I welcome Judge Egbert Myjer who recently retired from the European Court of Human Rights and is in the Visitors Gallery. He is here to attend an important conference on family reunification, organised by the Immigrant Council of Ireland. This is a major issue in terms of the integration of our new communities in this country. I pay tribute to him for his wonderful work at the European Court of Human Rights during the past eight years. I commend him for his commitment to continue on a voluntary basis to promote the importance of human rights and human dignity. I thank him for attending the conference on family reunification which is extremely important. We must embrace our new communities and facilitate families and loved ones, including parents and children, of those communities to integrate into our society, thus enriching it. I believe passionately that these new communities of the past 20 to 30 years have enhanced our society. We must be progressive in terms of what we do to embrace them, make them feel welcome and facilitate their playing a meaningful and productive role in our society at every level.

Judge Egbert Myjer is welcome to Seanad Éireann.

I would be grateful for an opportunity to engage in dialogue with the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht on a number of issues recently drawn to my attention. I would like to hear from the Minister what the Government proposes to do in regard to the contract for the ferry service to Inishmore on the Aran Islands. While this may appear an unimportant issue to some people, the failure of the Government to negotiate the continuation of that contract has resulted in an increase in fare from €8 to €15, which is another example of the affect of hard times on people. As it was possible for the Government to negotiate the State contract for ferry services between the islands, it is unfortunate it could not do so in respect of the Inishmore ferry service. I am not in this regard attributing blame as I know the Government sought to renew the contract on the same terms as previously. I understand that while the service continues, it does so at great expense to people. I would like to think it would still be possible to make progress on the issue.

There is much talk about equality. While equality is good, our understanding of it can often be overly simplistic.

Aiken Promotions is no longer facilitating a free carer's ticket for persons who attend one of its events with a person with a disability. There used to be this practice, rightly so, and other concert and event promoters to facilitate a person caring for a person with a disability. The GAA, in particular, has a good record in this rgard. Aiken Promotions gave the reason that it sought to treat able-bodied people in the same way as those with disabilities, but that misses the point. It is one of the more positive aspects of society that we recognise people who care for a person with disabilities and offer a particular service. It makes it possible to enjoy the good things in life and, in recessionary times, we should ensure this happens as far as possible. I hope for a change in an area in which the Minister should take an interest.