Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Before I call the Leader to propose the Order of Business, I wish to inform Members that on Tuesday, 28 February, the Seanad will do an exercise similar to that of the Dáil for the women of the Seanad. I will come back later in the day with final details on that.

Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on accommodation for international protection applicants, 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, and time may be shared, and with the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 2, Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill 2023 – Order for Second Stage and Second Stage, to be taken at 2.15 p.m. and to conclude at 4 p.m. if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed eight minutes and all other the Senators not to exceed five minutes, and time may be shared, and with the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 3, motion regarding the report of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media entitled Working Conditions and Skills Shortages in Ireland’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector, to be taken at 4 p.m. with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours; No. 4, Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill 2022 – Report and Final Stages, to be taken at 6 p.m.; and No. 133(10), Private Members' business, motion regarding welfare and safety of workers in the public health service, to be taken on conclusion of No. 4 and with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I support the outline of the very busy Order of Business.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I am sorry. Will the Leader clarify that No. 2 is to be taken at 2.15 p.m.?

Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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Yes, at 2.15 p.m.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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As I said, I support the outline of what is going to be a very busy Order of Business today. I commend the Government on the cost-of-living measures that were announced to supplement what was already announced in the budget last October. They are targeted responses. They are not everything we would all like to see. Overall, it is a package that will put money back in people's pockets and help people through what is a very difficult period. I particularly welcome the announcement that the 9% VAT rate will remain until the end of August. That gives some breathing space to our hotels, our restaurants, our accommodation providers and the people in the general tourism industry in County Clare and indeed all other counties that depend heavily on tourism. It means that for every €100,000 of turnover they take in, they will have an extra €3,500 to reinvest in their businesses, and to help to sustain and grow their businesses in future. Like everybody else, I fully accept that these are temporary measures which will come to an end on 31 August. However, we need to have a debate on VAT rates in general because they are too restrictive. We need to be able to see regionalised VAT rates for cities. There should be city taxes that deal with the gouging and the other issues that take place in cities and busy areas.

The social welfare measures are welcome. Everybody accepts that we will see a significant drop in fuel and diesel costs over the coming months. The sensible approach is to have a phased reintroduction of the measures that were put in place to support people who are filling their tanks every day to go to work. It is a sensible approach. It is not a cliff edge. It is welcome. Overall, it is targeted. The changes being made to the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, scheme, are indeed welcome. I would like to see people who use bulk tank gases in rural Ireland, particularly in the restaurant industry, benefit from the TBESS. A restaurant in Ballsbridge that gets piped gas benefits from the TBESS, but restaurants in Ballinalacken or Ballyvaughan in County Clare that use bulk tanks do not benefit from it. I hope the Minister will introduce some sort of grant measure in order to correct that anomaly because we cannot have rural Ireland being discriminated against in the TBESS compared with urban Ireland.

Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail)
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I also support the Order of Business as outlined by the Leader. I welcome the package announced by the Government yesterday. It is in excess of €1 billion and comes to approximately €1.3 billion. It is fairly well targeted. In these situations, it is not possible to look after everybody in the way we might like. I think from talking with the public that people are quite satisfied with this.We are in the lucky situation that we have an extra bit of money, mainly because of corporate taxes, which enables us to do this at this point in time. It certainly would be a very difficult position for very many people if we could not come to their aid at this particular juncture because many people are finding life tough. I think that without those Government interventions, many people would be in a very poor situation.

I welcome the fact that the VAT rate will be held at 9%. I know that not everybody politically wanted that to be done but retaining the rate is really important. Like Senator Conway, I call for a wide debate on VAT rates going forward. I believe that 13% VAT is way too high for the tourism sector, which is comprised of hotels and restaurants, and I would like to see something happening on that as we go forward. I also welcome the new educational package announced by the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley.

All of the announcements are good. I challenge the energy companies to start reducing their prices. They should do that and play their part as they have made enormous profits. I also hope that the cost of diesel and petrol will come down. That seems to be the indication and I hope that will happen.

I have spoken previously about how we treat front-line workers. The recent attack on two members of An Garda Síochána in this city was absolutely disgraceful. We must condemn these attacks no matter where they happen in this country. I saw a picture of one of the gardaí standing beside a squad car and looking into the faces of about a dozen people. It is clear from the picture that written all over his face is concern about what will happen to him. I wonder what went through that gentleman's mind at that time. There is no justification whatsoever for these types of attacks. I do not think that it is good enough for us to come into either the Dáil or the Seanad and talk about these issues. We need a debate on respect for front-line workers and we, as Senators, should lead it. Perhaps the Deputy Leader will follow up and arrange a debate. I would like the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste or the Minister for Transport to attend the debate. I ask for that because we need to take a lead on this matter. Attacks have happened all over this country. Fine people who were in nursing, in teaching and in An Garda Síochána have left their good jobs not because of the cost of living but because of the abuse they have received. Therefore, we must find a better way to handle situations where people get frustrated, annoyed and angered. We must condemn the attacks that have recently occurred on members of An Garda Síochána and we should all condemn the attacks.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Leader for the draft Order of Business. I welcome the debate on the Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill 2023. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss this very significant and progressive legislation. I was present at the launch of the Heritage Council Strategic Plan 2023-2028 at 10.30 a.m. this morning. The document, Our Place in Time, was launched by the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. I recommend that everyone gets a copy of this excellent document as it is very simple, has great clarity and sets out the vision. I ask the Deputy Leader to arrange at a future date statements on heritage because the strategic plan is worthy of that. I know we will discuss heritage later today. I wish to mention an interesting extract, quoted in the document, from a speech by Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of The Heritage Council, he said: "When we speak of heritage today, we are talking about our interaction with the world around us, both real and abstract, our identity and our need to tell our own story in our own way", which is important to note. The strategy plan is a really good document and I commend it to the Seanad. I am sure that there will be copies of it available later in the day and it would be worth having one. I acknowledge the roles of Dr. Martina Moloney, who is a former chief executive in Galway, and Ms Virginia Teehan, who is the chief executive officer of the Heritage Council. I also acknowledge the work done by the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, on this extremely important strategic plan. I hope we will have statements on heritage when there is an available slot.

I spoke at great length about Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, on 15 February when I raised issues concerning the code of conduct, and the laws and codes that are set down for the code of governance of the semi-State sector. I wish to acknowledge the enormous work that Senator Kyne has done on this matter. We have asked for the Minister to come to this House. We do not want him to come here in two or three weeks' time under his terms. As this is a very serious matter, there are options open to us under Standing Orders. We can lodge such requests, but let us try to work with people, not against them. I again ask the Leader if she can arrange a debate on this matter in the presence of the Minister. Currently, IFI has no directors. There are issues of responsibility, accountability and the allocation of budgets, resources and personnel. All of these issues are in the mix in terms of the controversy and crisis being experienced by the organisation. Of course we must stress the importance of integrity, transparency, public concern, a lack of confidence and the issue of actual or perceived issues of concern. I again ask the Leader to invite the Minister to come here to discuss the serious crisis around IFI.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the students and teachers from St. Cronan's national school in Swords, County Dublin. Cuirim fáilte roimh gach duine acu. They are very welcome to Leinster House. I hope they have a very productive and educational day.

Mark Wall (Labour)
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I support the comments that Senator Murphy made about front-line workers. As he will be aware, later on tonight the Labour Party will use its Private Members' time to discuss healthcare workers and the attacks on healthcare staff that have taken place. The Labour Party supports what is sought by the unions and we will discuss the matter later tonight.

I wish to use my time to support the comments that Senator Murphy made about gardaí. I support the call made yesterday by the Garda Representative Association, GRA, for the establishment of a special task force to combat this violence. I am sure we are all horrified at the level of violence perpetrated against serving members of An Garda Síochána, over the last number of weeks in particular.I am sure we are all horrified by the level of violence perpetrated against serving members of An Garda Síochána over recent weeks in particular. These acts of mindless violence come at a time when our communities are at their most vulnerable and in most need of gardaí. Unfortunately, the number of people entering the force has continued to drop. Only 136 of the expected 200 training members started training this week. There has been a marked increase in the number of attacks on gardaí in the local communities they police. As other Senators have said, urgent action is needed to address this totally unacceptable behaviour. As for setting up a task force, consideration of the level of physical and online abuse that gardaí are subject to must also be part of any such task force. As well as experiencing abusive behaviour on the beat, members have reported a marked increase in online abuse across a wide range of social media platforms. The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 must be urgently reviewed in this context because it does not include the offence of abuse on social media platforms.

We are all aware of the tremendous work gardaí do on a daily basis amid the dangers they face. It is simply not good enough that the members of the force continue to suffer. We know more and more gardaí are opting to leave the force because the work is simply unsustainable. The number of members in rural and urban stations continues to fall. It is time for us to support the call for a task force to examine this drop-off in numbers. It is also time to examine what we, the Oireachtas, needs to do, as Senator Eugene Murphy said, to support the work of gardaí. I ask the Leader to organise a debate with the Minister for Justice. I know there was a similar debate in the Dáil this morning.

I wish to raise the issue of vacant house. The preliminary census will tell us that there are 166,000 vacant houses. We are all aware of the new Croí Cónaithe grant the Government introduced. While it is a very worthwhile grant which can make a difference, I am experiencing some problems with it on the ground. One of the issues relates to the requirement of a person to produce proof that the house has been vacant for two years. People find this requirement very difficult and have called it the number one issue. The Croí Cónaithe grant for vacant buildings varies between €30,000 and €50,000. It has been regularly advertised in the media in recent weeks. It is a great grant but we need to discuss it further because some aspects of it are not working on the ground. This grant can make a difference.

Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail)
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I will pick up where Senators Wall and Eugene Murphy left off in referring to the shocking incident in Ballyfermot. The viciousness of the attack beggars belief. The community is terrified by the actions of these cowboys and their total disregard for gardaí. If we have a debate on this matter, which I hope the Leader agrees to, we must look at strengthening laws in respect of people who attack gardaí, stop them from doing their word or record them and distribute the video on social media. These are areas that need to be tightened up. We must look at longer jail terms for anyone who contemplates going down this road. I back Senators Wall and Murphy in that regard.

The ESB was formed in 1927 to modernise Ireland through electrification. There was a great revolution at the time, which some people referred to as the fire in the wires. There was a big scare about the ESB's electrification programme, which we now know made us a modern country. The ESB should still serve the people. It is not doing so at present. The prices being charged and the bills businesses have received have gone through the roof. The ESB is putting them out of business. The cost of gas and power on the wholesale market is a multiple of what the ESB is charging. The cost of power is lower than what it was before the Ukraine war. The Minister should call the ESB in to have a serious talk. Its representatives should be brought before an Oireachtas committee to discuss the company's policy. It was very quick to increase prices at the first opportunity but when given the opportunity to work with businesses, it is not doing so. This is not good enough.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I extend my support to the gardaí who were under siege by a gang of youths in Ballyfermot. I am very grateful to the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, for having an immediate meeting with me yesterday in response to that and to discuss what is going on in the community, as he continues the work the Minister, Deputy McEntee, began. I am grateful we are bringing in higher penalties and longer sentences for people who attack front-line workers. It behoves us as a parliamentary community to support the introduction of body cameras for gardaí and support gardaí in their work. I also want to point out that Ballyfermot is a tight-knit community of really good people. It is important that they are not demonised by a tiny cohort and we are careful in our language in support of that community.

I will use my remaining time to highlight two numbers, 17 and 13. Today is day 17 of Mick Finnegan's protest outside the St. John's Ambulance headquarters. It is 13 weeks since the Dr. Geoffrey Shannon's report was placed in the hands of St. John's Ambulance. The report covers the historical child sexual abuse that occurred in that organisation between the 1960s and 1990s. It is outrageous that we still have no word on when the report will be published or why it has not been published by now. A number of matters arise. I stood with the person who was covering the shift last Friday morning and saw the high level of public support for this call on St. John's Ambulance expressed by people walking and driving by. It is shameful that an organisation, which has youth volunteers and access to youths across this country-----

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Go raibh maith agat.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I apologise, a Chathaoirligh, but I need to finish this. St. John's Ambulance is reliant on donations. It does not get anything from the State, which is more the pity because we could possibly stop it if that were the case. It gets money from the IRFU, the FAI, the GAA and the St. Patrick's Festival for providing volunteers. Those organisations now need to suspend that funding until such time as this report is published.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Míle buíochas.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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How can they use the services of an organisation that is failing to publish a report and show immediate, urgent action on historical child sexual abuse? The delay speaks volumes. I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I highlight again the case of 26 students in Limerick who have not received a school place for September. Yesterday, 21 February, was D-day for them because students had the right to change their mind and refuse or accept a school place. The Minister and Department must engage with these students. While I accept the Minister has been engaging with Limerick Education Centre and Tusla, there is no direct communication with the families of these children. It is a very stressful time for the 26 children in questions, their families and the schools concerned. Some of them have received 11 rejection letters. That is the way the system works in Limerick so someone who applies to 11 schools can receive 11 rejection letters. My heart goes out to the 26 children. The Minister must make direct contact with these 26 families. While the message is going to the education centre and to Tusla, it is not going directly to the students. They are in limbo. This issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I raise the same issue Senator Kyne raised yesterday, namely, the vetting that has to be done for people taking up jobs in the HSE and teaching posts. Many of our young people travel all over the world for a number of years and, at some stage, many will come back and find work in Ireland. As a country, we are looking for a lot of people to work in the HSE, the health service, teaching and many other areas in the State. If one spends six months in any country outside of Ireland, one has to be vetted in each of those countries. That puts an enormous onus on the person who gets a job here. In some cases, when people get a job, they are told that they have only hours to take up the job. They may have to get vetting in several countries right around the world. There are no proper forms to do so. The HSE and the Department of Education do not take responsibility for giving people the forms. There are no forms in the embassies around the world. The Garda states it is not its problem. However, there is quite clearly a problem in this regard. I ask the Leader to bring this to the attention of the Government. There should be a standard form in our embassies right around the world and the young people travelling around the world and perhaps going to stay more than six months in any one country should be made aware that when they come back here, they will need to be vetted in each of those countries when they come back. Moreover, the embassies should have forms of some type. In some countries one needs to be fingerprinted. The UK does not do fingerprinting except in the cases of criminals. There are quite a lot of problems in relation to vetting and certainly one cannot get vetted and take up a job within 72 hours, which has happened in some cases I know of. I ask the Leader to bring this to the attention of the Government, particularly to the Departments of Health and Education because it is a problem and we need those young people coming back here to take up positions.

Barry Ward (Fine Gael)
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Yesterday I put down a Commencement matter in relation to the operation of accessibility services in DART stations in my area. It was ruled out of order and I understand the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, may not have direct responsibility for Iarnród Éireann and or other transport services but the reality is they are public realm services. It is absolutely unacceptable and unreasonable that a wheelchair user or a person with other mobility issues should arrive at a train station and find that they cannot get on the train or cannot get to the far platform because a lift is out of order or they have not given notice or a ramp is not available, or whatever it is. A great deal of public money was spent installing fancy lifts with bridges across the DART platforms at places like Blackrock, Booterstown, Salthill and other stations in my area. I welcomed that as I think it was a progressive move but it seems that as often as not, lifts are out of order. When they go out of order, there seems to be no urgency to get them operational again. It is neither fair nor reasonable to expect wheelchair users to have to ring up the DART station the morning of travel to find out if they are going to be able to get on the train when they get there. Nor is it reasonable for them not to have any notice or when they find out that the lift is not working today that it is not going to be working till next week, or whenever it is. It is really important that the State puts down a marker in relation to accessibility. It should not matter whether one has a mobility issue; public transport should be for everyone, whether it is a DART or a bus. There are all kinds of other issues with Bus Éireann and its facilitation of wheelchair users. However, in terms of these particular issues, lifts can be fixed. If they are broken, they need to be fixed as a matter of urgency in order that everybody can use public transport.

Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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This is not quite in a similar vein but the issues surrounding the national car test, NCT, need to be addressed by the Department of Transport. I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Transport to come to the House because of the inability of this House to put on a Commencement debate regarding NCTs. It is unbelievable that the Minister does not turn up to a Commencement debate in the Seanad because the NCTs are not his direct responsibility. We now have a scenario where the waiting lists in some centres are over six months. If one does get an appointment but is outside the booking period, one does not get an NCT certificate of 12 months' duration. One gets a certificate maybe six or seven months, and then back into the circle again. Then we are wondering why we have a backlog in the NCT centres. We have a Minister who will not come here to talk about the issue in Commencement debates. We need to do something drastic here. Either the Minister has responsibility for the NCT or he has no responsibility for anything at all. We need to have a debate with the Minister for Transport in this House, about the NCT centres and how they are managed. Is it appropriate that a client who cannot get a booking through no fault of his own, only gets a certificate for the period of time that is left? I was in contact this morning with a man in Skibbereen who got a certificate for seven months. He was six months waiting for the appointment. Through no fault of his own he only got a seven-month certificate. That is just not good and then we have a Minister who will not come to the House to discuss it. There should be accountability. I ask the Leader and the Cathaoirleach to use their powers to make sure that the Minister comes to this House to take responsibility for what is happening in the shambles of a service that is the NCT service.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I seek a debate with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, some time soon. I also thank the Leader for getting the Minister to meet the hedgerows group that was protesting outside Leinster House last week. Those involved were highly appreciative of the fact that the Minister came out to meet them.

I want to welcome the announcement of the new targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, by the Minister. I remember when the scheme started it was very restricted to different sectors in agriculture. It has really branched out for areas like tillage now where farmers can invest up to €90,000 in solar panels and get a 40% grant on top of that. TAMS is also promoting young farmers and women in farming. A sum of €370 million has been put into the scheme. It is a good time for the Minister to come in to the House to discuss issues in relation to farming. I am aware that he was presented with a letter from a number of members of the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, yesterday in respect of sheep farming and the challenges they face. I brought up this issue here a number of weeks ago, in that I could see the price was dropping and there were going to be big challenges for sheep farmers in my own county, in Tipperary. It would be helpful if the Minister could come in to discuss that. Many of these farmers are at the pin of their collar at the moment. They have been asking for support for a long time with no one really listening. It has reached the point now where the IFA has had to send a group to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to try to get the Minister to see if he can support them in some way. We are supporting businesses in all sectors across the country at present in the cost-of-living crisis. This sector of the farming community also needs that support. I ask that we prioritise the sheep sector because it is an important element in the agriculture industry, especially in my county of Tipperary.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome to the Public Gallery Cillian Kirk, from the Curragh, County Kildare, who is here on work experience with Senator Wall. He has been very diligent all week here.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the recent allocations by the Minister for Transport to Transport Infrastructure Ireland for national roads and greenways. However I urge a certain amount of caution regarding cost inflation within road projects I am not just talking about the major national road problems. I am also taking about the ordinary road maintenance budgets the local authorities have to spend. They could spend more but the costs of these projects now whether it be in relation to labour, to bitumen or 804 crushed stone are all increasing. Transport costs in general are increasing also. Maybe we could write to the Minister in respect of additional allocations for local authorities.

I welcome the allocation for Galway County Council. A large portion of the national road budget in Galway for this year includes some €25 million for the completion of the Moycullen bypass on which works are progressing. It is due to open next August or September. This will be a major infrastructure project for the Connemara area and for commuters in Moycullen. It will reshape the village of Moycullen and improve safety and quality of life within the village. It will also improve the commute from Killannin, Oughterard, Recess and out towards the Clifden area as well. The quality of life will improve in terms of the journey times coming home from Galway city. In conjunction with this, there is certainly a need for improved bus services. There are 13 buses a day coming in from Oughterard and Moycullen into Galway city. There are applications for additional licences from Citylink for improved services. Bus Éireann has also been asked to improve services by looking at the demand analysis on the route. This is whole-of-transport approach in relation to issues in the area.

Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to raise the plight of some 44,500 HSE workers, including hospital porters, doctors, physiotherapists, caterers and others who are still waiting on increases in their pensions.Thousands of retired nurses, social workers and many others are missing out on pension increases due to a problem with the HSE updating its computer system. Under the Building Momentum pay deal, these retirees are overdue two pay rises, one of which dates back to February last year, which is now a year ago. I understand the reason for the problem is the updating of the HSE payroll system. The net result is that these retirees and current workers are losing out on a significant amount of money. They are due money back and if one includes the two payments, it is somewhere in the region of €1,500 or €2,000. As I am sure the Cathaoirleach will agree, that is a significant amount of money.

The public service colleagues, including gardaí, teachers and many others, of these people have already received this payment. It is unfair that healthcare workers, who we rightly lauded during the ongoing pandemic and who have worked so hard through the years, now find themselves out of pocket and without this significant amount of money. I ask the Leader to use her good office and write to the HSE to inquire about this issue and implore it to get its house in order, so to speak, in order that these people will get the money they are richly entitled to.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Before Senator Craughwell rises to his feet, I welcome the second contingent of students from St. Cronan's Junior National School in Swords, County Dublin. They are all very welcome. I call Senator Craughwell.

Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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That was excellent timing; I thank the Cathaoirleach. This week, we learned again of an assault on gardaí. We are in a situation where the uniformed services are falling apart. Seven or eight years ago, I started talking about the problems in the Defence Forces. It took six years to get a commission in place and we are still waiting to see its output. The strength of the Defence Forces is now below 8,000.

An Garda Síochána is finding it impossible to recruit. The truth of the matter is that the overarching hand of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in every organ of the State must be controlled. The Department was a great organisation when it was needed to get the economy back on track. Now, however, hiring at any level in the Civil Service almost requires the sanction of its Secretary General. That is just far too controlling.

Nobody will stay in uniform with the pensions available under the 2013 pension schemes, particularly members of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána. They are outrageous pensions that offer nothing. People speak of gold-plated pensions in the public service, but they are no longer available. Who would take a job in the public service when we speak of career averages and so on? This applies not just to the Army or the Garda but also to prison officers, nurses and all those on the front line. We have to wake up or we will have no gardaí. No young man and woman would want to join a force where they are at risk every night of the week of being beaten up and attacked and various activities such as cars being rammed are taking place.

There are under 8,000 people in the Defence Forces. We bigged ourselves up in Europe this week. We are sending 30 people out to train Ukrainians and we are joining a battle group, but to do that we have to leave the Golan Heights. We are running the Garda and the Defence Forces into the ground and it has to stop. We need a debate on front-line services across all Departments. I will leave that with the Leader.

Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)
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I raise the situation we now face on this island in relation to the protocol and the situation we were sprung into at the weekend by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he put himself into the equation. It is important that Members of the Upper House and the Lower House stand strongly together on this issue because we need to find a mechanism on this island to move on with the EU.

What has taken place is disturbing, as is the agenda that Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, ERG, in the Tory Party are setting. I also ask the DUP to have courage on this issue. Moreover, we need to encourage Prime Minister Sunak to show leadership and drive on. We cannot afford to wait any longer or play any more games with Northern Ireland. I feel that is what is happening with Boris Johnson and other people who do not have concern for Northern Ireland in their hearts.

The Northern Ireland economy has done very well and has completely outshone the mainland UK economy. That is embarrassing for Boris Johnson and those who push the policies they have tried and failed to deliver through Brexit. They could not find solutions and they pushed agendas that were wrong and reckless. We all need to collectively stand up and say enough is enough, that we want to move on collectively on this island and that it is time for a deal.

Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail)
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I thank all Members who contributed to the Order of Business. Senators Conway and Murphy spoke about the cost-of-living measures announced by the Government yesterday. There was a general welcome for what was a broad suite of measures totalling €1.2 billion. Many of them are targeted at the most vulnerable but there were some universal measures as well. The extension for a short period of the 9% VAT rate for hospitality was also broadly welcomed.

Senator Conway raised an important issue of bulk gas not being included in the energy scheme for businesses and I share his concerns in that regard. Many businesses, particularly in rural areas, do not have piped gas and rely on bulk purchase. I will make those views known to the Minister.

Senator Murphy also spoke about the attacks on gardaí we have witnessed in recent days, not just in Ballyfermot. We have seen an increase in attacks on members of the force. Senators Wall, Davitt, Seery Kearney and Craughwell raised the same issue. It is, therefore, fair to say that across parties and across the House there are genuine concerns about the direction of travel in this regard and the increasing abuse of members of the Garda. According to the Garda Representative Association, GRA, some 1,000 members of the force are assaulted annually, with 300 of these assaults involving injuries that require time off work. It is an escalating issue and I will request a debate at the earliest opportunity with the Minister for Justice. The protection of gardaí and Garda numbers is the bread and butter of the Department of Justice. This area needs to be a serious priority and needs to be given consideration. The issue of declining numbers was raised by Senator Craughwell in particular.

We can now draw comparisons between An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. We have an opportunity to turn it around for An Garda Síochána, whereas we allowed the strength of the Defence Forces to dwindle to such a level that it will take us a long time to resolve the issue. We need to listen seriously to members of the Defence Forces and the GRA. Senator Wall mentioned the task force the GRA has asked for and that request should be acceded to. It is a reasonable one as a task force would allow us to hear the views of members and understand why we are not getting enough people to join the force. Senator Craughwell also raised the issue of pensions and I agree with him that this is a significant factor for members of the Garda choosing to leave the force early rather than see out their full careers. That may be an issue we will have to revisit.

Senator Boyhan welcomed the debating on the heritage Bill later today and drew our attention to this morning's launch of Our Place in Time by the Heritage Council. He again raised Inland Fisheries Ireland, an issue that has also been raised numerous times by Senator Kyne, and reiterated his request that the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, come to the Chamber to answer questions on the matter. I have made a request to the Minister to come to the Chamber and while he has agreed to do so, he will not be available until the end of March. We will liaise with the Minister's office to see if we can bring that debate forward. We also understand that there will be a week when the Minister will be abroad on ministerial duty, so it may not be possible to get him into the Chamber at an earlier time.

Senator Ó Donnghaile spoke about the election of Jarlath Burns as president of the GAA. He also spoke about Féile an Earraigh and Féile an Phobail. He drew our attention to the many events that will be running as part of Féile an Earraigh from 1 March to 19 March and asked for the support of the House.

Senator Wall spoke about healthcare workers and the difficulties they are facing.The Labour Party Private Members' motion later today will address that issue and give Members an opportunity to discuss it in more detail with the Minister. I commend the Labour Party on bringing the motion to the House and facilitating that debate for Members.

Senator Wall also raised the need to expand the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act to cater for online abuse. I would welcome an opportunity to debate a Private Members' Bill on that issue, be it from the Senator or others.

I take on board the point Senator Wall made about the Croí Cónaithe grant. I understand there are a number of ways to demonstrate vacancy, such as getting a water reading for a house if it is still connected to show minimal usage and that nobody has been using water. People can also get something from the ESB to show that there has been minimal usage of electricity or it has been turned off. I have engaged on this with a number of people in my area. The issue has not been flagged directly with me. There is need to show vacancy because that is the whole point of the scheme. I encourage those having difficulty to liaise with the officer in the council dealing with such matters because there are a couple of avenues, rather than just one, to show vacancy.

Senator Davitt spoke about issues in Ballyfermot and about the ESB. He referred to the high prices being charged for business and ordinary customers and the delay in passing on the reduction in wholesale prices.

Senator Seery Kearney spoke about St. John Ambulance. I am aware that Dr. Geoffrey Shannon's report is awaiting publication. As it is not a departmental or ministerial report, and was commissioned by St. John Ambulance, the Minister has no responsibility in terms of pushing for publication. I urge the organisation to publish the report. It has been 13 weeks since it was completed and those involved deserve to see the content of the report.

Senator Maria Byrne again raised the issue of the shortage of school places. We had a debate in the Chamber with the Minister on that matter last week. I understand the Minister, Deputy Foley, is engaging, through her Department, to try to secure school places for the 26 children affected. I fully appreciate how stressful and challenging it is for the families involved. It is not a situation anybody wants to see for any child in the State.

Senator Paddy Burke raised an issue raised by Senator Kyne yesterday, namely Garda vetting. I suggested to Senator Kyne that it might be worth putting forward a Commencement Matter on this, but perhaps the two Senators could submit a Commencement Matter on the particular issue as it is quite niche. I understand Garda vetting is quite cumbersome, depending on where people are located, and can be a barrier to accessing employment, which is something we need to address and try to find a solution to.

Senator Ward spoke about accessibility at DART stations for those with a disability. There will be statements on the rail network on Thursday at 11.45 a.m. That might be an opportunity to raise the matter directly with the Minister. It is not the direct responsibility of the Minister, but comes under the remit of the Department of Transport in a broader sense.

Senator Lombard spoke about the NCT. I am informed that the Senator submitted a Commencement Matter, but it was ruled out of order as the Minister has said he has no direct responsibility for the NCT. I am unsure as to how we can advance the matter more fully. I might speak to the Senator after the Order of Business to see if there is another avenue we can take. It was a decision of the Minister that meant the Commencement Matter was ruled out of order rather than the House not facilitating it.

Senator Garrett Ahearn has asked for a debate with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which I will request at the earliest opportunity. He raised issues in the sheep sector, which were raised by other Members last week.

Senator Sean Kyne spoke about cost inflation in terms of delivering road projects in rural areas. It is a concern. He also welcomed the Moycullen bypass and the positive impact it will have in his area.

Senator Robbie Gallagher has put on the record of the House that 44,500 HSE workers are awaiting increases in their pensions due to a delay in upgrading the HSE IT system. That sounds strange, to say the least. I ask the Senator to submit a Commencement Matter on the issue. If that does not provide a sufficient response, I will look to engage with him and the HSE to try to advance the issue on behalf of those workers. I would certainly like to see that matter resolved.

Senator Craughwell spoke about a pension issue in the Garda. We will request that debate with the Minister for Justice at the earliest opportunity.

Senator Niall Blaney spoke about the ongoing challenges with the Northern Ireland protocol, resolving the Brexit issue for Northern Ireland and getting agreement between the UK and the EU. He referred to the unhelpful, to put it mildly, intervention by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson into the debate. People can see it for what it is, namely somebody who does not want a resolution because perhaps he was unable to achieve it during his term in office. Most people on all sides of the debate will see the merit of trying to resolve the issue at the earliest opportunity. We certainly hope to see politics in the North back up and running to where it should be without any further delays.