes. There are still, nonetheless, a substantial amount of houses there. That is why I welcome the recent initiative by the Government of €150 million for local authorities to get working on this, once and for all. The money is there now. It will not happen overnight but I hope that all local authorities over the coming months will get their act together on this issue and, where possible, that houses which can be reconstructed and brought into the housing market are put there. The Government is trying to do everything it can in respect of housing, which I accept. The money and the commitment are there, together with the Minister and his junior Ministers who are committed. It is not an easy task at the moment.

When one looks at other countries, such as England, for example, it is having very significant problems with housing at the moment also, as is the case with some other European countries. We were talking to a Turkish delegation here yesterday and discussed their housing policy. It is remarkably simple and Turkey does not have a housing problem. We will talk about that another day. I welcome the Government initiative and it is a good one. It will bring a certain amount of houses back into use and that is what we all need.

There are indications also that the present Government policy on housing is beginning to work. Some material was brought out yesterday showing that we have a very significant amount of first-time buyers coming into the market. New builds are way up and the Government has reached and overshot its targets in respect of the number of houses, overall, that have been built. However, that needs to increase more, which I accept. We need more houses but we will get it right.

I want to return to an issue I have spoken about here in the past week with regard to respect for front-line workers and, in particular, An Garda Síochána. I briefly mentioned that there have been a number of vicious attacks on members of An Garda Síochána but I mentioned in passing that day also the effect this has on the families of members of the force, male and female.

These types of incidents, where their children are at an age where they know what is going on, have an appalling effect on their mental health. There are situations where gardaí have been followed home from work by alleged criminals who say that they know where these Garda members are and where their children are. Every one of us needs to stand and support all front-line workers but, in particular, An Garda Síochána, who are the people we all call for when we are in bother and when we need them. I know that they cannot be there for everything and do everything but, in general, they do a good job. People say that there is a bad apple here and a bad one there. Yes, there is but, in general, we have a good Garda force, we need to support them, and the money is there for more recruits. Let us get it done but let us get everybody supporting all front-line workers and not accept any sort of abuse, which is just not on.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach. I want to wish everyone a happy St. Brigid's Day and to thank Senator O'Loughlin in Kildare for organising that event to make St. Brigid's crosses. It is a nice idea which I welcome.

I am conscious today, speaking to both the Leader and the Cathaoirleach, that the three Ministers, Deputy McConalogue and his two Ministers of State, are currently in Portlaoise where the Minister is already giving an outline to a conference called National Dialogue on Women in Agriculture. This is very important and was headlined and discussed in agriland.ie, the Irish Farmers' Journaland a few other publications. It is also mentioned today on the radio. What was interesting was that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, said that he is very concerned at the lack of women coming through semi-State companies. Perhaps it is not a question of coming forward but of not getting that opportunity of having those appointments confirmed. He was anxious, was going to be very proactive in this area, and was going to insist that he would not ratify appointments of board members if there was not a good, logical reason there was not an equal number or why many of these women were not coming through, particularly in the area of the agri-enterprises and agrifood sector.We know women play a huge and significant part in all forms of agriculture. I commend the Minister on all of that. However, I thought it was worth noting that there is only one woman from any of the political parties on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, of which I am a member, and that is Senator Lynn Boylan on my left here, who is an exceptionally good member. There is a challenge and an opportunity there and I mean that genuinely. There is a real opportunity for the parties to go back and look at why no woman has come forward or been allowed come forward. I do not suggest they are being stopped but it is a question. Committee members do not have to stay for five years: the committee stays. Maybe we have to look at that. Why have the other parties not had any women coming forward on the agricultural panel? They are elected on the panel but somehow they are not making onto the committee. I put that as a challenge.

Finally, I seek a debate on town, village and urban renewal. There was much talk in recent days about it and I had a Commencement matter debate on the topic yesterday. I will finish on this point. I raised with the Minister that €1.5 billion was announced for regeneration and we now know we have had the first and second calls. Yesterday we were talking about the third call and there will be a fourth. Out of all of that, in a circular to all the sitting county managers, which some chief executives forwarded to me, was a confirmation that only €144 million has been spent so far. It could be said projects have been worked up but I seek a debate. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage drew up a report on urban regeneration that had 39 recommendations and which requested that this matter would come to both Houses for a debate. It is time we had a debate. I have already sent a circular to the Cathaoirleach's office on that report that we might discuss at some time in the next few months, as was requested by the committee.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I congratulate Senator Boyhan on his Commencement matter yesterday on the same matter.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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I echo what others have said and wish everybody a Lá Fhéile Bríde sona. It is very welcome that we are now going to celebrate St. Brigid who was a powerful feminist who challenged the status quo, respected the environment and wildlife, established leading community movements and, I believe, inspired Grace O'Malley, Maud Gonne, Brigitte Bardot and suffrages all over the world. It is welcome that we recognise her today with a bank holiday.

I also raise something most Senators would not have failed to notice, which is that households will now be getting €50 back in their electricity bill thanks to the work I have been doing in my office with Brian Marron in trying to chase up how it came about that households were subsidising large energy users - very profitable companies - and were doing so for 12 years. Through the freedom of information, FOI, documents we received, it was clear the recession was used as the excuse. It was going to save jobs in these large industries. At a time when households were on their knees and people were in mortgage arrears, their electricity bills were going to increase to subsidise these large energy users. It was clear in the Cabinet memorandum that this was something for which the industry had been lobbying for a long time. It was not due to the recession. It was a lobby request of large energy users of profitable companies and the Government at the time capitulated and instructed the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, to introduce that subsidy. The question is, why was it allowed to continue for 12 years, long after the financial crash was gone. At a time where we have had a cost-of-living crisis for two years, it was allowed to continue. It is news to everybody because it is not very clear on one's bill that we were subsidising those profitable companies. Now we are going to get €50 back which is very welcome and is money back in people's pockets. Nobody is denying that but that is only the error in the calculation of that subsidy; it is not the entirety of the subsidy at all because that figure would be up in the hundreds of euro for households if we were to return what we have been taking from them to subsidise these large energy companies.

We need to hear from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on this issue. In the first instance, this is because he said in the Dáil that he had instructed CRU to unwind this subsidy when in fact, the CRU carried out that analysis and informed the Government it was going to do it. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment complained about how it was going against a ministerial direction by unwinding it. Consequently, we need to get to the truth here. Did the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, instruct the CRU to unwind the subsidy or, as the CRU has said, did it decide to unwind it only for the Department of the then Minister, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, to complain about the unwinding?

Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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I will speak on an issue I brought up yesterday regarding the communications Bill and the timelines for that Bill to go through the House. I am aware the Leader is doing work on that to perhaps tighten up the timescales on it but unfortunately, even with the current timelines, the funding that has been set aside in the agreement put in place last year will not be in place for the February payment, for example. I point out for the record that I am a postmaster myself but I have spoken to a number of offices, not just in my own county but around it, and particularly in Dublin, which will be in a very tight situation again. Will the Leader speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, who is the line Minister of State within the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on this matter, and ask that An Post put that payment in place for the February payroll because the legislation will not be in place in time for it to be paid out? Particularly in the city areas, where high rents are increasing, many offices are going to find it extremely difficult. The Minister of State, Deputy Chambers may be able to intervene.

Annie Hoey (Labour)
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Beannachtaí na Féile Bríde oraibh ar fad. It is always great to have a bank holiday but particularly one in celebration of a woman. Whether you believe in St. Brigid or goddess Brigid or a combination of both, her history, lore and mythology are very important to many people.

I wish to reflect on a matter that has been talked about in both Houses which is what is happening in many of our communities regarding refugees and migrants. Some really serious things are happening, ranging from people expressing disquiet, annoyance or concerns, all the way to, as was reported in The Irish Times,an attack on a migrant's camp in Ashtown where some really violent scenes were described. In my own area in Dublin North-West, there have been some really aggravated displays. I am going to call some of it organised thuggery quite frankly. People have come out with hammers and hurls and whatever else they are having themselves and it is quite simply organised thuggery. That is all happening in the milieu of a vacuum around this situation, whether that be from a Government or another level. I feel this is running away from us and the situation in some areas is already out of control. We in the Labour Party had a public meeting on Monday night in Drogheda which was invaded by people who wanted to protest against refugees and migrants. An Garda Síochána was there and it was quite a het up event. I am sure it is not going to be the first of this kind of event. We are in a situation where public representatives and local groups have concerns that they cannot organise because people are coming in to protest against refugees and migrants. There also has been a weaponising of events. We have seen a fairly lively smearing of a reporter and a photographer who reported the Ashtown incident; the online abuse of whom is absolutely vile and beneath contempt and I stand with the National Union of Journalists, NUJ, and its statement on that. I sometimes wonder is it because one of the journalists involved was the one who broke the story of Savita Halappanavar and there is still a harbouring of annoyance 11 years on at her for doing that. I digress but there is an enormous amount of misinformation happening online at the moment. People are believing some things that seem almost fantastical to others and yet they are being shared around and believed fully.My colleague, Senator Sherlock, has talked about the role of the social media giants and their responsibility. We have seen and heard the benefits they have sometimes in spreading these things online. A debate about this is not necessarily the right thing but it is important the Government gets a hold of this. There is a vacuum of information and a plethora of misinformation. If we do not get a grip on what is going on, I fear someone will end up losing their life.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I remind Members who have just arrived in the Chamber that we are going to pause at noon for a minute's silence as a pause for peace. If I interject, it is not that I am trying to be rude or anything but that we have agreed we will have a pause for peace at noon.

I welcome to the Gallery Roisin O'Neill and Vicente Gallardo, who are guests of Senator Mullen. They are here from Carroll College in Helena, Montana to participate in an intervarsity debating competition in Trinity College. We wish them every success in the competition and hope they have a very enjoyable visit to Leinster House and to Ireland. Céad míle fáilte.

Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)
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I wish everyone a happy St. Brigid's Day. I thank my female colleagues for taking on this campaign and being responsible for achieving a bank holiday that we will have from next Monday on.

I raise the issues of the legacy Bill, the Bill of Rights and the protocol Bill currently before the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. The situation we face with the legacy Bill is an especially difficult one. The Cathaoirleach was with us when we discussed these issues in Strasbourg before Christmas. I was part of a deputation that met Lord Jonathan Caine before Christmas and I also met him when he was here last September. I know from the UK Government's approach to this how intent it is on passing the legacy Bill. I think of the impact it is going to have on thousands of families throughout this country, on the Good Friday Agreement and on us trying to move on and share this island. The UK Government has taken a reckless approach such that every political and human rights organisation in this country opposes what it is doing. It goes completely against a victim-centred approach and is wrong. I appeal to the UK Government to withdraw the Bill and restart with a victim-centred approach. I ask the Irish Government to be ready to take whatever actions, legal or otherwise, are necessary to undo this legislation. I have a final point to make on the protocol Bill. The Bill will not be passed or resolved until such time as the legacy issue is dealt with in the UK Parliament, and that means months down the road. That is the sad thing.

Tom Clonan (Independent)
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Beannachtaí Lá Fhéile Bríde oraibh ar fad. On the day we celebrate St. Brigid and Irish women in general, I draw the House's attention to the book just launched by Company Quartermaster Sergeant Karina Molloy, entitled A Woman in Defence. She was on "The Late Late Show" on Friday night and has been on all the major media platforms over recent days describing her time in the Defence Forces. The period spanned 30 years and 278 days. I was asked to review the book for The Irish Timesand was struck by the systemic and systematic nature of the sexual harassment and sexual assault that was perpetrated on Karina Molloy and her female colleagues during her time in the Defence Forces. It was systemic and systematic in that there was an explicit architecture of standard operating procedures, Defence Forces regulations and memorandums that made, and still make, the Defence Forces an explicitly discriminatory organisation with very little by way of aspiration to equality and diversity. In the book, Karina Molloy says that in her 30 years and 278 days of service she could only find three years in which she was not the target of a sexual assault, including attempted rape. Think about that.

I believe the report of the independent review group, the judge-led inquiry, into the toxic, misogynist culture of the Permanent Defence Force is being give to Cabinet today and will be passed on to the Attorney General. Publication is due in about three weeks' time. That is going to be a watershed moment for our armed forces because I believe it will show there has been no change and, in fact, that the culture has deteriorated in the 23 years since I set out the warning in my PhD. I know the Leader's commitment to our armed forces; we are fellow veterans. We need to have a major debate here. We need to have the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Deputy Micheál Martin, in the Chamber after the report's publication to figure out what is happening. As Karina Molloy says, as it currently stands, the Defence Forces are a dangerous place for women. They are not fit to purport to serve the State if that is the case.

Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail)
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Beannachtaí Lá Fhéile Bríde, a Chathaoirligh. I raise the issue of 44,000 pensioners who are due back pay. Most worked as nurses or in social care. There are some doctors as well and many carers. An increment of €500-odd was to be paid on 1 October 2021 and again in 2022, and there is another increment to be paid in February. In most of these pensions I would say there is a minimum of €1,500-plus, which is quite a considerable amount of money. Many of them could be up to €2,000 coming into February. The excuse that seems to be being given is there is some glitch in the system or something to that effect. It was agreed nearly three years ago at this stage that it was to backdated. Some of the payments were started More than two years ago. The Leader might bring this up. This is a very urgent question and many people are depending on and looking for this money, especially because some of them are not on the largest of pensions. I would appreciate it if the Leader would bring this up with the relevant Minister to see where the glitch is. I assume it is the responsibility of the Minister for Finance, Deputy McGrath. We are being told there is some glitch with the payments or how they cash them or whatever else. It is there, it is agreed and nobody is disputing it but the people have not been paid. It is 3% backdated over recent years so it is well due at this stage.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I call Senator Sherlock next, and remind her that at noon we will have the pause.

Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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Yes. Go raibh maith agat agus Lá Fhéile Bríde chomh maith. I reiterate the call I made last week for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, to come to the House for statements on the job losses we are seeing. Tech firms continue to make the headlines, with PayPal and HubSpot doing so this morning, but hospitality and retail are also suffering in the form of having to reduce jobs. The news yesterday from Tesco in the UK has also sent a chill down the spines of many people.

A number of Members have spoken of the shocking atrocities and attacks in Palestine that have been taking place, though Operation Breakwater, for many years now. The past nine months especially has seen about 150 Palestinians and 30 Israelis dead. With the new Israeli Government we are going to see those records broken this year and Palestine itself in danger of hitting new lows in the brutalisation of its people. I ask that the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin, would come to the Seanad because Ireland cannot continue its usual formula of words. I do not mean to be disparaging when I say that but something needs to change in the international response in the EU and at the UN Security Council. We need to hear from the Minister what Ireland's approach is going to be. There is the long-standing call that we recognise the state of Palestine, we had the Bill from this House on the purchase of goods from illegal settlements, and there is the failure by the State to recognise what is going on in Palestine, which is apartheid. I ask for the Minister, Deputy Martin, to come to the House.