Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming the ambassador. We wish him well for Cyprus's national day.

The Order of Business is No. 1, Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024 - Committee Stage (resumed), to be taken at 1.30 p.m. and to adjourn at 4 p.m., if not previously concluded; No. 2, statements on the national social enterprise policy, Trading for Impact, to be taken at 4 p.m. and to conclude at 5.30 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated for the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed seven minutes each, all other Senators not to exceed four minutes each, time may be shared, and the Minister to be given not less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; and No. 50, motion 2, Private Members' business, motion regarding agriculture from the Fine Gael Senators, to be taken at 5.30 p.m., with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I add my voice of formal welcome on the behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party to the ambassador from Cyprus. It was lovely to meet him earlier. I wish all Cypriots living in Ireland a good and happy independence day.

Jenny Poole would have been 29 today. She should have been celebrating her birthday with her two young children, her parents and her family. Sadly, as we know, she was murdered by a former partner in April 2021. Her brother, Jason, has been campaigning tirelessly for the establishment of a domestic register to try to avoid similar situations where a partner has previous convictions for domestic abuse. I am privileged to have worked with Jason for the past two or three years on the establishment of the register. I have also worked in the past eight months with the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan. I am pleased to say that we expect legislation to come before Cabinet in the next few weeks. Jason's work is not in vain and we will soon enact Jenny's law. I am thinking of all the Poole family today, Jenny's birthday.

Many Members of the House have met Chloe Ray, who works with me and is an invaluable staff member. She told me yesterday about her cousin, who passed away tragically after being electrocuted while holding a charging mobile phone in the bath. Her family are absolutely devastated. Three young children will now grow up without their mother because of something that was, in truth, preventable. Ms Leah O'Gorman, the daughter of the deceased, has been in touch. She has written to a number of us about what we could and should do to try to prevent a similar situation. It is not a story of private grief but a matter of public safety, as was mentioned at the recent inquest. Many people do not realise the extreme danger of using a phone near water while it is charging. We carry these devices, which we know to be waterproof, everywhere. When we have a spare moment, we often take out our devices and check them. They are sold without clear or prominent warnings about this risk. We have visible safety warnings on kettles, hairdryers and many other household appliances. Phones, which we rely on for everything from work to family life, do not come with warnings. Please let us now allow this mother's death be in vain. We need to ensure there are mandatory warnings on all our phones. We also need a public awareness campaign so that everybody, including children and teenagers, understand the risk. This tragedy was a wake-up call. We need more awareness. We need a debate on that topic.

The last item I will raise relates to HRT, which, thankfully, women in this country can now receive free of charge. That at least should be the case. I listened to Rebecca from Kildare recently. Due to cancer treatment, she went through an early menopause. The normal HRT medicine is not appropriate for her. She needs a different type of HRT drug, namely, Veozah. It is not on the scheme, so Rebecca must pay €75 per month for it. This is absolute discrimination. We should have a debate with the Minister for Health with a view to ensuring that every woman is able to avail of HRT medicine and not just the ones that are listed on the drugs scheme.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I would like to be associated with the welcome to the ambassador who was here a few minutes ago. I wish him a happy national day.

I rise to welcome the fact that over 18,000 people will be in receipt of the companion pass, effective from today. That will help. It will allow people to bring a companion with them when they travel by train or bus. It helps to address the issue of loneliness. Today is the International Day of Older Persons. I yesterday attended an event in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, where a group of women's organisations came together to discuss things like women's sheds. It was about addressing loneliness and working together to support one another.I met a lady there called Faith who is the national ambassador for older people. I listened and discovered how she looks at things older people do, from women's sheds to the Irish Countrywomen's Association to different organisations working together and supporting each another. It certainly was a very positive gathering yesterday in Enniskerry.

The other issue is that a report was launched that shows that Limerick has one of the highest rates of derelict commercial buildings of all the cities in Ireland. We have a task force in Dublin and one in Cork. As the driver of the mid-west, Limerick needs a task force as well. I would like the Minister with responsibility for employment to come in and have a discussion on how we can help cities to drive regions in terms of economic development. To do that, we need to have a proactive task force and work with the local authority and different businesses.

Tom Clonan (Independent)
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I want to address the issue of neutrality and the triple lock. In the presidential election campaign, we have had a debate and interviews with the candidates, particularly the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil candidates, on the campaign trail. The issues of the triple lock and neutrality have come up repeatedly. Much of what has been articulated consists of misinformation. I am not going to say disinformation, because that is active deception, but it is factually incorrect information about the status of the triple lock. If we remove the triple lock, it gives any future Irish Government the power to send any number of troops to any conflict in the world by means of a simple Government majority. The proposed legislation will not modify the triple lock; it will simply abolish it. We will not have even a double or single lock; things will just be done by means of a Cabinet decision and a simple Government majority.

In recent days, I have heard the presidential candidates talk about Ireland perhaps participating in a mission outside the scope of the triple lock that would not have a UN Security Council mandate. People, including former Members of this House, have declared an interest in Irish participation in, for example, a stabilisation force in Ukraine. A stabilisation force, or an SFOR, is a war-fighting mission. The last one we had was in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was there in December of 1996 during Operation Lodestar, which was a NATO-led SFOR mission that led to full-spectrum combat operations, including air strikes on television and radio stations in Belgrade and involving collateral damage and civilian casualties. That is what we are talking about.

The continual and repeated use of the word "peacekeeping" is completely inaccurate. We need to be really careful about what we decide in these Houses in the coming months in relation to the triple lock. It behoves our presidential candidates to at least address the concerns of the Irish people directly in relation to what peace enforcement truly means. We have had Irish troops participate in peace enforcement in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2016. That was a full-spectrum combat mission, which involved the killing of hundreds and thousands of Afghan civilians and the displacement of others by the belligerent parties on both sides. That is what peace enforcement means. The era of peacekeeping, I am sorry to say, as we have seen from the unilateral decision of the Security Council to rescind the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, mandate, is over. We are in a new reality where henceforth it will be peace enforcement. We need to think really carefully about how we wish to participate in that. I am arguing that if the Government is going to use its majority to dispense with the triple lock, we need to have some other safeguards - maybe a secret ballot in the Dáil that is not whipped - but we have to do something. To assert that the triple lock has nothing to do with Irish neutrality is utterly false. It is a disgraceful thing to say. It is like suggesting that the steering and brakes in a car are not related to each other. They are intimately linked, and we need to have a constitutional guarantee and expression of military neutrality in the same way that Switzerland and Austria do. I ask for a debate on that matter.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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I want to raise the issue of how people with asthma are not properly cared for. Asthma is seen as an acute illness rather than a chronic condition. That needs to change. We have one of the highest rates of asthma in the world. Some 450,000 people in the country have asthma, and it is predicted that this could rise to 900,000 at some stage. Fifty per cent of those people do not have the condition under control. We also have the second highest asthma mortality rate among the 27 EU countries. It is predicted, on the basis of provisional figures from the Central Statistics Office that as many as 94 people may have died from asthma last year. Hospitalisation rates are quite high as well. Part of the reason is that a survey done recently found that one in four people with asthma had to forego their medication in the past few months because of the cost. They could not afford to buy their medication and thus ended up in hospital.

With access to the right medication and healthcare, we would see significant cost savings to the State. There would be fewer hospitalisations, less unscheduled GP visits, less absenteeism from work and study and less asthma-related deaths. I ask that this be given serious consideration in the context of the budget. We are very close to budget day, and maybe there will be something in the budget for asthma sufferers. If that is not the case, it could be brought to people's attention that something needs to done about this. The subsidising of asthma medication would be welcome. The new combined inhaler costs €85. That is quite steep. Many people cannot afford it and are relying on the blue inhaler only, which is not sufficient to keep the condition under control.

We also need to see a severe asthma registry similar to that which exists for cystic fibrosis sufferers. The Asthma Society of Ireland has stated that it would compile such a register and sustain it, but that it will need funding to do so. There is also a special biologics treatment for those with severe asthma, but it is not currently available in Ireland. It does not work for every asthma sufferer, but it could be introduced and rolled out here. We also need to see capacity increased at the severe asthma clinics.

The final point I will make is that increased investment in the warmer homes scheme would have major benefits. Energy poverty is a huge issue in Ireland, but it does affect those with asthma disproportionately.

Malcolm Noonan (Green Party)
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I want to raise two issues. I am not sure, but perhaps we have discussed the United Nations at 80. We have had a number of discussions this morning in relation to the UN roll. I would welcome an opportunity to have debate on the United Nations at 80 in light of the fact that this is a significant milestone in the organisation's evolution. As the UN plenary concluded, it is particularly pertinent that we have that discussion. My father played a very active role as a member of the Defence Forces and served on the early peacekeeping missions in the Congo from 1960 to 1963.

The UN is in need of urgent reform. Attempts to do that were made by previous UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Given the redistribution of power that is required from the Security Council to the General Assembly and the very notion of the existence of permanent members of the Security Council, this has hamstrung the UN in the context of carrying out its duties and with regard to its role in peacekeeping and trying to put a stop to wars. Its structure does not reflect the universal membership. It was founded in a completely different world. The future of the UN must be built on the principle of the prevention of wars, building democratic structures, strengthening democracies and eradicating poverty through a climate justice lens as opposed to just engaging in firefighting exercises. I would welcome the opportunity for a debate on the UN at 80.

The second issue I want to raise is that of transgender rights. It is a decade since the Gender Recognition Act was brought into force in 2015. The latter was very forward-thinking, progressive legislation in an Irish context, but there has been very little progress since then. There was a review in 2018, but very little progress has been made. Ireland must now act to advance equality for transgender and non-binary people. The recommendations made in 2018 and those contained in the National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy of 2019-2021 - the first of its kind - and in the annual strategy for the year 2025-26 must be acted upon as a matter of urgency. This is probably something I should table as a Commencement matter, but I felt the need to raise it today. I would welcome a debate on the matter.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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I am returning to an issue I tabled as a Commencement matter yesterday regarding the important decisions being made today at the European Council in respect of a new proposed trading agreement between the EU and Morocco. Sadly, the information I received in answer to the Commencement matter yesterday was actually inaccurate in that I was told the issue was still being negotiated. I asked what position Ireland would be taking and was told it was still being negotiated when in fact, negotiations had concluded. This raises its own questions because we were told the mandate to negotiate was given by the Council to the Commission on 10 September and the negotiations, we were told, were concluded on 18 September. That means that in a one-week period the Council was finally given a mandate, prior to which it had no mandate to act, and then magically concluded this entire trade agreement in one week. Yet when I asked about it, I was told negotiations are ongoing. In fact, we have been told negotiations have been concluded, with severe question marks over them, and the decision on signing is today.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Was that in your reply?

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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The inaccurate information was in the response to my reply. I did not have the opportunity to come back at that time. That is why I am following it up now. I would like to have a debate in the House. I hoped to deal with it through a Commencement matter but now I believe it requires a debate in the House because the decisions being made on this trade agreement are directly relevant to the positions Ireland has taken on international law.

This goes to the substantial issue. The reason for a renegotiation was that the European Court of Justice found that the agreement between the EU and Morocco was including the occupied territories of Western Sahara in relation to which Morocco did not have a mandate to sign trade agreements. The clear decision was that the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara would need to be consulted and that, implicitly or explicitly, any trade agreement should be to their benefit and it should be their decision.

The decision was made not to seek explicit permission, even though Ireland claims we want to see referendums and self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. However, it seems we made no push to say they should even have self-determination on this question of whether to have this new trade deal. The solution being put forward is extraordinary. It is that trade will intensify with the Western Sahara region, including with Moroccan settlers and Moroccan companies who are extracting resources from it. This is literally like responding in relation to the West Bank by saying there is a problem here in terms of the Palestinian people so we will intensify our trade with Israeli settlers. That is the direct comparison. Ireland has been clear that that is not in line with international law.

I want to know what Ireland is doing on the very comparable issue of Western Sahara. Rather than being fobbed off by being told it is still in the air, when we know it is not, I want to know what Ireland is saying in the room on this issue. I would like a debate on that, and a Minister to come into the House.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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To clarify, did the response received by the Senator yesterday outline that the decision at the Council on the agreement was going to be today?

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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No. It said that negotiations are ongoing.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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That is what the Senator was told.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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Yes. I know they were not. The vote is today.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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But that was not in the reply.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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No. I was simply asking-----

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Will the Senator send me what she received?

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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Certainly. That is a minor point, to be honest. I will send it on because accuracy is important, of course, but the key point is for the substantial issue to be discussed. It is very relevant to the position Ireland has taken on international law and its application.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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For the benefit of Members, if Members put in Commencement matters, they should receive up-to-date information. Whatever the reply is, if something is happening today and the Senator got a reply yesterday in which that information was not included, I think-----

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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It was inaccurate. I really just wanted to know what Ireland would be doing when the vote took place rather than what will be in the agreement, which had already been finalised.

Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Before the recess I raised the issue of farm safety here because again this year Farm Safety Week fell during our recess. It ran from July 21 to 25, while we were in recess. Had we been sitting, we would have had the Minister in for statements that week. By virtue of the fact we missed out on that, I am raising the issue again today. The catalyst for raising it today is twofold. First, it is in reference to an open letter which the Minister has issued to all farmers to create awareness of safety on their farms. It is only 1 October and we have reached 16 fatalities, unfortunately, which was the total figure for entirety of year. We all need to raise awareness of safety. The heavy machinery season, with silage and the harvest, etc. is over, and now we are coming into the season for housing animals. Livestock is as much a threat as machinery. Everybody needs to be careful.

The issue is twofold in that when we discuss farm safety we often do not include mental health. We talk about the physical health and well-being of the farmer. However, it should concern the mental and physical health and well-being of the farmer. I welcome the announcement and launch at the National Ploughing Championships by the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Butler, of 15,000 hours of free counselling, either over the phone or in person. The over-the-phone element is vitally important. When a farmer comes in after a long hard day he is not motivated to change his clothes and go to an office or GP practice. He can pick up the phone and receive counselling.

My ask is not unprecedented. I ask that when we bring in the Minister with responsibility for farm safety, we bring in two Ministers. It would be a powerful statement with regard to the importance of mental health within the whole issue of farm safety, physical and mental health if the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health was sitting beside the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, when we have that debate in order to highlight the inclusion and importance of one's mental health as well as one's physical health.

PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)
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As the weather gets colder and the long nights approach, I would again like to bring attention to the turf that continues to lie wet on the banks of three south-east Galway bogs. On Ardgraigue, Barroughter and Cloonmoylan bogs, families have been prevented from returning to save the turf by a High Court injunction at the behest of the NPWS earlier this year. These families now face into the winter with empty turf sheds. The NPWS has offered turf bank owners a once-off payment of €24,000 to walk away from the historic right to cut turf in order to facilitate the rewetting of these bogs. However, in excess of 40 families have declined this offer, and for good reason. It simply does not make financial sense. On average, a house that is heated by turf and uses a turf-fuelled range for cooking daily will require around six hoppers of turf for the year. The cost to a homeowner of hiring a contractor to cut these six hoppers of turf is approximately €600. In the absence of having access to the turf, in our local south-east Galway fuel depot the cost of replacing these six hoppers of turf with the equivalent energy in alternative solid fuel such as green willow logs and smokeless coal is approximately €7,540. Subtract from this the fuel allowance of €924 annually and this leaves an annual fuel cost for heating and cooking of €6,610. In as little as four years the compensation for walking away from an intergenerational right to cut turf on the family's bog will have been spent on alternative solid fuels.

Over three months ago in this House I called on the Minister to sign an activity requiring consent, ARC, to allow these law-abiding families back onto their bogs to save their turf that had already been cut and laid out on the turf banks. This has not been done. The winter is approaching fast. The time to save this turf has unfortunately passed. Elderly and vulnerable people in my constituency are facing into a winter with empty turf sheds and, in many cases, without other means of purchasing fuel because it simply makes no long-term sense to them and they do not want to sell the turbary rights of their land to the NPWS.This should be their prerogative. This is indeed a shameful situation and it must be remedied in advance of next spring.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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Today I speak about the steady decline of our tourist sector caused by misguided Government policy. We are witnessing the over-regulation of our small and medium enterprises, particularly bed-and-breakfast accommodation which is being strangled by bureaucracy and compliance burdens. These are the backbone of rural tourism, yet they are being treated like multinational chains. It is no wonder that many are closing their doors. Accommodation costs in Ireland have spiralled out of control. Visitors are being charged extortionate rates and value for money is plummeting. Fáilte Ireland's own reports show that demand continues to outstrip supply, driving up prices and damaging our reputation. And what of law and order? Just last week, a player from the Pittsburgh Steelers was jumped and robbed in Dublin. The historic NFL game at Croke Park, intended as a showcase of Irish hospitality, is now a global embarrassment. An Garda Síochána has yet to receive a formal complaint, but the damage to our image is done.

Let us not ignore the elephant in the room, which is the transformation of hundreds of hotels into international protection accommodation centres. Over 116 hotels and counting are now off the market, removing vital bed space from the tourism economy. Fáilte Ireland estimates this has cost the Irish economy up to €1.1 billion. We have replaced revenue streams with bottomless pits for taxpayers' money. Tourism numbers are falling. January and February saw a drop of between 25% and 30% in the number of foreign visitors. We are at a crisis point, yet the Government's own tourism Department is failing to provide a timeline for returning these hotels to public use. I call on the Minister for tourism to explain how he intends to reverse this decline. We need pro-tourism and pro-enterprise policies, not more red tape and short-term fixes.

Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)
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Ba mhaith liom ceist na slándal fuinnimh a ardú. I wish to raise the issue of energy security and securing the national grid with enough electricity supply. A local solar energy company in Loughrea raised with me the issue of VAT on solar panel batteries. If we take an instance where somebody gets the grant to install their solar panels, there is a once-off opportunity to get the 0% VAT. If that leads to the person wanting to reinstall a battery at a later date, they have to pay the full rate of VAT. We are missing an opportunity here to incentivise people to bring long-duration battery storage capacity into their homes. These take a huge drain off the national grid and allow for people to be more energy secure in their own homes without having to rely on the national supply. It is a no-brainer that we should go about making sure that on a second occasion people can avail of 0% VAT as an incentive to bring in battery storage, if they cannot afford to do everything in one go when they initially install the panels. This initiative would really bear fruit.

I also suggest that we have a discussion with the Minister on the idea of a nominal fee for solar panel installers. The reason I raise that is we do not have enough inspectors going around from site to site, making sure that the work is done to an adequate standard. This would allow for increased funding to hire more inspectors, who are very hard to get into the job, and make it a more attractive career.

Finally, there are no grants for batteries. We have a grant for the solar panels, but there is no grant to put the battery with it so that we actually store battery supply in our own homes that we can call on when we need it and stop the reliance on the national grid. These are small initiatives. Obviously, there would be a cost to the State in the short term but the long-term gain is huge. It is a strategic move that would really bear fruit if we look into it and have a discussion rather than a debate on the matter, as I think we are all on the same page here. I do not think anyone is opposing this but we should have a discussion with the Minister on this if we can.

Eileen Lynch (Fine Gael)
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Today I want to speak about the increased incidence of road traffic accidents on the Macroom bypass and the N22 east and west of the town as a result of wild deer. Since the opening of the bypass almost two years ago, there has been a massive increase in the rate of incidents involving wild deer. The deer have been displaced and that is causing more of them to be on the road. Almost every week I get a call from a member of the public advising that there has been an accident either on the bypass or east or west of it. Last week I got a call from a member of the public whose car had been hit by a deer between Ballyvourney and Macroom, causing hundreds of euro worth of damage. I am aware that measures have been taken by the Minister for agriculture to introduce deer management units, which have been set up by Farm Relief Services. There is a unit in Cork and another in Kerry. I call on the Minister to come to the House to clarify whether these deer management units are working to their required level of efficiency and also to look at whether we can put a compensation scheme in place for those who have accidents as a result of these deer. I know deer are not owned by anyone as such, but when we are not putting the correct management tools in place and innocent people are having accidents as a result, we need to look to look at it.

I am aware of two new pilot schemes that have been rolled out in County Kerry. One is the detection-and-alert scheme and the other is a deterrent scheme, whereby noise is generated at the side of roads to prevent deer going onto them. Similar schemes have been implemented in the United States. I ask the Minister to look at that to see if it could be implemented on a country-wide basis, with specific emphasis on roads where it is becoming more hazardous and deer are causing more road accidents.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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Many of us listened to parents speaking on RTÉ radio this morning on their worry about what will happen to their children with additional needs or a disability after they die. It was difficult to hear and I cannot imagine what it is like to hope that your child will pass away before you in order that they will not have to be moved into emergency State care. These circumstances are, unfortunately, quite common. In our office, one of my colleagues, Saoirse, has a younger sister with additional needs. Her family, particularly her mother, have to deal with the stress of trying to plan for who will care for her sister in the future. There is a vacuum of information and these families do not even know where to turn for advice or support or to plan. The Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 put in place by the Government outlined that 900 people require residential support but budget 2024 and budget 2025 only allocated 166 of these places. There is no long-term care plan available for these vulnerable individuals if their caregivers die or no longer have the capacity to look after them. The truth is that there is little reassurance the Government can provide for these families. It is hard to understand why there is such a lack of future planning. I understand that the Department has to respond to emergencies as they happen, but surely there should be a focus on future-proofing.

The blueprints for residential units already exist. They do not require the Department to reinvent the wheel. The Donegal Centre for Independent Living is an incredible facility that allows people with disabilities to attain their independence while knowing that support is there for them. Will the Department prioritise residential places and assisted living facilities in the next budget? Only having 18% of the residential places we need is just not acceptable for a country as wealthy as Ireland.

Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Over the last number of weeks I have met many principals, deputy principals and teachers across County Wexford in the context of the upcoming budget next week. Among the issues highlighted to me is the fact that at the moment Ireland has the highest pupil-teacher ratio across the EU, at 22.5 pupils per teacher. When it comes to next week's budget, I urge the Minister for education and the Minister for public expenditure to make available the resources necessary to ensure that we start to bring this pupil-teacher ratio back down and ensure that every child in the country gets the quality of education they deserve, so they are not in overcrowded classrooms.

Second, they highlighted to me the fact that many schools have to fundraise because of the costs associated with lighting, insurance and heating.With the capitation grant currently set at €224, the INTO has called on the Minister to make available an increase in the amount of €75 to get to grips with the current energy costs schools are experiencing. While I acknowledge that we have had solar for schools rolled out to so many schools across the country, energy bills still have a big impact on capitation grant spending.

In rural areas, the small schools pilot scheme has proven to be successful and it is now time to roll it out across the country. I very much support the calls of those teachers to proceed with that. Again, I encourage this House to raise it with the Minister for Education and Youth and the Minister for public expenditure so that those resources would be made available for education to ensure that children starting their school experience this year see it right through with top-quality education.

Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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I want to again draw attention to the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is entering its most critical 24 hours on its journey to break the illegal siege of Gaza. Over the past 24 hours, I have been thinking about some of the commentary that has come from some of the countries who have shown support but called it an exclusion zone, saying that the global sumud is entering an exclusion zone, and giving some sort of credence or formal recognition that Israel has some unknown right to create an exclusion zone. There is no exclusion zone. It does not exist. We now have other European countries calling a particular parameter in international waters an exclusion zone. The fact is that it is not illegal to carry aid to any coastal port. The only time it becomes illegal to come close to a country’s waters if it is within 12 nautical miles, which is 22 km from a country’s shore. The global sumud has never gone near 22 km of Israel's shores. It aims specifically for the Palestinian shores and continues to be intercepted within 100 nautical miles, which is international waters. Not only are we allowing Israel to completely control the lives of Gazan people, where they move, who they are, how they live, what they eat and what they do, but we are now as a society, country and globe allowing Israel to decide what waters people can travel into. What I want to know is, if and, hopefully, when we break the siege which is illegal, is Ireland ready to acknowledge that there is a legal humanitarian corridor through the waters into Palestine instead of continuing to wait for land borders to be opened? Land borders are completely controlled by Israel. The seas exist as a legal humanitarian corridor, and when the siege is broken by the humanitarian activists who have attempted to break it several times up until now, Ireland needs to be ready to acknowledge that Israel does not control the seas and we can bring aid through the sea to Gaza. We need to stop acknowledging that there is an exclusion zone that does not actually exist.

Joe Conway (Independent)
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Tá an feachtas don Uachtarántacht faoi lán-seol agus tá sé tugtha faoi dearadh agam nach bhfuil á lán de na ráitis agus idirghabhálacha atá ag teacht uaidh daoine éagsúla ró-ghalánta. I am just concerned from observing the presidential campaign that a lot of the discourse is being degraded into what I would call fairly unseemly contributions. Here we are in a republic that is, technically, more than 100 years old, and in the throes of a presidential campaign we are still drawing attention to the religion and the Orange Order proclivities of one of the candidate’s families. In a republic, that should not be the way we carry on. A person's religion, or non-religion for that matter, should not come into it at all. It coarsens the presidential debate when people carry on like that.

There is a series of programmes on BBC radio called "In Our Time", hosted by Melvyn Bragg, and one of the most recent programmes was about civility and, loosely described, if I remember it correctly, civility is the way we interchange with people we disagree with and do it in the proper way. In many instances we do lose civility in the way we debate things, and a lot of that was shown here in the past couple of weeks in relation to the nominations process. There is very little time left but I hope that people stand back and look at themselves and their contributions and the way they treat their opponents.

We had a brief reference to European neutrality. I profoundly disagree with Senators Clonan and Keogan, my Independent colleagues, and the way they look at the triple lock and neutrality. However, I hope we will not be tearing the eyes out of each other. It is very important that when that debate goes ahead, as it will do over the next few weeks and months, we approach it in a logical, clear-eyed and civil way

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank all Senators for their contributions this afternoon to the Order of Business, starting with Senator O'Loughlin, who mentioned Jenny Poole and her brother, Jason, and his advocacy, and welcomed the positive work that has been done on bringing forward legislation in relation to Jenny's Law. I look forward to debating that in the course of the coming months.

The Senator also mentioned her work colleague, Chloe Ray, and Leah O’Gorman, who has written to a number of people regarding the use of mobile phones, battery warnings and the use of phones near water. The standard is still that bathrooms should not have electrical outlets for that reason, but she makes a valid point. We will engage with Ministers on that particular issue.

Senator O’Loughlin also mentioned the availability of HRT for those with early menopause. I will engage with the Minister, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill on that matter. It is hugely important.

Senator Maria Byrne welcomed the fact that 18,000 persons are in receipt of the companion pass starting today, the International Day of Older Persons. She mentioned supports for persons suffering from loneliness and all the various initiatives for women's and men's groups, including the ICA, men's sheds and women's sheds, and the importance of those groups in that social interaction for older persons. I certainly agree with that. The Senator also mentioned the high level of dereliction in Limerick city and called for a task force. I suggest she put down a Commencement debate on that matter.

Senator Clonan raised the issue of the triple lock and neutrality. We will have an opportunity in the coming months, once the legislation is published, to debate these very important matters. Of course, the five permanent members of the Security Council presently have a veto in relation to where Irish troops are sent, and that is what the legislation will look to remove.

Senator Tully quite rightly raised the issue of asthma and the fact that we have one of the highest rates in the world. Hospitalisation rates are high. The Senator called for a register of those with severe asthma and increased capacity for asthma suffers. I am not privy to what might be in the budget regarding the Department of Health, but I ask her to continue to raise that matter through these Houses and possibly through a Commencement debate.

Senator Noonan called for a debate on the UN at 80, which I will request. He also called for reform of the United Nations, something that I know was debated during the pre-legislative scrutiny of the triple lock Bill in the defence committee, of which I am a member. I will certainly request that. The Senator also called a review of the gender recognition legislation and advanced rights for transgender persons. I suggest he put down his thoughts on that in a Commencement debate to see exactly which points he wants to have pursued.

Senator Higgins raised the matter of the EU Council trade agreement with Morocco. I do not have information on that. I am not sure if it would have to come before these Houses to be signed. I will check it out and revert to the Senator. She also raised the issues surrounding international law and the occupation of Western Sahara. I will check whether that has to come before this House. Perhaps the Cathaoirleach can ask whether inaccurate information, or information that is not up to date, should I say, is being provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Senator Paul Daly quite rightly spoke of farm safety. I know he did raise this matter, and I will request a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler.The Senator made a valid point about having two Ministers of State for that issue. There are many topics where something similar would be desirable. I will certainly see if that is possible. The Senator makes a valid point about physical health and mental health for farmers.

Senator P. J. Murphy raised the cases in south-east Galway of turf lying wet on bogs because of a High Court injunction from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. I suggest that the Senator table a Commencement matter. I have been contacted by people about it. If the offer is not good enough, then it is incumbent on the National Parks and Wildlife Service to look again, but I am not privy to the exact offer that is on the table. I suggest that the Senator table a Commencement matter to debate with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan.

Senator Keogan raised the drop in tourist numbers. She will be delighted to know that Ireland had more tourists this August than last August, according to the latest figures from the CSO, and she has raised a number of concerns relating to this. The world is unsettled. The dollar is weak. Different things like that impact on tourist numbers. I will certainly request a debate with the Minister, Deputy Burke, on the overall issue of tourism, because it is an important economic driver in this country.

Senator Curley raised matters regarding the electricity supply, VAT on solar panel batteries, nominal fees for solar panel providers, and grants for batteries. I suggest that the Senator table a Commencement matter because it is quite a specific topic. There are obviously issues relating to VAT laws. There have been a number of requests at different times to remove VAT on different things. There are quite strict criteria. Regarding the other issues, perhaps there could be a debate with the Minister for energy, Deputy O'Brien. I will request a debate on renewables as well in that regard.

Senator Lynch raised a serious concern regarding deer wandering on the Macroom bypass since it opened and has called for strengthening of deer management and compensation schemes. I am not sure if there is deer fencing along the bypass. I will raise the matter with the Minister, Deputy Heydon. I know he will be in later on for Private Member's business.

Senator Sarah O'Reilly raised the issue of older persons with regard to residential care. It is something that we all come across from time to time, where we have elderly parents looking after a loved one. They obviously know that they will not be there forever and they are concerned about their adult children and where they will end up. The State often does not have answers except to say that their loved ones will be looked after. I know that is not always good enough for parents, who want to know exactly what the plan is. I will certainly raise this. The Senator could perhaps table a Commencement matter but I will request a debate with the Minister on the matter of residential care, because it is very important.

Senator Cathal Byrne raised the matter of pupil-teacher ratios and a number of other aspects relating to the funding of education. We will await next week's budget, whether that has all been settled or not yet. I remind the Senator that, as he knows, we have high standards of education with regard to access and quality and we have high PISA scores, which are reflective of the investment that successive Governments have made in education. We need to provide that investment.

Senator Ruane raised the global flotilla to Gaza. I am aware that our colleague, Senator Andrews, is in that flotilla and that it has been the subject of drone attacks and is in danger of being intercepted. The Department and the Tánaiste and Minister for foreign affairs are aware of this matter and are deeply concerned by reports of attacks. The Tánaiste has engaged with the EU High Representative and EU counterparts on this matter. We will certainly ensure that consular support is provided to Irish citizens. We will keep monitoring that situation too.

Senator Joe Conway raised the presidential election and called out the coarseness of some debate, particularly online, that we have discussed here so often. We certainly hope that there is a genuine debate on the role of the Presidency and the vision that the candidates have for the Presidency, that the debate is respectful, that the Irish people make their decision, and that we will have a new President in the coming weeks who is someone we can be proud of and who can present a vision for this country here and represent us positively abroad.